Category: Fellows

STRI FELLOW

As a marine ecologist I study how marine predators and herbivores shape coastal ecosystems, and how those species interactions are influenced by changes in environmental conditions imposed by oceanographic processes. In particular, I focus on wind-driven upwelling events which allow the rise of cold, nutrient-rich water from the ocean’s depths to shallow coastal ecosystems. Seasonal variation in surface temperatures and food-availability generated by upwelling events can alter the strength of predation and herbivory. I rely on experimental manipulations of fish to study how consumer pressure on reef associated algae and sessile invertebrates varies along upwelling gradients along the Pacific coast of Panama and Costa Rica. My favorite animals is the pelican.  

Como ecólogo marino, estudio cómo los depredadores y herbívoros marinos dan forma a los ecosistemas costeros, y cómo esas interacciones entre especies se ven influenciadas por los cambios en las condiciones ambientales impuestas por los procesos oceanográficos. En particular, me centro en los fenómenos de surgencia impulsados ​​por el viento que permiten el ascenso de agua fría y rica en nutrientes desde las profundidades del océano hasta los ecosistemas costeros. La variación estacional en las temperaturas de la superficie y la disponibilidad de alimentos generada por los eventos de surgencias pueden alterar la fuerza de la depredación y la herbivoría. Me baso en manipulaciones experimentales de peces para estudiar cómo la presión de los consumidores sobre las algas e invertebrados sésiles asociados a los arrecifes varía a lo largo de los gradientes de surgencia a lo largo de la costa del Pacífico de Panamá y Costa Rica. Mi animal favorito es el pelícano.

PhD Student UC Santa Barbara and STRI Fellow

Reconstructing shark communities using dermal denticles preserved in reef sediments

What were shark communities like before humans? Ecological surveys and historical records demonstrate significant declines in Caribbean shark populations, yet pre-exploitation baselines are nonexistent. Dermal denticles – tiny, tooth-like scales lining the skin of elasmobranchs – can offer insight into shark communities on reefs. We have found denticles to be beautifully preserved in fossil and modern reef sediments, allowing morphometric analysis and classification. Denticle traits are also closely associated with shark ecology and can paint a picture of shark community composition. Evaluating the relative abundances of different denticle morphotypes in sediment samples across time and space can both supplement existing survey data – using time-averaged modern sediments – and assist in the reconstruction of pre-human shark baselines – using the recent fossil record. This previously unexplored data source may reveal what shark communities looked like prior to the advent of fishing, facilitating exciting and important assessments of the magnitude and ecological consequences of global shark declines and producing more meaningful conservation targets.

Save our seas         ~          Erin’s Website