Science lab

Biological Oceanography

We explore how bio-physical environmental conditions impact the behavior, movement, and population dynamics of marine animals.

Our lab studies the impact that environmental conditions and trophic interactions have on marine animals. We strive to learn how distribution and abundances may change in the future, and to provide advice to better manage ecosystem resources. We combine a wide array of observations with advanced modeling techniques to get to a multitrophic understanding of animal movement and behavior in the Gulf of Maine and beyond.

We aim to:

  • Understand how ocean conditions affect zooplankton, and how changes in their abundances or body conditions might affect higher trophic levels and the biological carbon pump.
  • Develop multitrophic approaches to understand the links between biophysical ocean conditions and higher trophic levels movements and migrations.
  • Sustain observations and data collection in the Gulf of Maine to better understand its ecosystem, using underwater gliders and other sampling techniques.

Lab Team

Our Methods

We use a combination of observational and modeling techniques to explore how ocean conditions impact marine life.

In the field, we deploy uncrewed systems (underwater gliders) to collect observations for weeks at a time, we sample zooplanktonic communities using plankton nets, and we tag sharks with a range of electronic tags. In the lab, we use statistical techniques to model and analyze the data we collected, but also data gathered from other sources, such as satellites, large-scale ocean models, or in situ observations from other collaborators. We also produce mechanistic models (numerical models based on simple principles) to better understand and quantify drivers of biological processes in the ocean.

  • Autonomous Underwater Vehicles
  • Statistical Modeling
  • Data Collection
  • Tagging Studies

Research Lab Projects

  • Ocean Gliders

    Ocean Gliders

    Ocean gliders, or uncrewed autonomous subsurface vehicles, can dive underwater to controlled locations and depths and collect critical data. We will use underwater gliders for …

  • Zooplankton and the Biological Carbon Pump

    Zooplankton and the Biological Carbon Pump

    We aim to quantify the importance of diapausing copepods to the global biological carbon pump, and its consequences for the Earth’s climate.

  • Shark Habitat Selection

    Shark Habitat Selection

    We investigated which scales were the most predictive of highly mobile predator habitat selection, for three shark species in particular: blue sharks, salmon sharks, and …