William G. Ambrose Jr.
Professor/Vice Dean, School of the Coastal Environment

Education
Ph.D., University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill, Marine Sciences
A.B., Princeton University, Biology
Research Interests
William Ambrose studies processes influencing the structure and function of marine communities and is particularly interested in how benthic communities and coastal ecosystems respond to climate change. He is a long-time Arctic scientist with an extensive research career in Arctic benthic ecology, Arctic environmental change, and Traditional Scientific Knowledge. His current research involves using the hard parts of marine organisms as proxies for environmental conditions and for fisheries management, analyzing observational data, Arctic food security, and the impact of methane seeps on benthic and pelagic communities.
Areas of Expertise
- Benthic ecology
- Pelagic-benthic coupling
- Invertebrate fisheries
- Climate change
- Coastal processes
- Arctic oceanography
- Observational science
- Sclerochronology
- Methane seeps
- Zooarcheology
Recent Publications
Åström, E.K.L., M.L. Carroll, A. Sen, H. Niemann, W.G. Ambrose Jr., M.F. Lehmann, J. Carroll. 2019. Chemosynthesis influences food web and community structure in high-Arctic benthos. Marine Ecology Progress Series 629:19-42. doi.org/10.3354/meps13101
Bluhm, B.A., R. Kilada, W. Ambrose, P.E. Renaud and J.H. Sundet. 2019. First record of cuticle bands in the stomach ossicles of the red king crab Paralithodes camtschaticus (Tilesius, 1815) (Decapoda: Anomura:Lithodidae) from Norway. Journal of Crustacean Biology. doi:10.1093/jcbiol/ruz064
Åström, E.K.L., M.L. Carroll, W.G. Ambrose, A. Sen. A. Silyakova and J. Carroll. 2018. Methane Cold Seeps as a Biological Oasis in the High-Arctic Deep Sea. Limnology and Oceanography 63:S209-S231. doi.org/10.1002/lno.10732
Harris, C.M.,W.G. Ambrose Jr.,G.F. Bigelow, W. Locke and S.M.B. Silverberg. 2018 Analysis of the Size, Shape, and Modeled Age of Common Limpets (Patella vulgata) from Late Norse Middens at Sandwick, Unst, Shetland Islands, UK: Evidence for Anthropogenic and Climatic Impacts. Journal of Island and Coastal Archaeology 13(3):341-370. doi.org/10.1080/15564894.2017.1368743