My research combines lab and field experiments with mathematical
theory to answer fundamental questions about how marine ecosystems function:
- How does environmental variation in time and space combine with population structure to determine ecological and evolutionary dynamics?
- How do individual-level sensory capabilities and movement behaviors modulate population-level demographics and fluxes?
- How might we combine our understanding of biological and physical
oceanographic processes to better predict and mitigate human effects
on
marine ecosystems?
My research program seeks to establish quantitative relationships between short-term, small-scale processes, such as individual movement behaviors, and their long-term, large-scale population level effects, such as population fluxes and distributions. I use a broadly cross-disciplinary array of scientific approaches from population biology, behavioral ecology, mathematical biology, biomechanics, and fluid dynamics.
Links to current research projects
Predicting distributions of zooplankton populations
Emergent properties of social groups
Rational Design of Marine Reserves in the San Juan Islands
Linking krill distributions to spatial foraging patterns in Antarctic seabirds