Research Interests:

My primary research interests can be broadly classified under the theme of relationships between organisms and their physical environment. This means I get excited about how a late winter can keep temperatures low and prevent butterflies from growing in time to reproduce before the summer ends, how dust from Africa can fertilize the rainforest in South America, and how too little wind can cause too little food for seabirds on the California coast.

I have focused my research in marine systems, because they are relatively understudied compared to land-based ecology, and because they are so fascinating and non-intuitive to a land-lubbing creature such as myself. I feel marine systems contain almost all the features of land-based ecosystems, with added complexity of everything moving, all the time, and in very complicated ways.

I began studying ecology as an undergraduate in the Ecology and Evolutionary Biology program at Stanford with advisor Dr. Carol Boggs. I had the opportunity to work with Jessica Hellman (Asst. Prof in Biology, Notre Dame University) on projects concerning the fate of the endangered Bay Checkerspot Butterfly. I conducted an honors thesis entitled "The Foraging Habits of the Plumbeous Vireo and Western Tanager in Southwest Ponderosa Pine Forest" as part of a larger prescribed burn study in conjunction with Dr. Paul Bier of Northern Arizona University. I started study of marine ecology as staff biologist on Alcatraz Island studying resident seabird interactions with the surrounding San Francisco Bay, with Julie Thayer and Dr. Bill Sydemen at PRBO Conservation Science (Point Reyes Bird Observatory).

Since that first job, I have been lucky enough to help design and participate in many marine-based ecology research projects, including study of Least Tern Foraging in San Francisco Bay (w/ Meredith Elliott), Adélie Penguin ecology on Ross Island, Antarctica (w/ Grant Ballard and David Ainley), and most recently study of marine protected area design and trophic link ecology in the Gulf of the Farallones, California (w/ Jaime Jahncke and Bill Sydeman).

Research Projects:

Sea Ice Algae Spatial Ecology in the Southern Ocean. I am constructing a new model of sea ice algal production in Southern Ocean pack ice with Kevin Arrigo. The model is forced by satellite measurements of sea ice concentration, sea ice temperature, and snow depth over ice, as well as my climatologies of surface air temperature, pressure, wind speed, humidity, cloud cover, sea surface temperature, and nutrient concentrations all in order to support the physics of growing ice and creating a realistic ice environment for algae to grow. I will use this model to better constrain the carbon budget of the seasonally-ice covered Southern Ocean, and to investigate the availability of food to Antarctic krill (Euphausia superba, Euphausia crystallorophias), which are keystone species.

Krill movement and seasonal variability in the Gulf of the Farallones, California. I have been a part of a PRBO Conservation Science project to study MPA design and trophic linkages in the Gulf of the Farallones for the past three years. My responsibilities include Operation, interpretation, and analysis or acoustic data taken with a Simrad EK-60 biological echosounder. In this system, as in the Southern Ocean, krill are keystone species upon which many other animals depend for food, including seabirds, salmon, and many others. I identify and quantify krill from surveys aboard the R/V John H. Martin (Moss Landing Marine Lab), and I am beginning to build knowledge about both the seasonal and daily time scale ecology of these pelagic animals.

Personal:

My partner Kirsten Saenz Tobey co-founded Revolution Foods, an innovative company aimed at improving the health of school-age children.

I enjoy exploring and photography in outside places. Some of my photos can be seen at www.whimbrel.com, a website usually in a state of disrepair.

Links:

If you didn't get here through the lab website, please have a look at ocean.stanford.edu to learn more about the Arrigo Lab.

NASA Earth Sciences: My work with ice algal production is supported by a NASA Earth Sciences Graduate Fellowship.

The Monterey Bay Aquarium Research Institute (MBARI) is an ocean research organization with a fantastic research website. Senior scientist Francisco Chavez has been an amazing mentor to me since before graduate school.