Alexa Fredston-Hermann
fredstonhermann@ucsb.edu

Alexa is a third-year PhD student at the Bren School of Environmental Science & Management at UCSB. Her research focuses on biogeographic processes that may prevent species from tracking climate change, particularly in the oceans. She has also studied human impacts to coastal marine ecosystems, and participated in the Ridges to Reef Fisheries SNAPP Working Group. Before entering graduate school, she worked for the Environmental Defense Fund on management of the West Coast groundfish fishery, and graduated from Princeton University in 2012 with a B.A. in Ecology and Evolutionary Biology.

Seaver College of Science and Engineering Faculty Staff Headshots

Dr. Kam Dahlquist is an Associate Professor of Biology and Affiliate Faculty of the Bioethics Institute at Loyola Marymount University. Dr. Dahlquist earned a B.A. in Biology from Pomona College and a Ph.D. in Molecular, Cellular, and Developmental Biology from the University of California, Santa Cruz. Dr. Dahlquist performed postdoctoral research at the Gladstone Institute of Cardiovascular Disease at the University of California, San Francisco, and taught for two years at Vassar College before joining the LMU faculty in 2005. In her research, Dr. Dahlquist follows an interdisciplinary approach to understanding gene regulatory networks that involves cutting-edge techniques in genomics, mathematical, and computational biology. This research crosses over into her teaching in such courses as Molecular Biology of the Genome, Biomathematical Modeling, Biological Databases, and Bioinformatics Laboratory. She believes that her research and teaching must be informed by and contribute to a broader social context. She has worked with various groups such as the UCSF Science and Health Education partnership and the Association for Women in Science (AWIS) to improve science education for all and to increase the numbers of women and minorities in science. She believes strongly in training her students to apply ethical standards to the conduct of scientific research. Finally, she promotes an Open Science Ecosystem in which the process and products of science are open and accessible to all.

kdahlquist@lmu.edu

We synthesized information from visioning exercises across multiple Pacific Island archipelagoes (Hawaiʻi, Fiji, Solomon Islands, Marshall Islands) to better understand the perspectives of Pacific Islanders on characteristics of vibrant biocultural landscapes and seascapes. Based on this and a review of the literature, we identified key elements that describe a resilient biocultural state for Pacific Island communities. We are using these elements to identify if and how international sustainability goals capture local perspectives and values. We are also using these key elements to develop a community self-assessment guide. Finally, we are in the process of comparing indicators of biocultural resilience and their drivers across the Pacific Islands. We expect the results of our work will guide practices on sustainability and well-being that better resonate with communities and better reflect important connections between people and nature.

Eleanor Sterling
Chief Conservation Scientist
Center for Biodiversity and Conservation
American Museum of Natural History
200 Central Park West
New York, NY 10024
http://cbc.amnh.org/
sterling@amnh.org

Stacy Jupiter
Wildlife Conservation Society
Associate Conservation Scientist
Fiji Country Program Director
sjupiter@wcs.org

Rachel Dacks
University of Hawaii
rdacks@hawaii.edu

Salmon scientists frequently focus research on the link between salmon production and oceanographic conditions, but there is growing evidence that intraspecific and interspecific competition are also important. Pink salmon represent nearly 70% of all adult salmon returning from the North Pacific Ocean (~670 million fish in 2009) and their abundance has doubled since the mid-1970s ocean regime shift. The fixed two-year life cycle of pink salmon and their strong alternating-year pattern of abundance provides a unique opportunity to test hypotheses about competition at sea. In this presentation, I review evidence for competition, including its effects on salmon growth, age-at- maturation, and survival. Much of the evidence involves sockeye salmon, which typically spend two or three winters at sea and have high diet overlap with pink salmon. There is also evidence that pink salmon impact the growth, age, and survival of other species, such as Chinook salmon. Finally, I conclude that this evidence has important implications for large-scale hatcheries, which may contribute to a Tragedy of the Commons.

Speaker
Dr. Greg Ruggerone
Natural Resources Consultants, Inc.
gruggerone@nrccorp.com

Dr. Greg Ruggerone has investigated population dynamics, ecology, and management of Pacific salmon in Alaska and the Pacific Northwest since 1979. Much of his earlier experience stems from activities as Project Leader of the Alaska Salmon Program, University of Washington. His research typically involves factors affecting growth, age at maturation, and survival of salmon in freshwater and marine habitats. Lately, this research has focused on species interactions in the ocean, especially competition between pink salmon and other salmon. He is past Chair of the Columbia River Independent Scientific Advisory Board and past Chair of the Independent Scientific Review Panel, and he currently serves as an independent science reviewer for the California WaterFix Project.

Presenters are members of the RocketOutfall team – a group of 4 graduate students from the Bren School of Environmental Science and Management specializing in Pollution Prevention and Remediation and Conservation Planning.

Jonathan Grabowski, Ph.D.
J.Grabowski@northeastern.edu

 My research interests span issues in ecology, fisheries and conservation biology, social-ecological coupling, environmental policy, and ecological economics. I have used a variety of estuarine (oyster reef, seagrass, salt marsh, mud bottom) and marine (kelp bed, cobble-ledge) systems to examine how resource availability, habitat heterogeneity and predation risk affect population dynamics, community structure, and ecosystem functioning. Much of this work focuses on economically important species such as lobsters, cod, herring, monkfish, and oysters, and consequently is relevant for fisheries and ecosystem management. My lab also focuses on how habitat degradation and restoration influence benthic community structure, population structure, and the transfer of energy to higher trophic levels. In addition, we are interested in how fisheries management initiatives such as the design of closed areas, delineation of stock boundaries, fishing gear modifications, and quota setting impact fish population structure and fisheries productivity, essential fish habitat protection, community structure, and the social capital of stakeholders.

My lab’s research involves highly coupled social-ecological systems and integrates social and natural science approaches. For instance, we are examining the ecological consequences of shoreline hardening on ecosystem service provisioning while also investigating how the environmental connectedness of coastal residents influences their decision-making around this issue. We are also examining factors that influence coastal fishing communities’ perceptions of and trust in management to help improve their buy in and identify potential barriers. Finally, we are determining how factors such as urbanization and resource specialization influence the perceptions and values of coastal residents so that we can design more effective environmental policies around issues such as climate hazard preparedness and coastal habitat and resource management.

During the dry summer months, coastal shrubs in California receive little to no rain. However, shrub-dominated plant communities can be inundated by periodic fog events. I will be sharing my dissertation work examining the patterns of summer fog deposition, chemical make-up of fog and plant uptake of fog water. Come on by and let’s talk fog while reminiscing about those sunny summer months.

Speaker:
Nate Emery
Doctoral candidate
Department of Ecology, Evolution, and Marine Biology
University of California, Santa Barbara

This talk is an informal sketch of the emergent State of Alaska’s Salmon and People (SASAP) initiative, jointly told by many of the project’s leads. In addition to providing listeners with an understanding of the SASAP process, we aim to provide insights into our own motivations for joining the work, sketches of work in our laboratories, and a general sense of the importance of salmon to the overall health of Alaska.

Presenters: Peter Westley, Jessica Black, Courtney Carothers, and Tobias Schwoerer

Peter Westley
Assistant Professor
College of Fisheries and Ocean Sciences
University of Alaska Fairbanks
Web: http://www.uaf.edu/sfos/people/faculty/detail/index.xml?id=76
Email: pwestley@alaska.edu

Jai Ranganathan

Center Associate
National Center for Ecological Analysis and Synthesis
jai.ranganathan@gmail.com