For the past 35+ years my research has focused on the role that variation in the attributes of marine habitats and landscapes play in mediating the diversity, distribution, abundance and ecological interactions of marine and estuarine fishes. Understanding the impacts of human activities, as well as evaluating management approaches that allow both the conservation and sustainable use of marine biological diversity are an important applied focus. Indeed we invest in bringing science to the management and policy arena - at local, state, regional, national and international levels - to explain current research results and inform decision-makers. My students, colleagues and I use approaches from population and community ecology as well as from the disciplines of landscape ecology and animal behavior. Our studies have been conducted at diverse locations around the world and range from small estuaries and nearshore reefs to outer continental shelf and deep sea regions. However, a primary geographic focus has been the waters off the coast of the northeast United States. Projects are focused in four broad areas:
1. Ecology of Fishes
• Landscape scale variation of diversity, distribution, abundance and ecological interactions within communities and by key species
• Movement patterns of fishes in relation to seafloor landscapes
• Species interactions (with an emphasis on facilitative interactions) mediating ecological processes in reef fish communities
2. Ecological Effects of Human Uses of the Sea
• Effects of fishing on habitat, species interactions, and diversity
• Ecosystem approaches to ocean management based on community and landscape ecology
• Data products and decision support tools for managers
3. Role of Marine Protected Areas (MPAs)
• Performance of MPAs in temperate and tropical seas
• Identifying species at risk of extirpation within MPAs
• Assessing and predicting the population status of rare species
• MPA planning tools and approaches
4. Applications of Underwater Vehicles and Imaging Technologies
• Rapid quantitative processing of underwater image products
• Avoidance of vehicles by vagile fauna and implications for survey metrics
• Remote cameras for point sampling of habitat use and behavior
1. Ecology of Fishes
• Landscape scale variation of diversity, distribution, abundance and ecological interactions within communities and by key species
• Movement patterns of fishes in relation to seafloor landscapes
• Species interactions (with an emphasis on facilitative interactions) mediating ecological processes in reef fish communities
2. Ecological Effects of Human Uses of the Sea
• Effects of fishing on habitat, species interactions, and diversity
• Ecosystem approaches to ocean management based on community and landscape ecology
• Data products and decision support tools for managers
3. Role of Marine Protected Areas (MPAs)
• Performance of MPAs in temperate and tropical seas
• Identifying species at risk of extirpation within MPAs
• Assessing and predicting the population status of rare species
• MPA planning tools and approaches
4. Applications of Underwater Vehicles and Imaging Technologies
• Rapid quantitative processing of underwater image products
• Avoidance of vehicles by vagile fauna and implications for survey metrics
• Remote cameras for point sampling of habitat use and behavior