Rachel Brooks
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 under the supervision of Dr. Stuart Sandin in his Coral Reel Ecology Lab at the Scripps Institution of Oceanography. As an undergraduate researcher, Rachel assisted with dissecting and collecting life history information on a variety of reef fishes form 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 in the Southern California Bight.
Rachel joined the Ichthyology Lab at Moss Landing Marine Laboratories (MLML) in the fall of 2016. Her research interests include general life history and the top-down effects of fishing pressure on fish communities. For her thesis, Rachel is examining the spatial variability in life history and demography of Canary Rockfish (Sebastes pinniger) along the U.S. West Coast. For the past two years, she has been working collaboratively with sportfishing boat captains, deckhands and volunteer anglers to collect fishery-independent data for Canary Rockfish across high-relief rocky reef habitats.
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. When she's not in the lab, you can find Rachel diving, hiking, and baking!
