Staff Research Associate
I have a BS in Biology from Western Washington University in Bellingham, WA an MS in Marine Science from Moss Landing Marine Laboratories in Moss Landing, CA. My Master's project was a study of biases associated with scat analysis in the Pacific harbor seal. I conducted captive feeding experiments at MWVCRC in 2003 with seals held at the facility (thanks for the support!). Most of my work focused on improving estimates of salmon consumption by pinnipeds, because salmon are threatened and/or endangered in many parts of the West coast of the US. Salmonid otoliths (ear bones) are so small that they are rarely found in scat samples, thus estimates of pinniped impacts on these important fish are hard to make. I also worked on improving consumption models for the entire harbor seal population, which fisheries managers can now incorporate into their estimates.
My current role at MWVCRC is research assistant with the Central California Seabird Health Study. I am working to provide information on the demographics of local seabirds in Monterey Bay, and identify baseline disease and other mortality factors such as oil spills, fishery interactions, and oceanographic variability. To do this I work with the Monterey Bay National Marine Sanctuary's BeachCOMBERS program, in cooperation with local rehab facilities to collect and necropsy local seabirds. Therefore, most of my time is spent with dead birds at the moment, but I guess it's better than harbor seal scat!
Interesting tidbit: I spent 6 months in Australia in 1997!