Roman Zajac, Ph.D.

Roman Zajac
Professor Emeritus
Coordinator, M.S. Environmental Science

Biology and Environmental Science Department
College of Arts and Sciences
About Roman

Zajac Current Research Programs:

I am an ecologist with varied research interests. These include mapping and characterizing sea floor communities and understanding how sea floor structure affects the ecological dynamics and biodiversity of these environments, applying landscape approaches to ecological dynamics in salt marshes and the sea floor, how climate change may be affecting salt marsh habitats and biota, feeding behaviors of fish on coral patch reefs, and macroalgal successional dynamics on patch reefs. I am also working on applying low level high resolution imagery collected by unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs or drones) to collect spatial data for both the salt marsh and intertidal mudflat research being conducted in my lab.

  • Application of landscape ecology approaches to sea floor ecology
  • Effects of saltmarsh change on coastal ecology
  • Assessing the impacts of fish social foraging on coral reef communities
  • Responses of sea floor communities to natural and human disturbances 
  • Application of geographic information systems (GIS) in environmental assessment 
Recent Published Books and Articles

Zajac R, Kelly E, Perry D, Espinosa I. 2017. Population ecology of the snail Melampus bidentatus in changing salt marsh landscapes. Marine Ecology: 00:e12420. https://doi.org/10.1111/maec.12420

Zajac, R.N. and others (2015). Ecological Characterization and Habitat Classification.–. in: "Seafloor Mapping of Long Island Sound – Final Report: Phase 1 Pilot Project." CT DEEP. Hartford, CT & US EPA ling Island Sound Program

Lopez, and others including Zajac, R.N. 2014. Biology and Ecology of Long Island Sound. In Long Island Sound: Prospects for the Urban Sea, Chapter: Biology and Ecology of Long Island Sound, Publisher: Springer, Editors: Editors: James S. Latimer, Mark A. Tedesco, R. Lawrence Swanson, Charles Yarish, Paul E. Stacey, Corey Garza, pp.285-479

Zajac, R. N., Vozarik, J. M., & Gibbons*, B. R. 2013. Spatial and temporal patterns in   macrofaunal diversity components relative to sea floor landscape structure. PloS One, 8(6), e65823.

Luk*, Y. C., & Zajac, R. N. (2013). Spatial ecology of fiddler crabs, Uca pugnax, in southern New England salt marsh landscapes: Potential habitat expansion in relation to salt marsh change. Northeastern Naturalist 20: 255-274.

Munguia, P.,  R. Osman, R. Whitlatch, J. Hamilton, and R. Zajac.  2011.  Changes in habitat heterogeneity alter marine sessile benthic communities.  Ecological Applications. 21:925-935.

Osman, R.  P. Munguia , R. Whitlatch, J. Hamilton, and R. Zajac.  2010.  Potential thresholds and multiple community states in southern New England marine communities: integrating natural history with management strategies.  Marine Ecology Progress Series.   413:277-289

Munguia, P. R. Osman, R. Whitlatch, J. Hamilton, and R. Zajac. 2010.  Community thresholds and species dominance in Long Island Sound benthic communities. Marine Ecology Progress Series. 413:229-240.

Olson, M.A., R.N. Zajac & M. Russello. 2009. Estuarine-scale genetic variation in the polychaete Hobsonia Florida in Long Island Sound and relationships to Pleistocene glaciations. Biological Bulletin, 217: 86–94.

Neely, A., and R. Zajac. 2008. Applying marine protected area design models in large estuarine systems. Marine Ecology Progress Series 373:11-23.

Zajac, R. 2008. Macrobenthic biodiversity and sea floor landscape structure. Journal of Experimental Marine Biology and Ecology 366:198-203

Zajac, R.N, 2008. Challenges in marine, soft-sediment benthoscape ecology. Landscape Ecology 23, 7-18

Hinchey, E., Nicholson, M., Zajac, R., Irlandi, E., 2008. Preface: Marine and coastal applications in landscape ecology. Landscape Ecology 23, 1-5

Tenore, K. R.N. Zajac, J. Terwin and others. 2006. Characterizing the role benthos plays in large coastal sea and estuaries: a modular approach. J. Exp. Mar. Biol. Ecol. 330: 392- 402.

Olson- Russello, M.A., R.N. Zajac, A. Caccone and M.A. Russello. 2006. Characterization of polymorphic microsatellite loci for the polychaete tubeworm Hobsonia Florida. Molecular Ecology Notes. 6:390-395.

Zajac, R.N. 2004. Macrofaunal responses to pit-mound patch dynamics in an intertidal mudflat: local versus patch-type effects. J. Exp. Mar. Biol. Ecol. 313: 297- 315

Zajac, Roman N., Ralph S. Lewis, Lawrence J. Poppe, David C. Twichell, Joseph Vozarik, and Mary L. DiGiacomo-Cohen. 2003. Responses of infaunal populations to benthoscape structure and the potential importance of transition zones. Limnology Oceanography 48: 829-842

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