Fisheries and Conservation Biology Lab

Alumna Erin Loury ’11 featured in Diversity in Action magazine

Lauren Cooley

During her tenure at MLML, alumna Erin Loury ’11 researched the impacts of marine protected areas (MPAs) on the trophic ecology of gopher rockfish. In the decade since she graduated, Erin has conducted research on fisheries throughout the world and now works as the Communications Director & Fisheries Biologist at the environmental consulting company FISHBIO.

Erin’s marine science career path is one of several highlighted in the latest issue of Diversity in Action magazine. Read the article here.

California Sea Grant story highlights collaborative MPA research led by SJSU/MLML

Lauren Cooley

Just beyond California’s kelp forests, patches of rock and sandy seafloor stretch from 100-300 ft deep in what scientists call the mid-depth rocky reef ecosystem. This zone comprises around 75% of the state’s ocean, but its depth makes it a hard area for researchers to access—and one of the most understudied of the near-shore ecosystems.

SJSU/MLML researchers Dr. Rick Starr and Dr. Amanda Kahn are leading a long-term monitoring project that combines state-of-the-art ROVs and video landers with historical data including old photos and research accounts to shed some light on this understudied zone. The project contributes to a larger effort to study the effects of marine protected areas in California. In a three-year study funded by the Ocean Protection Council, California Sea Grant and the California Department of Fish and Wildlife, scientists across the state are comparing changes in marine populations inside and outside of Marine Protected Areas (MPAs).

Read more about this exciting ongoing research in the California Sea Grant story.

Photos courtesy of Rick Starr.

Graduate student Bonnie Basnett featured on Fisherwomen podcast

Lauren Cooley

Graduate student Bonnie Basnett was recently interviewed on the Fisherwomen podcast. Bonnie’s research through the SJSU/MLML Fisheries & Conservation Biology Lab examines diet variation in the lingcod, a large benthic fish species native to the West Coast. In the podcast interview with host Katie Osborn, Bonnie discusses collaborating with sportfishing guides, fieldwork logistics, and why lingcod are such fascinating animals to study.

Listen to the podcast episode here or wherever you get your podcasts.

Shelby Ziegler joins MLML as postdoctoral research associate

Lauren Cooley

We would like to extend a warm welcome to new SJSU/MLML postdoctoral research associate Dr. Shelby Ziegler! Shelby just completed her PhD at the University of North Carolina Institute of Marine Sciences where her research focused on coastal habitats and fish communities.

At MLML, she will be working with the Fisheries & Conservation Biology and Ichthyology Labs on a project evaluating the performance of the statewide Marine Protected Areas system for enhancing fisheries production and communities. Welcome to Moss Landing, Shelby!

Thesis Defense by Jen Chiu – August 17th, 2018

Kimberly Elson

Diets and stable isotope signatures of Yellowtail Rockfish (Sebastes flavidus) in central California

A Thesis Defense by Jen Chiu

Fisheries & Conservation Biology Lab

Friday, August 17th, 2018 at 12pm

MLML Seminar Room

Jen Chiu is a Master’s student under Dr. Rick Starr in the Fisheries and Conservation Biology Lab.  She graduated from the University of California, Santa Barbara with a B.S. in Ecology and Evolution and a minor in Asian American Studies.  During her time at UCSB, she assisted with research focusing on the non-consumptive effects of predators on prey in the intertidal zone, coupled with the effects of climate change and habitat complexity.  Prior to beginning her graduate work at MLML, she assisted with fisheries ecology research in the Gulf of Mexico, as well as studied the distribution and biomass of benthic invertebrates in the San Francisco Bay.  In addition to her conducting her thesis work, Jen has been a part of the California Collaborative Fisheries Research Program (CCFRP) throughout her entire time at MLML.  She currently serves as the Lead Field Scientist for MLML and the Statewide Coordinator for the program, where she is responsible for managing the MPA monitoring efforts of all academic partners across the state.  She plans to continue her involvement with CCFRP after her defense.

Thesis Abstract:

Studies of fish diets can be used to improve the understanding of feeding habits, trophic distributions, and the predatory role of a species in an ecosystem.  Identifying the spatial and temporal variability in the diets of fishes can provide useful information for stock assessments and fisheries management. Yellowtail Rockfish (Sebastes flavidus) are an important part of the U.S. west-coast commercial groundfish fishery, and abundant along the central California coast.  The most recent studies of Yellowtail Rockfish diets occurred over 20 years ago and originated primarily from studies in Oregon and Washington.  To provide more current information on trophic ecology from California, I examined the food habits of Yellowtail Rockfish collected near Cordell Bank, the Farallon Islands, and Half Moon Bay in 2013 and 2014 using gut content and stable isotope analyses. Yellowtail Rockfish analyzed in this study were semi-pelagic predators, feeding primarily on tunicates, crustaceans, and teleosts.  Based on δ15N values, fish caught in 2013, on average, were feeding at lower trophic levels than those caught in 2014.  δ13C values indicated that fish caught at the northern-most sites were feeding on more pelagic-influenced carbon sources, while those caught at the southern-most sites were feeding on more benthic-influenced carbon sources.  Yellowtail Rockfish in central California can be described as opportunistic feeders because predation patterns were temporally localized, and diets consisted mostly of transitory prey sources.  The Yellowtail Rockfish diet information presented in this study fills data gaps of a key life history component, and will be useful for future stock assessments.

Watch Jen Chiu’s Thesis Defense below:

Recent graduate, Christian Denney, publishes MLML thesis research

Kimberly Elson

MLML recent graduate Christian Denney of the Fisheries and Conservation Biology Lab is first author on a recently published study based on his thesis research.  Ryan Fields and Dr. Richard Starr from MLML and Mary Gleason of The Nature Conservancy co-authored this study, titled: Development of New Methods for Quantifying Fish Density Using Underwater Stereo-video Tools.