Hello! I am a marine ecologist with an interest in the spatial distribution and community structure of cold-water benthic invertebrates. My work in the Cordes Lab focuses on invertebrate communities associated with Lophelia pertusa reefs located in the northern Gulf of Mexico and Blake Plateau. In the communities on the Blake Plateau, I am exploring the link between reef structure (live vs dead Lophelia patches, reef complexity, etc) and associated community structure, and whether these relationships can be used to predict the spatial distribution of these communities over wider areas. I am looking at similar relationships in the Gulf of Mexico, with an added interest in change over time (2009-2023).
Prior to my time in the Cordes Lab, I received a B.S. in Marine Biology and Environmental Science from Nova Southeastern University, and an M.S. in Marine Biology from the College of Charleston. While at Nova I studied the coral and sponge communities on the West Florida Escarpment, comparing community structure across depth and slope. At CofC, I worked with NOAA’s Mesophotic and Deep Benthic Communities (MDBC) project, exploring communities of mesophotic corals in the northern Gulf of Mexico, with a specific interest in the spatial distributions of corals across the Pinnacles Trend region.
Email: morgan.will1@temple.edu