Staff Profile
Photo for Greg Ruiz

Biography

Greg is a marine ecologist with active research interests in invasion biology, biogeography, and ecology in coastal marine ecosystems.  He heads a research group of ~ 40 full-time biologists, based at the Smithsonian Environmental Research Center (SERC) laboratories, located on Chesapeake Bay and San Francisco Bay. Most of his research explores the patterns, mechanisms, and consequences of marine invasions at a multiple spatial and temporal scales. He conducts extensive comparative measurements and experiments among estuaries along the Pacific and Atlantic coasts for North America.  A Senior Scientist at SERC for over 25 years, Greg also is a Research Professor and founding co-director of the Aquatic BioInvasion Research and Policy Institute at Portland State University.  Greg has published over 140 scientific articles as author or coauthor, focusing primarily on marine invasion ecology and management. He began his career in California and has broad interests in marine biology and dynamics of coastal ecosystems. Greg holds a Ph.D. in zoology from University of California, Berkeley and a B.A. in aquatic biology from the University of California, Santa Barbara.  For additional information visit SERC’s Marine Invasion Research Laboratory website at http://invasions.si.edu/.
 
Selected Publications (of 140)
 

Ruiz, GM, Fofonoff PW, Steves BP, Carlton JT. 2015. Invasion history and vector dynamics in coastal marine ecosystems: a North American perspective.  Aquatic Ecosystem Health and Management (in press).

Miller AW, Ruiz GM. 2014. Artic shipping and marine invaders. Nature Climate Change 4:413-416.

Freestone AL, GM, Ruiz, & ME Torchin. 2013. Stronger biotic resistance in tropics: Effects of predation on invasion dynamics across latitude. Ecology 94:1370–1377.

Ruiz GM, Fofonoff PW, Ashton G, Minton MS, Miller AW. 2013. Geographic variation in marine invasions among large estuaries: Effects of ships and time. Ecological Applications 23:311-320.

deRivera CE, Grosholz ED, Ruiz GM. 2011. Multiple and long-term impacts of an introduced marine predator. Mar Ecol Prog Ser 429:145-155 doi:10.3354/meps09101

Ruiz GM, Fofonoff PW, Steves B, Foss SF, Shiba SN. 2011. Marine invasion history and vector analysis of California: A hotspot for western North America. Diversity and Distributions 17:362-373.

Blakeslee AMH, Altman I, Miller AW, Byers JE, Hamer CE, Ruiz GM. 2012. Parasites and invasions: a biogeographic examination of parasites and hosts in native and introduced ranges. J. Biogeography 39:609-622.

deRivera CE, Ruiz GM, Hines AJ, Jivoff P. 2005. Biotic resistance to invasion: native crab predation limits the abundance and geographic distribution of an introduced crab. Ecology 86:3364-3376.

Ruiz GM, Rawlings TK, Dobbs FC, Drake LA, Mullady T, Huq A, Colwell RR.  2000.  Worldwide transfer of microorganisms by ships. Nature 408: 49-50.

Ruiz GM, Fofonoff PW, Carlton JT, Wonham MJ, Hines AH. 2000. Invasions of Coastal Marine Communities in North America: Apparent Patterns, Processes, and Biases. Annual Review of Ecology and Systematics 31: 481-531.

Ruiz GM, P Fofonoff, AH Hines, & ED Grosholz.  1999.  Nonindigenous species as stressors in estuarine and marine communities:  Assessing impacts and interactions.  Limnol. Oceanogr. 44:950-972.

Publications

  • Miller, A. Whitman, Davidson, Ian C., Minton, Mark S., Steves, Brian, Moser, Cameron S., Drake, Lisa A. and Ruiz, Gregory M. (2018). Evaluation of wetted surface area of commercial ships as biofouling habitat flux to the United States. Biological Invasions, 20 (8) , 1977-1990. http://dx.doi.org/10.1007/s10530-018-1672-9
  • Therriault, Thomas W., Nelson, Jocelyn C., Carlton, James T., Liggan, Lauran, Otani, Michio, Kawai, Hiroshi, Scriven, Danielle, Ruiz, Gregory M. and Clarke Murray, Cathryn. (2018). The invasion risk of species associated with Japanese Tsunami Marine Debris in Pacific North America and Hawaii. Marine pollution bulletin, 132 , 82-89. http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.marpolbul.2017.12.063
  • Davidson, Timothy M., Altieri, Andrew H., Ruiz, Gregory M. and Torchin, Mark E. (2018). Bioerosion in a changing world: a conceptual framework. Ecology Letters, 21 (3) , 422-438. http://dx.doi.org/10.1111/ele.12899
  • Miller, Jessica A., Carlton, James T., Chapman, John W., Geller, Jonathan B. and Ruiz, Gregory M. (2018). Transoceanic dispersal of the mussel Mytilus galloprovincialis on Japanese tsunami marine debris: An approach for evaluating rafting of a coastal species at sea. Marine pollution bulletin, 132 , 60-69. http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.marpolbul.2017.10.040
  • Jurgens, Laura J., Bonfim, Mariana, Lopez, Diana P., Repetto, Michele F., Freitag, Gary, McCann, Linda, Larson, Kristen, Ruiz, Gregory M. and Freestone, Amy L. (2018). Poleward range expansion of a non-indigenous bryozoan and new occurrences of exotic ascidians in southeast Alaska. Bioinvasions Records, 7 (4) , 357-366. http://dx.doi.org/10.3391/bir.2018.7.4.02
  • Darling, John A., Martinson, John, Gong, Yunguo, Okum, Sara, Pilgrim, Erik, Lohan, Katrina M. Pagenkopp, Carney, Katharine J. and Ruiz, Gregory M. (2018). Ballast Water Exchange and Invasion Risk Posed by Intracoastal Vessel Traffic: An Evaluation Using High Throughput Sequencing. Environmental science & technology, 52 (17) , 9926-9936. http://dx.doi.org/10.1021/acs.est.8b02108
  • Heller, Philip, Casaletto, James, Ruiz, Gregory and Geller, Jonathan. (2018). A database of metazoan cytochrome c oxidase subunit I gene sequences derived from GenBank with CO-ARBitrator . Scientific Data, 5 http://dx.doi.org/10.1038/sdata.2018.156
  • Carlton, James T., Chapman, John W., Geller, Jonathan B., Miller, Jessica A., Ruiz, Gregory M., Carlton, Deborah A., McCuller, Megan I., Treneman, Nancy C., Steves, Brian P., Breitenstein, Ralph A., Lewis, Russell, Bilderback, David, Bilderback, Diane, Haga, Takuma and Harris, Leslie H. (2018). Ecological and biological studies of ocean rafting: Japanese tsunami marine debris in North America and the Hawaiian Islands. Aquatic Invasions, 13 (1) , 1-9. http://dx.doi.org/10.3391/ai.2018.13.1.01
  • Everett, Richard A., Miller, A. Whitman and Ruiz, Gregory M. (2018). Shifting sands could bring invasive species. Science, 359 (6378) , 878-878. http://dx.doi.org/10.1126/science.aar7741
  • Davidson, Ian C., Scianni, Christopher, Minton, Mark S. and Ruiz, Gregory M. (2018). A history of ship specialization and consequences for marine invasions, management, and policy. Journal of Applied Ecology, 55 (4) , 1799-1811. http://dx.doi.org/10.1111/1365-2664.13114
  • Miller, Jessica A., Gillman, Reva, Carlton, James T., Murray, Cathryn Clarke, Nelson, Jocelyn C., Otani, Michio and Ruiz, Gregory M. (2018). Trait-based characterization of species transported on Japanese tsunami marine debris: Effect of prior invasion history on trait distribution. Marine Pollution Bulletin, 132 , 90-101. http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.marpolbul.2017.12.064
  • Chang, Andrew L., Brown, Christopher W., Crooks, Jeffrey A. and Ruiz, Gregory M. (2018). Dry and wet periods drive rapid shifts in community assembly in an estuarine ecosystem. Global Change Biology, 24 (2) , e627-642. http://dx.doi.org/10.1111/gcb.13972
  • Jimenez, Haizea, Keppel, Erica, Chang, Andrew L. and Ruiz, Gregory M. (2018). Erratum to: Invasions in Marine Communities: Contrasting Species Richness and Community Composition Across Habitats and Salinity. Estuaries and Coasts, 41 (2) , 611. http://dx.doi.org/10.1007/s12237-017-0315-1
  • Keppel, Erica, Ana Tovar-Hernandez, Maria and Ruiz, Gregory. (2018). New records of the non-indigenous species Branchiomma bairdi and B-conspersum (Polychaeta: Sabellidae) on the Pacific coast of North America. Bioinvasions Records, 7 (3) , 229-236. http://dx.doi.org/10.3391/bir.2018.7.3.03
  • Jimenez, Haizea, Keppel, Erica, Chang, Andrew L. and Ruiz, Gregory M. (2018). Invasions in Marine Communities: Contrasting Species Richness and Community Composition Across Habitats and Salinity. Estuaries and Coasts, 41 (2) , 484-494. http://dx.doi.org/10.1007/s12237-017-0292-4

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