Rachel O. Brooks
Geographic variation in the life history and demography of Canary Rockfish, Sebastes pinniger, along the U.S. West Coast
Rachel graduated from the University of California, San Diego (UCSD) in 2015 with a B.S. in Marine Biology. During her time at UCSD, Rachel worked at the Scripps Institution of Oceanography as a research technician where she dissected and collected life history information on a variety of reef fishes from the Northern Line Islands. Rachel later worked with PhD student, Noah Ben-Aderet on his research studying the life history and spatial movements of Yellowtail (Seriola lalandi) in the Southern California Bight. For her senior thesis, Rachel investigated using stable isotope analysis to determine general catch location (offshore vs. inshore) of Yellowtail (Seriola lalandi) in the Southern California Bight.
Rachel joined the Ichthyology Lab at Moss Landing Marine Laboratories (MLML) in the fall of 2016. Her research interests included general life history and the top-down effects of fishing pressure on fish communities. Her thesis project entitled Geographic variation in the life history and demography of Canary Rockfish, Sebastes pinniger, along the U.S. West Coast examined the latitudinal patterns in size- and age- structure, growth, maturity, condition, and mortality, in addition to identifying biologically relevant population breakpoints along the coastline.
Although not an “official” member of the Fisheries and Conservation Biology Lab at MLML, Rachel enjoys crashing their lab meetings every other week and working for the California Collaborative Fisheries Research Project (CCFRP) as statewide coordinator!
