Santa Clara University

Dr. Michelle Marvier

Associate Professor,
joint appointment with the Environmental Studies Institute

874 Lafayette Street
Santa Clara, CA 95053
Tel: 408-551-7189
Fax: 408-554-2710
mmarvier@scu.edu

For full C.V. click here

Environmental Studies Institute

Educational Background

B.S. 1990 Santa Clara University
Ph.D. 1996 UC Santa Cruz

NSF Postdoctoral Fellow 1996-1998, University of Washington,
Seattle

Teaching

Biol 5 Endangered Ecosystems
Biol 22 Introduction to Evolution & Ecology
Biol 23 Investigations in Evolution & Ecology L+L
Biol 150 Conservation Biology
Biol 156 General Ecology
Biol 160 Biostatistics 

Research

My research is focused on two issues: 1.) ecological risk assessment applied to genetically engineered crops and 2.) the conservation of biological diversity.

Are transgenic crops a threat to the environment?
By transferring genes from one organism to another, scientists can create organisms with novel combinations of traits.  There is enormous potential for either benefit or harm to result from these genetic manipulations--the difficulty is in predicting which outcome is more likely. Much debate has surrounded the potential environmental impacts of genetically engineered crops. Possible risks include the creation of new weed problems and harmful effects on non-target organisms. Governmental regulations require experimental evaluation of these potential environmental risks. I evaluated the design and statistical rigor of experiments conducted to test the safety of transgenic plants for non-target organisms. The number of replicates used in these studies was generally quite small (usually 2-6 replicates per treatment), and studies with so few replicates generally have little chance of detecting real effects. I have argued that sample sizes should be bolstered and non-significant results should be accompanied by an analysis of statistical power. I am currently working on meta-analyses that combine results across many small studies to better assess the effect of transgenic crops for the environment.

Conservation Biology
I'm interested in many facets of conservation biology, including the use of conservation easements, approaches to setting international conservation priorities, and the ecological consequences of extinction. Conservation and management of endangered species often involve trying to decide upon the best course of action despite having only a very incomplete picture of what's happening. Because poor or incomplete data are generally the rule, we often must turn to mathematical models to help identify the likely consequences of particular actions. For example, in collaboration with scientists from the National Marine Fisheries Service, I developed models to compare the likely effects of various management actions for chinook salmon in the Snake River in Idaho. Our approach combines analyses of extinction risk with analyses of demographic matrices to try to identify specific management actions (e.g., removal of dams, reductions in harvest, etc.) most likely to significantly lower extinction risk for threatened salmon populations.

Publications

Publications related to risk assessment of transgenic crops:

Duan, J.J.,  M. Marvier, J. Huesing, G. Dively, and Z.Y. Huang. 2008. A meta-analysis of effects of Bt crops on honey bees (Hymenoptera: Apidae). PLoS One http://www.plosone.org/doi/pone.0001415

Marvier, M., C. McCreedy, J. Regetz, and P. Kareiva. 2007. A meta-anaylsis of effects of Bt cotton and maize on non-target invertebrates. Science 316:1475-1477.

Marvier, M. 2007. Pharmaceutical crops have a mixed outlook in California. California Agriculture 61:59-66.

Marvier, M. and S. West. 2007. Ecological risk assessment of GE crops: getting the science fundamentals right. Pages 57-73 in Taylor, I. E. P. (ed) Genetically Engineered Crops: Interim Policies, Uncertain Legislation. Haworth Press.

Marvier, M. and R. VanAcker. 2005. Can crop transgenes be kept on a leash? Frontiers in Ecology and the Environment 3:99-106.

Marvier, M. 2004. Risk assessment of GM crops warrants higher rigor and reduced risk tolerance than traditional agrichemicals. Naturschutz und Biologische Vielfalt 1:119-129.

Marvier, M. 2002. Improving Risk Assessment for Nontarget Safety of Transgenic Crops. Ecological Applications 12:1119-1124.

Marvier, M. 2001. Can risk analysis 'colorize' the black and white of transgenic crops? Online. Plant Health Progress (doi:10.1094/PHP-2001-0831-01-RV).

Marvier, M. 2001. Ecology of transgenic crops. American Scientist 89:160-167

Kareiva, P. and Marvier, M.A. 2000. An overview of risk assessment procedures applied to genetically engineered crops. Pages 231-238 in: Incorporating Science, Economics and Sociology in Developing Sanitary and Phytosanitary Standards in International Trade. Proceedings of a Conference. Board on Agriculture and Natural Resources, National Research Council, National Academy Press: Washington, D.C.

Marvier, M.A., E. Meir, and P.M. Kareiva. 1999. How do the design of monitoring and control strategies affect the chance of detecting and containing transgenic weeds? Pages 109-122 in: K. Ammann and Y. Jacot (eds) Risks and Prospects of Transgenic Plants, Where Do We Go From Here? Birkhauser Press, Basel.

Marvier, M.A. and P. Kareiva. 1999. Extrapolating from field experiments that remove herbivores to population-level effects of herbivore resistance transgenes. Pages 57-64 in: Traynor, P. L. and J. H. Westwood (eds) Proceedings of a Workshop on: Ecological Effects of Pest Resistance Genes in Managed Ecosystems. Information Systems for Biotechnology, Blacksburg, Virginia. http://www.isb.vt.edu/cfdocs/proceedings.cfm

Publications related to conservation biology:

Yuan-Farrell, C., M. Marvier, D. Press, and P. Kareiva. 2005. Conservation easements as a conservation strategy: I
s there a sense to the spatial distribution of easements? Natural Areas Journal 25:282-289.

Marvier, M., P. Kareiva, and M. Neubert.  2004. Habitat destruction, fragmentation, and disturbance promote invasion
by habitat generalists in a multispecies metapopulation.  Risk Analysis 24:869-878.

O'Connor, C., M. Marvier, and P. Kareiva. 2003. Biological versus sociopolitical priority-setting in conservation. Ecology Letters 6:706-711.

Kareiva, P. and M. Marvier. 2003.Conserving biodiversity coldspots. American Scientist 91:344-351.

Doak, D.F. and M.A. Marvier. 2003. Predicting the effects of species loss on community stability. Pages 140-160 in: Kareiva, P. and S. A. Levin (eds) The Importance of Species: Perspectives on Expendability and Triage. Princeton University Press, Princeton, New Jersey.

Kareiva, P., M. Marvier, S. West, and J. Hornisher. 2002. Slow-moving journals hinder conservation efforts Nature 420:15.

Kareiva, P., M. Marvier, and M. McClure. 2000. Recovery and management options for spring/summer chinook salmon
in the Columbia River basin. Science 290:977-979.

Parrish, J.K. , M.A. Marvier, and R.T. Paine. 2001. Direct and indirect effects: Interactions between bald eagles and common murres. Ecological Applications 11:1858-1869.

McClure, M., T. Cooney, and M. Marvier. 2001. Assessing the role of dams in salmon recovery. Hydroreview 20:36-45.

Doak, D. F., D. S. Bigger, E. Harding, M. A. Marvier, R. O'Malley, D. Thomson 1998. The statistical inevitability of stability-diversity relationships in community ecology. American Naturalist 151:264-276.

Marvier, M. A. and D. Smith. 1997. Conservation implications of host use by parasitic plants. Conservation Biology 11:839-848.