Dr. Ian Davidson

idavidso@pdx.edu

Ph: 503-725-8104
Fax: 503-725-3834

PhD: University College Cork, Ireland • Marine Biology
BSc: University College Cork, Ireland • Applied Ecology

The photo shows Ian peering into the access point of a ballast tank whilst sampling ballast water.

Research

Ian is a new post-doc working on a project examining the extent and composition of fouling communities entering the Lower Columbia River on the hulls of ships. Much of the recent work carried out on species introductions and vector science in marine systems has focused on the importance of ballast water in transferring species around the world. Much less attention has been given to hull mediated transfers, and this is a first attempt to quantify the extent of biofouling transfers into the Lower Columbia River. Samples will be taken directly from ships, both underwater and from occasional dry-docking periods, as well as from archival video footage provided by maritime companies in the region. Patterns of fouling assemblage distribution occurring on existing man-made structures and other hard-bottom substrata will also be surveyed.