It’s official! Rebecca and Amy graduated in December 2022, after having defended their dissertations during the Fall semester. Rebecca is finishing up her Knauss Fellowship at NOAA in DC and Amy is a National Museum of Natural History Fellow at the Smithsonian Marine Station in Ft. Pierce (working with Val Paul). We miss them but Read More …
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Dr. Rebecca Atkins!
Rebecca defended and filed her dissertation last month: “Intraspecific variation in the distribution, physiology, population traits, and consumer effects of the salt marsh periwinkle, Littoraria irrorata, across its geographic range”. She snailed it (as we always knew she would)! She is finishing up her Knauss Fellowship at NOAA in DC and then on to other Read More …
Dr. Amy Briggs!
Amy defended and filed her dissertation last month. Way to go Amy! She is now off to a Smithsonian post-doc with Val Paul (after she gets back from her honeymoon — it’s been a busy summer). We’re going to miss her, but she’ll be back for graduation in December.
Dan’s paper on Patiria trophic ecology is out in MEPS!
[pdf] Abstract. Microbes influence ecological processes, including the dynamics and health of macro-organisms and their interactions with other species. In coral reefs, microbes mediate negative effects of algae on corals when corals are in contact with algae. However, it is unknown whether these effects extend to larger spatial scales, such as at sites with high Read More …
Welcome Kelsey to our lab
We are delighted to welcome Kelsey Vaughn to our lab. Kelsey did her BS at the University of Arkansas (2019) and then completed her MS at the University of the Virgin Islands (2021). Kelsey is currently doing her first field season in Moorea with Dan and Alex and will be moving to Athens in August. Read More …
Rebecca’s paper on Littoraria thermal traits (with Kat and Will) was just published in Biological Bulletin
(pdf) Abstract. Physiological processes influence how individuals perform in various environmental contexts. The basis of such processes, metabolism, scales allometrically with body mass and nonlinearly with temperature, as described by a thermal performance curve. Past studies of thermal performance curves tend to focus on effects of temperature on a single body size or population, rather Read More …
Amy and Anya’s study of the spatial scale of algal effects on coral microbiomes is out in RSOS!
[pdf] Abstract. Microbes influence ecological processes, including the dynamics and health of macro-organisms and their interactions with other species. In coral reefs, microbes mediate negative effects of algae on corals when corals are in contact with algae. However, it is unknown whether these effects extend to larger spatial scales, such as at sites with high Read More …
Congratulations to Knauss Fellow, Rebecca Atkins!
Congratulations to Rebecca for being selected as part of the 2022 class of the Sea Grant John A. Knauss Marine Policy Fellowship program. (that’s her in the top row, second from left). We can’t wait to find out what federal agency she’ll be joining this winter. Way to go Rebecca — you snailed it again!
New positions for Mike, Phil and Mike (CU, CDC, and FAU) — Congratulations!
Congratulations to Mike Gil, Phil Shirk, and Mike McCoy! Mike (Gil) is joining the faculty at the University of Colorado Boulder (the the Eco &Evo Bio Dept); Phil just started a Presidential Management Fellowship at the CDC (in the Influenza Division); and Mike (McCoy) is moving from ECU to Florida Atlantic University’s Harbor Branch Oceanographic Read More …
Greg’s paper on spatiotemporal distribution of chinook salmon redds is in TAFS!
(link) Abstract. Pacific salmon spawning and rearing habitats result from dynamic interactions among geomorphic processes, natural disturbances, and hydro‐climatological factors acting across a range of spatial and temporal scales. We used a 21‐year record of redd locations in a wilderness river network in central Idaho, USA, to examine which covariates best predict the spawning occurrence Read More …
Elizabeth and Anya each have new jobs — on opposite coasts!
Elizabeth (website) has accepted a faculty position at St. Mary’s College of Maryland (left: Department of Biology) on the Chesapeake, and Anya (website) has accepted a faculty position at UC Davis (above: Bodega Marine Lab and Department of Evolution and Ecology) on the Pacific. We are very excited for them both, having found their dream Read More …
Presenting Dr. Jacobs (and what did the fish say when it bumped into a wall?)…
Greg Jacobs successfully defended his dissertation this week in the Odum School of Ecology at UGa (Population-level consequences of environmental variation for migratory fishes). Greg’s research examined migratory dynamics in two systems: sturgeon in the Niagara river and Chinook in the Middle Fork Salmon River. Greg’s studies in both studies relied on sophisticated modeling approaches Read More …
Anya’s paper on extended phenotypes! Early view in Ecology…
(pdf) Abstract: Phenotypic variation can lead to variation in the strength and outcome of species interactions. Variation in phenotypic traits can arise due to plastic responses to environmental stimuli, underlying genetic variation, or both, and may reflect differences in the focal organism or aspects of the extended phenotype (e.g., associated microbes). We used a reciprocal Read More …
Shima et al – Moonlight & fish growth is out in ProcRoySoc B
(pdf)
Chao’s paper on non-independence in meta-analysis is out in Ecology!
(pdf) Abstract. In ecological meta-analyses, nonindependence among observed effect sizes from the same source paper is common. If not accounted for, nonindependence can seriously undermine inferences. We compared the performance of four meta-analysis methods that attempt to address such nonindependence and the standard random-effect model that ignores nonindependence. We simulated data with various types of Read More …
Paula’s paper on meta-analysis methods is out in MEE!
(pdf) Abstract 1. Despite the wide application of meta-analysis in ecology, some of the traditional methods used for meta-analysis may not perform well given the type of data characteristic of ecological meta-analyses. 2. We reviewed published meta-analyses on the ecological impacts of global climate change, evaluating the number of replicates used in the primary studies Read More …
Jing’s paper on mobility and consumer-resource patterns is out in Royal Society Open Science
(pdf) Abstract: An animal’s movement rate (mobility) and its ability to perceive fitness gradients (fitness sensitivity) determine how well it can exploit resources. Previous models have examined mobility and fitness sensitivity separately and found that mobility, modelled as random movement, prevents animals from staying in high quality patches, leading to a departure from an ideal Read More …
Team Thalassoma, Take Two!
Team Thalassoma’s second paper on moonlight and reproduction and recruitment patterns in T. hardwicke led by Captain Jeff S. Shima is out in Ecology (pdf). Abstract: Most organisms reproduce in a dynamic environment, and life‐history theory predicts that this can favor the evolution of strategies that capitalize on good times and avoid bad times. When Read More …
Welcome our newest lab members
We are delighted to welcome Dan Cryan (left) and Alex Primo (Center) to our lab. Dan graduated from Stanford in 2018, and is currently an ORISE intern at the EPA in Rhode Island. Alex graduated from UCSB in 2018, and worked with us in Moorea in 2019. We’re looking forward to having them both here Read More …
Elizabeth’s paper on coral damage and healing came out (a while ago – oops) in Oecologia!
[Better late than never — I forgot to post this earlier] Elizabeth’s paper investigating the spatial distribution of damage on corals and its effects on healing and growth came out at the end of 2019 in Oecologia. Abstract: Many predators and herbivores do not kill their prey, but rather remove or damage tissue. Prey are Read More …