Valerie J. Paul Head Scientist Research interests: Ecological Roles of Marine Natural Products Contact information Office: Smithsonian Marine Station at Fort Pierce, 701 Seaway Drive,              Fort Pierce, Florida 34949 Phone: 772-462-0982 Fax: 772-461-8154 Email: Paul@si.deu

Research interests

Valerie Paul’s research for the past two decades has focused on the interactions between marine algae and herbivores and the consequences for coral reef ecology. One of the most troubling conservation issues on coral reefs today is the overgrowth of corals by macroalgae and benthic cyanobacteria resulting, in some cases, in algae proliferating in formerly coral-dominated habitats.  Valerie has focused on understanding algal defenses, particularly chemical defenses, and how these protections against herbivory can facilitate blooms of chemically rich macroalgae.  Valerie was elected a Fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science in 1996 “for significant contributions to the field of marine chemical ecology and for major publications on the effects of secondary metabolites on interactions between marine plants and animals”.

For the past 10 years, Valerie’s has studied harmful benthic cyanobacterial (blue-green algae) blooms.  These blooms are becoming more widespread and abundant in many tropical and subtropical habitats worldwide.  She has funding from NOAA through the Ecology and Oceanography of Harmful Algal Blooms (ECOHAB) program to document and study the factors influencing these blooms.  Enhanced nutrients have been suggested to cause these blooms, and Valerie’s work seeks to understand both the top-down and bottom-up controls on cyanobacterial bloom formation.  Her work has shown that chemical defenses of many cyanobacterial species facilitate bloom formation because reef herbivores avoid many cyanobacteria and selectively feed on more palatable algae.

Valerie is also working with collaborators at the University of Central Florida and the USGS to study coral larval settlement on reefs in the Florida Keys and US Virgin Islands that have become dominated by macroalgae and cyanobacteria.  They have found that coral larvae avoid settling next to many chemically rich species of algae, which has important management implications.

Recent Publications:

• Paul, V.J., R. Thacker, K. Banks, and S. Golubic. Benthic cyanobacterial bloom impacts the reefs of South Florida (Broward County, USA).  Coral Reefs. 2005; 24: 693-697.


• Ritson-Williams, R., M. Yotsu-Yamashita, V. Paul. Ecological functions of tetrodotoxin in a deadly polyclad flatworm.  Proc. Nat. Acad. Sci. 2006; 103: 3176-3179.


•  Paul, V.J., M.P. Puglisi, and R. Ritson-Williams. Marine chemical ecology. Nat. Prod. Rep. 2006; 23: 153-180.


• Cruz-Rivera, E. and V.J. Paul.  Feeding by coral reef mesograzers: algae or cyanobacteria?  Coral Reefs. 2006; 25: 617-627.


• Erickson, A.A., V.J. Paul, K.L. Van Alstyne, L.M. Kwiatkowski. Palatability of macroalgae that employ different types of chemical defenses.  J. Chem. Ecol. 2006; 32:1883-1895.


• Kuffner, I.B., L.J. Walters, M.A. Becerro, V.J. Paul, R. Ritson-Williams, and K.S. Beach. Inhibition of coral recruitment by macroalgae and cyanobacteria.  Mar. Ecol. Prog. Ser. 2006; 323: 107-117.


• Capper, A., E. Cruz-Rivera, V.J. Paul, I.R. Tibbetts. Chemical deterrence of a marine cyanobacterium against sympatric and non-sympatric consumers.  Hydrobiologia. 2006; 553: 319-326.


• Cruz-Rivera, E. and V.J. Paul. Chemical deterrence of a cyanobacterial metabolite against generalized and specialized grazers.  J. Chem. Ecol. 2007; 33: 213-217.


• Matthew, S., C. Ross, J.R. Rocca, V.J. Paul, and H. Luesch. Lyngbyastatin 4, a dolastatin 13 analogue with elastase and chymotrypsin inhibitory activity from the marine cyanobacterium Lyngbya confervoides. J. Nat. Prod. 2007; 70: 124-127.


• Ritson-Williams, R. and V.J. Paul. Marine benthic invertebrates use multimodal cues for defense against reef fish.  Mar. Ecol. Prog. Ser. 2007; 340: 29-39.


• Paul, V.J., K. E. Arthur, R. Ritson-Williams, C. Ross, and K. Sharp. Chemical defenses: from compounds to communities. Biol. Bull. 2007; 213: 226-251.


• Paul, V.J. and R. Ritson-Williams. Marine chemical ecology. Nat. Prod. Rep. 2008; in press.