Jill R Bourque, Ph.D.
Biography
EDUCATION
Ph.D., University of Delaware, 2009
M.S., University of Delaware, 2005
B.S., Rider University
RESEARCH
As a member of the Benthic Ecology Group at the Wetland and Aquatic Research Center in Gainesville, Florida, Jill Bourque is involved in taxonomic identification and community analysis of marine macrofauna residing near deep-sea coral habitats in the Gulf of Mexico. Her research interests include the community ecology and ecosystem function of biogenic reefs in coastal and deep-sea habitats with a focus on how these habitats contribute to local and regional biodiversity.
Science and Products
Submarine canyons influence macrofaunal diversity and density patterns in the deep-sea benthos
Submarine canyons are often morphologically complex features in the deep sea contributing to habitat heterogeneity. In addition, they act as major conduits of organic matter from the shallow productive shelf to the food deprived deep-sea, promoting gradients in food resources and areas of sediment resuspension and deposition. This study focuses on...
Robertson, Craig M.; Demopoulos, Amanda; Bourque, Jill; Mienis, Furu; Duineveld, Gerard; Lavaleye, Mark; Koivisto, R.; Brooke, S.; Ross, S.; Rhode, M.; Davies, A. Benthic infaunal communities of Baltimore and Norfolk Canyons
The imperative for finding, cataloging, and understanding continental margin diversity derives from the many key functions, goods and services provided by margin ecosystems and by an increasingly deleterious human footprint on our continental slopes (Levin and Dayton 2009). Progress in seafloor mapping technology and direct observation has...
Robertson, Craig M.; Bourque, Jill; Demopoulos, Amanda Quantifying changes to infaunal communities associated with several deep-sea coral habitats in the Gulf of Mexico and their potential recovery from the DWH oil spill
Extensive information is available about infaunal soft-sediment communities in the Gulf of Mexico (Gulf) (Pequegnat et al. 1990, Rowe and Kennicutt II 2009, Wei et al. 2010), particularly from the large-scale sampling effort of the Deep Gulf of Mexico Benthos (DGOMB) project in the early 2000s (Rowe and Kennicutt II 2009). Infaunal soft-sediment...
Bourque, Jill R.; Demopoulos, Amanda W.J. Examination of Bathymodiolus childressi nutritional sources, isotopic niches, and food-web linkages at two seeps in the US Atlantic margin using stable isotope analysis and mixing models
Chemosynthetic environments support distinct benthic communities capable of utilizing reduced chemical compounds for nutrition. Hundreds of methane seeps have been documented along the U.S. Atlantic margin (USAM), and detailed investigations at a few seeps have revealed distinct environments containing mussels, ...
Demopoulos, Amanda; McClain Counts, Jennifer; Bourque, Jill; Prouty, Nancy; Smith, Brian; Brooke, Sandra; Ross, Steve W.; Ruppel, Carolyn The influence of seep habitats on sediment macrofaunal biodiversity and functional traits
Chemosynthetic ecosystems in the Gulf of Mexico (GOM) support dense communities of seep megafaunal invertebrates that rely on endosymbiotic bacteria for nutrition. Distinct infaunal communities are associated with the biogenic habitats created by seep biota, where habitat heterogeneity and sediment geochemistry ...
Demopoulos, Amanda W. J.; Bourque, Jill R.; Durkin, Alanna; Cordes, Erik E. The influence of different deep-sea coral habitats on sediment macrofaunal community structure and function
Deep-sea corals can create a highly complex, three-dimensional structure that facilitates sediment accumulation and influences adjacent sediment environments through altered hydrodynamic regimes. Infaunal communities adjacent to different coral types, including reef-building scleractinian corals and individual colonies of octocorals, are known to...
Bourque, Jill R.; Demopoulos, Amanda W.J.
Deepwater Program: Lophelia II, continuing ecological research on deep-sea corals and deep-reef habitats in the Gulf of Mexico
The deep sea is a rich environment composed of diverse habitat types. While deep-sea coral habitats have been discovered within each ocean basin, knowledge about the ecology of these habitats and associated inhabitants continues to grow. This report presents information and results from the Lophelia II project that examined deep-sea coral habitats...
Demopoulos, Amanda W.J.; Ross, Steve W.; Kellogg, Christina A.; Morrison, Cheryl L.; Nizinski, Martha S.; Prouty, Nancy G.; Bourque, Jill R.; Galkiewicz, Julie P.; Gray, Michael A.; Springmann, Marcus J.; Coykendall, D. Katharine; Miller, Andrew; Rhode, Mike; Quattrini, Andrea; Ames, Cheryl L.; Brooke, Sandra D.; McClain-Counts, Jennifer P.; Roark, E. Brendan; Buster, Noreen A.; Phillips, Ryan M.; Frometa, Janessy Impacts of the Deepwater Horizon oil spill on deep-sea coral-associated sediment communities
Cold-water corals support distinct populations of infauna within surrounding sediments that provide vital ecosystem functions and services in the deep sea. Yet due to their sedentary existence, infauna are vulnerable to perturbation and contaminant exposure because they are unable to escape disturbance events. While multiple deep-sea coral...
Demopoulos, Amanda W.J.; Bourque, Jill R.; Cordes, Erik E.; Stamler, Katherine Macrofaunal communities associated with chemosynthetic habitats from the U.S. Atlantic margin: A comparison among depth and habitat types
Hydrocarbon seeps support distinct benthic communities capable of tolerating extreme environmental conditions and utilizing reduced chemical compounds for nutrition. In recent years, several locations of methane seepage have been mapped along the U.S. Atlantic continental slope. In 2012 and 2013, two newly discovered seeps were investigated in...
Bourque, Jill R.; Robertson, Craig M.; Brooke, Sandra; Demopoulos, Amanda W.J. 10,000 m under the sea: An overview of the HADES expedition to Kermadec Trench
The hadal zone of the world oceans (6000– 11,000 m) occupies <1% of the marine realm and is found almost exclusively in trenches but represents ~40% of the total ocean depth range. Jamison et al. (2010 & Jamison, 2015) have reviewed the current state of knowledge about the hydrology, physical characteristics, food supply, ecology and...
Mills, S.; Leduc, D.; Drazen, J.C.; Yancey, P.; Jamieson, A.J.; Clark, M.R.; Rowden, A.A.; Mayor, D.J.; Piertney, S.; Heyl, T.; Bartlett, D.; Bourque, Jill R.; Cho, W.; Demopoulos, Amanda W.J.; Fryer, P.; Gerringer, M.; Grammatopoulou, E.; Herrera, S.; Ichino, M.; Lecroq, B.; Linley, T.D.; Meyer, K.; Nunnally, C.; Ruhl, H.; Wallace, G.; Young, C.; Shank, T.M. Biodiversity and community composition of sediment macrofauna associated with deep-sea Lophelia pertusa habitats in the Gulf of Mexico
Scleractinian corals create three-dimensional reefs that provide sheltered refuges, facilitate sediment accumulation, and enhance colonization of encrusting fauna. While heterogeneous coral habitats can harbor high levels of biodiversity, their effect on the community composition within nearby sediments remains unclear, particularly in the deep...
Demopoulos, Amanda W.J.; Bourque, Jill R.; Frometa, Janessy Coral communities as indicators of ecosystem-level impacts of the Deepwater Horizon spill
The Macondo oil spill released massive quantities of oil and gas from a depth of 1500 meters. Although a buoyant plume carried released hydrocarbons to the sea surface, as much as half stayed in the water column and much of that in the deep sea. After the hydrocarbons reached the surface, weathering processes, burning, and the use of a dispersant...
Fisher, Charles R.; Demopoulos, Amanda W.J.; Cordes, Erik E.; Baums, Iliana B.; White, Helen K.; Bourque, Jill R.