Students & Postdocs: research interests

For information on Jaime, see his website at http://www.math.ualberta.ca/~ashander/

In general terms, I am interested in how temporal environmental variability and trophic interactions affect population dynamics and community structure.  Within this framework, I aim to understand what combinations of marine resource management practices (e.g., conventional fisheries management, no-take marine reserves) provide the best outcomes in terms of maintaining population persistence, fishery yield, and ecosystem function.  I have a background in fish biology, marine ecology, and statistical modeling, but I am now primarily using dynamic mathematical modeling approaches to address the above objective. 

For more information about my current and past research, see my personal website: http://lewisbarnett.wordpress.com/ 

I am broadly interested in how dispersal, phenotypic selection, and phenotypic plasticity influence population dynamics and local adaptation. I try to combine theoretical and empirical approaches to answer questions. The empirical systems I have worked in are marine invertebrates such as bryozoans and corals. My PhD research investigated some causes and consequences of phenotype-dependent dispersal and how differences among individuals influence population dynamics and connectivity. My postdoc research here at UC Davis will develop theory on how gene flow, selection, and plasticity influence populations and apply the theory to salmon artificial propagation programs.

For more information, see:
http://www.des.ucdavis.edu/faculty/baskett/Burgess/ (Lab site)
http://scottburgessecology.wordpress.com/ (Personal site)

I am generally interested in the ecological processes responsible for resilience in marine communities. My dissertation research focuses on how seagrasses (marine angiosperms) respond to disturbance. In particular, I am investigating how habitat modification by eelgrass (Zostera marina) and other benthic ecosystem engineers mediates resilience to environmental perturbations.

For more information about Max, see his website at https://sites.google.com/site/mcastorani/