Research topics
Coral-reef fishes, because of their high diversity and patchy spatial distribution, provide an excellent study system for answering questions regarding population and community ecology. An added benefit is that age-based information can be readily obtained from bony structures (primarily otoliths) of specimens, facilitating a more detailed understanding of population dynamics within and among populations.
Life histories of reef fishes
Life-history traits are the cornerstone of population dynamics. However, data for both harvested and unharvested species on coral reefs is lacking. Because many traits have units of time (e.g., rates of growth/mortality/maturation), the study of reef-fish life history is contingent on using otoliths to derive the chronology of key parameters. Research aims are centered around deriving life-history parameters for species of interest, assessing the effects of both fishing and environment on traits as well as the influence of traits on vulnerability to overexploitation, and determining the influence of underlying phylogeny, biogeography and ecological characteristics on life-history variation.
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Demographic variation
Spatial and temporal variation is often a confounding factor in ecology and understanding the magnitude and patterns of variation is critical. Combining life-history data with high-resolution fish length data from broad-scale population surveys (facilitated by stereo-video technology) and reconstructing decades of growth patterns through otolith biochronologies both provide considerable insight. Recent work across the Indoo-Pacific has highlighted the differing effects of human extraction (i.e., fishing), island morphology, predation, and environmental variability on reef-fish demography. These processes are often manifested at different spatial and temporal scales.
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Community Ecology
The diversity of fish species found within and across habitats on coral reefs is comparatively high. The interactions among species, the structure of distinct assemblages and the environmental drivers of communities are all major topics in coral-reef ecology. I am broadly interested in the spatial structuring of fish assemblages and the effects of multi-species fisheries (where many species are targeted at variable rates) on reef-fish communities.
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Movement and spawning dynamics
Movement has emerged as an important topic both for understanding the ecology of reef fishes and managing fisheries. Rapid advancements in technology (primarily in acoustic telemetry) have facilitated greater resolution in movement studies. Much of this work is focused on habitat use and spatial distribution with regards to marine protected areas and temporally predictable migrations to and from spawning aggregations.
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