About the Seascape Ecology Lab

​​​At the Seascape Ecology lab at NSU, my research focuses on understanding:

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1. Spatial and temporal patterns in the distributions of mobile deep-sea animals (primarily fishes) and their underlying drivers across different scales;

2. How mobile taxa act to connect ecosystems;

3. Taxonomic and functional biodiversity of mobile deep-sea fauna; 

4. How deep-sea ecosystems are impacted by anthropogenic activities, and we might be able to predict and manage the effects of future change.

 

Within the lab, we conduct data analyses at the population and assemblage level, and make use of a variety of cutting-edge computational and statistical tools to prepare, process and analyze our data. Most of our current research is based on deep-pelagic datasets collected from a decade of trawl surveys in the Gulf of Mexico, though we do some work with deep-sea video and photographic data as well. Extensive datasets exist for all the student projects listed here, though additional opportunities for lab work may be available/required in some cases.

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Prospective Graduate Students: If you are interested in joining my lab for an MS or PhD degree, please reach out to me to discuss potential project options. Any available funding opportunities that are available for students will be posted here as they arise, but we have plenty of data for a variety of deep-sea ecology projects and I am always happy to support applications for graduate fellowships from excellent students (e.g., NSF graduate fellowships; Hertz graduate fellowships etc.).  Please note that NSU also offers opportunities for graduate students to apply for competitive internal scholarships with a value up to $20,000, and we have had a number of successful applicants for those through my lab. We also have a departmental fund to cover partial tuition costs for PhD students and are actively working to expand this program. Please reach out if you have any questions.

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Prospective Post-Doctoral Researchers: If you are a post-doctoral researcher and are interested in working with me, please reach out. Direct funding opportunities will be posted on this website as they arise, but I am also happy to support fellowship applications from excellent candidates (e.g., NSF Post-Doctoral Fellowships, Marie-Curie Fellows, Leverhulme Trust Research Fellows). 

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If you have any questions, would like more information, or have an idea for your own project that you think would fit the lab, please email Rosanna (Zan) Milligan at:

 

R.Milligan@nova.edu

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For a list of current projects and opportunities for graduate students please click here.

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