People | Douglas C. Miller

My research interests encompass the effects of water flow and sediment movement on the plants and animals of the seafloor:

• Deposit- and suspension-feeding by marine benthos in relation to near-bottom flow and sediment transport, with particular interest in the responses of marine polychaete worms
• Role of submarine groundwater discharge in distributions of sandflat infauna and biological productivity
• Distribution and formation of temperate worm-reef communities and utilization of these hard-bottom habitats by motile invertebrates, including non-indigenous species

Other research interests include:

• Sampling, experimental design and flow instrumentation in laboratory and field studies of benthic habitats
• Novel methods for data analysis and image processing for rapid benthic sampling in response to natural or man-made disturbances
• Significance of biogenic structure in the trophodynamics, ecological structure and functioning of marine communities

Identification and Acquistion of Historical Benthic Survey Data from the Delaware Bay

Reconstitution, archiving and creation of a database of the estuarine distribution of over 400 species sampled in the 1950's from Delaware Bay. Collection also includes over 2100 reference specimens suitable for taxonomic study. Support provided by the Partnership for the Delaware Estuary.

Benthic Assessment of Pasture Point Restoration Project at the James Farm Ecological Preserve

Supported by Delaware's Center for the Inland Bays and the Environmental Protection Agency.

Sandbuilder worm, Sabellaria vulgaris, reefs along the Delaware Bay coastline

Sediment stability and formation of temperate worm reefs: experimental studies with the sandbuilder worm Sabellaria vulgaris in Delaware Bay and significance of biogenic structure as benthic habitat. Prior support by the US Army Corps of Engineers.

Jill R. Brown, Ph.D. Student, Current Research Project: The settlement and life-history of the sandbuilder worm and the resulting formation of intertidal reefs in the Delaware Bay. Supported by National Estuarine Research Reserve Fellowship from the St. Jones Delaware NERR program and NOAA.

M.S. Thesis: The distribution of intertidal invasive species in relation to hardened shorelines on the Delmarva Peninsula, completed Spring '05.

Ryan K. Dale, Ph.D. Student, Current Research Project: Characterizing the food webs of intertidal sandflats and groundwater seeps using stable isotope tracers.

M.S. thesis: Salinity, temperature, and macroinfaunal communities in groundwater seeps, completed Spring '06.

Emily S. Maung, Ph.D. Student, Current Research Project: Effects of endocrine disruptin compounds on bethic invertebrates.

Courses for Winter '07:

• GEOL/MAST Caribbean Study Abroad in Bonaire, Netherlands Antilles (7 credits, including Independent Study) 

Courses for Spring '08:

• MAST 629 Statistics for Marine Science (3 credits) with P.M. Gaffney

Upcoming Courses for Fall '08:

• MAST 421 / 621 Coastal Field Biology (3 credits) 
• MAST 4XX / 6XX Marine Iinvertebrate Biodiveristy (3 credits)

Courses for Winter '09:

• GEOL/MAST New Zealand Study Abroad (anticipated) 

Other courses previously taught:

MAST 200 The Oceans, MAST 466 Independent Study, MAST 467 Tropical Field Biology, MAST 621 Coastal Field Biology, MAST 624 Biological Oceanography, MAST 627 Marine Biology, MAST 816 Benthos, MAST 824 Coastal and Estuarine Biology, MAST 853 Oceanography Seminar (various topics), MAST 867 Marine Benthic Food Webs, MAST 867 Benthic Field Methodology, plus several other special problems (MAST 666 and 866) courses on advanced statistics (ecological multivariate and geostatistical methods) and data analysis with MATLAB

Educational Opportunities:

I welcome the opportunity to mentor undergraduates and high school students. There are many opportunities for fieldwork at sites in Delaware Bay, at Cape Henlopen and in Delaware's Inland Bays. Possible activities range from conventional benthic sampling to field experimentation to deployment and recovery of temperature and wave gauge flow instrumentation.

I have previously advised 13 graduate students (M.S. and Ph.D.) and 13 REU-sponsored undergraduate Science and Engineering scholars or Semester-in-Residence students.

Please email me for .pdf files of these publications or click on the link below:

Dale, R.K. and D.C. Miller. 2008. Hydrologic interactions of infaunal polychaetes and intertidal groundwater discharge. Marine Ecology Progress Series 363:205-215. doi: 10.3354/meps07455

Cowart, D.A., Ulrich, P.N., Miller, D.C. and Marsh, A.G. 2008. Salinity sensitivity of early embryos of the Antarctic sea urchin, Sterechinus neumayeri. Polar Biology 32: 435-441, DOI 10.1007/s00300-008-0536-7

Dale, R.K. and D.C. Miller. 2007. Spatial and temporal patterns of salinity and temperature at an intertidal groundwater seep. Estuarine Coastal and Shelf Science 72:283-298.

Pilditch, C.A. and D. C. Miller. 2006. Phytoplankton deposition to permeable sediments under oscillatory flow: effects of ripple geometry and resuspension. Continental Shelf Research 26:1806-1825.

Miller, D.C. and W.J. Ullman. 2004. Ecological consequences of groundwater discharge to Delaware Bay. Ground Water Journal. Ground Water-Oceans Issue 42(7):959-970.

Ullman, W.J., B. Chang, D.C. Miller and J.A. Madsen. 2003. Groundwater mixing, nutrient diagenesis, and discharges across a sandy beachface, Cape Henlopen, Delaware (USA). Estuarine, Coastal and Shelf Science 57:539-552.

Miller, D.C., C.L. Muir and O.A. Hauser. 2002. Detrimental effects of sedimentation on marine benthos: what can be learned from natural processes and rates? Ecological Engineering 19:211-232.

Miller, D.C., A. Norkko and C.A. Pilditch. 2002. Influence of diet on dispersal of horse mussel Atrina zelandica biodeposits. Marine Ecology Progress Series 242:153-167.

Bock, M.J. and D.C. Miller. 1999. Particle selectivity, gut volume, and the response to a step change in diet for deposit-feeding polychaetes. Limnology and Oceanography 44:1132-1138.

Karrh, R.R. and D.C. Miller. 1996. Effect of flow and sediment transport on feeding rate of a surface-deposit feeder, Saccoglossus kowalevskii. Marine Ecology Progress Series 130:125-134.

MacIntyre, H.L., R.J. Geider and D.C. Miller. 1996. Microphytobenthos: The ecological role of the "Secret Garden" of unvegetated, shallow-water marine habitats. I. Distribution, abundance and primary production. Estuaries 19:186-201.

Miller, D.C., R. J. Geider and H. L. MacIntyre. 1996. Microphytobenthos: the ecological role of the "Secret Garden" of unvegetated, shallow-water marine habitats. II. Role in sediment stability and shallow-water food webs. Estuaries 19:202-212.

Bock, M.J. and D.C. Miller. 1995. Storm effects on particulate food resources on an intertidal sandflat. Journal of Experimental Marine Biology and Ecology 187:81-101.

Miller, D.C., M.J. Bock and E.J. Turner. 1992. Deposit and suspension feeding in oscillatory flow and sediment fluxes. Journal of Marine Research 50:489-520.

Miller, D.C. and R.W. Sternberg. 1988. Field measurements of the fluid and sediment-dynamic environment of a benthic deposit feeder. Journal of Marine Research 46:771-796.

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