• Title Research Associate Professor of Biology; Senior Lecturer; Director of Masters Studies
  • Education PhD, Tufts University
  • Web Address http://sites.bu.edu/rotjanlab/
  • Phone 617-353-5087
  • Area of Interest Marine ecology, conservation biology, behavioral ecology, organismal physiology, coral reefs
  • CV

Current Research

Research in the Rotjan lab focuses on marine ecology and global change. The main goal is to examine how marine species, communities, and ecosystems respond to the complex multitude of stressors emerging in the contemporary world ocean, and how they will respond to the future ocean change that we expect in the coming decades.

The lab focuses heavily on marine protected areas, coral physiology and organismal biology with tropical and temperate species, and on behavioral ecology of tropical marine invertebrates. The lab also has a growing interest in comparing remote versus urban and coastal ecosystems.

Selected Publications

  • Kennedy, B.R. and R.D. Rotjan (2023). Mind the Gap: Comparing Exploration Effort with Global Biodiversity Patterns and Climate Projections to Determine Ocean Areas with Greatest Exploration Needs. Frontiers in Marine Science 10:1219799. 
  • Rotjan, R.D., K.L. Bell, J.A. Huber, C.G. Wheat, A.T. Fisher, R.L. Sylvan, J. McManus, K.T. Bigham, S. Cambronero-Solano, T. Cordier, and S. Goode (2023). COBRA Master Class: Deep-Sea expedition leadership training to accelerate early career advancement. Frontiers in marine science 10:1-11.
  • Rotjan R.D., N.E. Ray, I. Cole, K.G. Castro, B.R. Kennedy, T. Barbasch, K.C. Lesneski, K.S. Lord, A. Bhardwaj, M. Edens, and I. Karageorge (2022). Shifts in predator behaviour following climate induced disturbance on coral reefs. Proceedings of the Royal Society B 289:20221431.
  • Gauthier A.E., R.D. Rotjan, and J.C. Kagan (2022). Lipopolysaccharide detection by the innate immune system may be an uncommon defence strategy used in nature. Open Biology, 12:220146.
  • Amon D.J., R.D. Rotjan, B.R. Kennedy, G. Alleng, R. Anta, E. Aram, T. Edwards, M/ Creary-Ford, K.M. Gjerde, J. Gobin and L.A. Henderson, (2022). My Deep Sea, My Backyard: a pilot study to build capacity for global deep-ocean exploration and research. Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society B 377:20210121. 

Courses Taught:

  • BI 523: Marine Urban Ecology
  • BI 539: Coral Reef Dynamics: Shallow Waters, deep time
  • BI 260: Marine Biology
  • BI 303: Ecology

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