Faculty Research Lightning Talk

From the Speaker:

During the last 13 years, most of my research has focused on the oceanography of the central Gulf of Mexico, particularly on drivers of larval fish community structure and dispersal and inferring nutrient sources using bulk and compound-specific stable isotope ratios as tracers. Specifically, my research has contributed to the understanding of the physical and biological processes that underlie larval fish abundance and distribution, their connectivity through physical transport processes, gulf-wide nitrogen sources, and the relationship between secondary production and oceanographic features such as mesoscale eddies, fronts, and convergent currents. I am also examining the implications of the offshore transport of the larvae of fish species that spawn in coastal and shelf habitats but are frequently captured in the deep-water region, as their dispersal could represent a population loss with potential negative impacts on the abundance of commercially important species. My research provides critical information for evaluating the response and resilience of the gulf’s pelagic ecosystems to climate change and other anthropogenic disturbances.