Sarah Gravem, Ph.D.

Assistant Professor

805-756-2894
sgravem@calpoly.edu
33-380 office
33-255 lab

https://www.sarahgravem.com/
https://www.oregonkelp.com/
https://piscoweb.org/

Education

PhD in Marine Ecology, University of California Davis, Bodega Marine Lab
MS in Biology, California Polytechnic State University, San Luis Obispo
BS in Aquatic Biology, University of California, Santa Barbara

Research & Advising Interests

marine ecology, animal behavior, natural history of marine species, kelp forests, rocky intertidal, species interactions, climate change, disease ecology, species conservation, sunflower sea stars, SCUBA diving

 

Publications

1. 2025. Gravem, SA and BA Menge. Metapopulation‐scale resilience to disease‐induced mass mortality in a keystone predator: From stasis to instability. Ecosphere. 202516(10). DOI:10.1002/ecs2.70426
2. 2025. Gravem, SA and BA Menge. 2025. From stasis to instability: Recovery dynamics of the archetypal keystone species, Pisaster ochraceus after a coast-wide marine pandemic. Accepted at Ecosphere
3. 2025. Mancuso R., SA Gravem, A.W.E. Galloway, N. Hunter, R. Campbell, K.J. Kroeker. 2025. Sunflower sea star chemical cues locally reduce kelp consumption by eliciting a flee response in red sea urchins. Proceedings of the Royal Society B. 292(2050):20250949. doi: 10.1098/rspb.2025.0949
4. 2024b. Gravem, S.A., S. Bachhuber, A. Chiachi, L. Field, S. Bignami, R. Gaddam, P.T. Raimondi, and B.A. Menge. Biogeographic patterns in density, recruitment, body size, and zonation of rocky intertidal predators suggest increased population vulnerability near southern range limits. Journal of Biogeography 0:1–17.
5. 2024a. Gravem, S.A., B.N. Poirson, J.W. Robinson and B.A. Menge. Resistance of rocky intertidal communities to oceanic climate fluctuations. PLoS ONE 19(5): e0297697.
6. 2024. SA Hamilton, T Calvanese, SA Gravem, AWE Galloway, E Kochman, D Chabot, E Vidusic and N Webster. Oregon Kelp Forest Status Report: A Report by the Oregon Kelp Forest Alliance. The Oregon Kelp Alliance, Port Orford, OR.
7. 2024. Whippo, R., S.A. Gravem, E. Porter-Hughes, A.W.E. Galloway. The sunflower sea star reduces grazing rates of purple sea urchins dependent upon urchin starvation state. Ecosphere. 2024;15:e4948.
8. 2024. Arroyo-Esquivel, J., R. Adams, S.A. Gravem, R. Whippo, Z. Randell, J. Kobelt, J. Hodin, A. Galloway, B. Gaylord, and M. L. Baskett. Multiple resiliency metrics reveal complementary drivers of ecosystem persistence: an application to kelp forest systems. Ecology. 2024;e4453.
9. 2023. Galloway, A.W.E*., Gravem, S.A.*, J.N. Kobelt, W.N. Heady, DK Okamoto, D.M. Sivitilli, V.R. Saccomanno, R. Whippo. Sunflower sea star predation on urchins can facilitate kelp forest recovery. Proceedings of the Royal Society B 290 (1993) *co-first authors
10. 2023. Rickborn, A.J, S. A. Gravem and B.A. Menge. Community structure and recovery in cryptic intertidal communities reflects dynamics on open-surface communities. Ecosphere 14(6) e4562
11. 2023b. Menge, B. A., S. A. Gravem, E. Richmond, and M. Noble. A unified meta-ecosystem dynamics model: Integrating herbivore-plant subwebs with the intermittent upwelling hypothesis. Ecosphere. 14 (5) e4531
12. 2023a. Menge, B.A., S. A. Gravem, J.W. Robinson and B.N. Poirson. Quantitative biogeography: Decreasing and more variable dynamics of critical species in an iconic meta-ecosystem. Ecological Monographs. 93 (1) e1556
13. 2022. Gravem SA, B. Menge, L. Aylesworth. Intertidal Sea Star Report. Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife Marine Resources Program. Newport, OR.
14. 2022. Gravem SA, B. Menge, L. Aylesworth. 2022. Intertidal Community Dynamics Report. Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife Marine Resources Program. Newport, OR.
15. 2022. Gravem SA, B. Menge, L. Aylesworth. 2022. Mussel Bed Dynamics Report. Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife Marine Resources Program. Newport, OR.
16. 2022. Menge, BA, SA Gravem, A Johnson, JW Robinson, and BN Poirson. Increasing Instability of a Rocky Intertidal Meta-Ecosystem. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences 119 (3) e2114257119 doi/10.1073/pnas.2114257119
17. 2022. Heady, W.N., R. Beas-Luna, M.N Dawson, N. Eddy, K. Elsmore, F. T. Francis, T. Frierson, A.L. Gehman, T. Gotthardt, S.A. Gravem, J. Grebel, S. L. Hamilton, L. Hannah, C.D. Harvell, J. Hodin, I. Kelmartin, C. Krenz, L. Lee, J. Lorda, D. Lowry, S. Mastrup, E. Meyer, P. T. Raimondi, S. S. Rumrill, V. R. Saccomanno, L. M. Schiebelhut, C. Siddon. Roadmap to recovery for the sunflower sea star (Pycnopodia helianthoides) along the west coast of North America. The Nature Conservancy, Sacramento, CA, US. 44 pages.
18. 2022. Glidden, C.K., S. Bachhuber, L.C. Field, R. Cates, L. Cohen, E. Crockett, M. Degnin-Warner, M. Feezell, H. Fulton-Bennett, S. Hennessy, D. Pires, B.N. Poirson, Z.H. Randell, E. White, and S.A. Gravem. Strategies for Managing Marine Disease. Ecological Applications 32(7) e2643. doi/10.1002/eap.2643
19. 2022. Burton, A., SA Gravem, and F Barreto. Evidence for genetic variation associated with susceptibility to sea star wasting syndrome in the keystone species Pisaster ochraceus. Molecular Ecology 31(1):197-205. doi: 10.1111/mec.16212
20. 2021. Hamilton, S.L., Beas-Luna, R., Francis, F., Gehman, A., Heady W., Lonhart, S., Rogers-Bennett, L., Saccomanno, V., Salomon, A. and S.A. Gravem. Disease-driven mass mortality event leads to widespread extirpation and variable recovery potential of a marine predator across the eastern Pacific. Proceedings of the Royal Society B 288 (1957) DOI: 10.1098/rspb.2021.1195
21. 2021. Gravem, S.A., W.N. Heady, V.R. Saccomanno, K.F. Alvstad, A.L.M. Gehman, T.N. Frierson, and S.L. Hamilton. Pycnopodia helianthoides. IUCN Red List of Threatened Species.
22. 2019. Gravem, S.A. and S.G. Morgan. Trait-mediated indirect effects in a natural tidepool system. Marine Biology 166: 23
23. 2019a. Menge, B.A., K. Milligan, J. Caselle, J. Barth, F. Chan, S.A. Gravem, J. Lubchenco, M. Novak, J.W. White, C. Blanchette, L. Washburn, M. Carr, P. Raimondi and M. McManus. Integrating Coastal Oceanic and Benthic Ecological Approaches for Understanding Large-scale Ecosystem Dynamics. Oceanography 32(3): 38-49
24. 2019b. Menge, B.A., J. E. Caselle, J. A. Barth, F. Chan, S.A. Gravem, J. Lubchenco, K. Milligan, M. Novak, J. W. White, C.A. Blanchette, L. Washburn, M. Carr, P. Raimondi, M. McManus, T.C. Gouhier. Community Responses to Climate-Related Variability and Disease: The Critical Importance of Long-term Research. Oceanography 32(3): 72-81
25. 2018. Gravem, SA, J Burnaford, A Henry, LC Field, E Jackson, N Jaffe, M Loeher, BA Menge, and CM Miner. Research and Management Needs to Address Sea Star Wasting Syndrome: A Collaborative Strategic Action Plan. Published online Nov 2018
26. 2017. Gravem, S.A., S. Bachhuber, H. Fulton-Bennet, Z. Randell, A. Rickborn, J. Sullivan, B.A. Menge. Opinion: Transformative research is not easily predicted. Trends in Ecology and Evolution 32(11): 825-834.
27. 2017. Gravem, S.A. and S.G. Morgan. Shifts in intertidal zonation and refuge use by prey after mass mortalities of two predators. Ecology 98(4): 1006-1015
28. 2017. Taylor, A. W., S.G. Morgan and S.A. Gravem. Underwater video reveals decreased activity of rocky intertidal snails during high tides and cooler days. Marine Ecology 38(2): e12418
29. 2016. Morgan, S.G., S.A. Gravem, and B.G. Miner. Trait-mediated indirect interactions by residents of rocky shore tidepools. Marine Ecology Progress Series. 552: 31-46.
30. 2016. Menge, B.A. E.B. Cerny-Chipman, A. Johnson, J. Sullivan, S.A. Gravem, and F.T. Chan. Ecology of the sea star wasting disease epidemic in the keystone predator Pisaster ochraceus: population impact, recovery potential, and predation rate. PLoS One. 11(5) e0153994.
31. 2016. Gravem, S.A. and S.G. Morgan. Prey state alters trait-mediated indirect interactions in rocky tidepools. Functional Ecology. 30(9): 1574-1582
32. 2015. Gravem, S.A. Linking Antipredator Behavior of Prey to Community Structure and Intertidal Zonation in Rocky Tidepools. Dissertation. University of California, Davis.
33. 2012. Gravem, S.A. and N.L. Adams. Sex and microhabitat influence the uptake and allocation of mycosporine-like amino acids to tissues in the purple sea urchin, Strongylocentrotus purpuratus. Marine Biology. 159(12): 2839-2852.
34. 2011. Brander, S., R. Fontana, T. Mata, S.A. Gravem, A. Hettinger, J. Bean, A. Szlobolzlai, C. Keiper and M. Marrero. The ecotoxicology of plastic marine debris. The American Biology Teacher. 73(8): 474-478.