Senior Research Scientist at VIMS (Natural Resources)
My research focuses on understanding the biological and ecological processes that regulate fish early life history population dynamics. The early life history of fishes is a dynamic period with many factors governing rates of growth and mortality that help shape year class strength. Understanding the driving forces and variability that is observed in abundance of juvenile fishes is an important component of fisheries management. Since many marine fishes use estuaries and tidal waters as nurseries, most of my attention is on coastal systems. I incorporate modeling techniques and field based research to address ecological questions about recruitment variability.
My research focuses on understanding the biological and ecological processes that regulate fish early life history population dynamics. The early life history of fishes is a dynamic period with many factors governing rates of growth and mortality that help shape year class strength. Understanding the driving forces and variability that is observed in abundance of juvenile fishes is an important component of fisheries management. Since many marine fishes use estuaries and tidal waters as nurseries, most of my attention is on coastal systems. I incorporate modeling techniques and field based research to address ecological questions about recruitment variability.