Offshore and deep-sea ecosystems are dynamic, complex systems that are increasingly threatened by a range of human activities. In the Seascape Ecology lab at Nova Southeastern University, our research focuses on understanding the spatial and temporal distributions of deep-sea fishes both in the water column and at the seafloor; how deep-sea fishes and other mobile taxa create connections between different ecosystems; and on understanding how we can use this information to better predict and manage the effects of future change.

In the Seascape Ecology lab, we make use of a wide range of quantitative tools to prepare, process and analyse large datasets of field-survey data. Primarily using R software, we work with video and photographic datasets as well as physical (e.g. trawl-caught) sample data to better understand spatial and temporal patterns of deep-sea fish populations and assemblages, and to infer the underlying drivers of those observed patterns.