top of page

Available Projects
2025

The following projects are currently available in the Seascape Ecology lab, and open to current or new MS Marine Science & MS Marine Biology students at Nova Southeastern University. Data for the following projects are already available, and you will work with Zan Milligan and other lab members to learn the necessary tools and techniques as you go. The list is updated regularly as new opportunities and datasets become available, so check back often if you're interested:

​

CORE TOPIC: DEEP-PELAGIC FAUNA OF THE GULF OF MEXICO

The Deepwater Horizon Oil Spill (DWHOS; April 2010) was a globally unprecedented event, which released an estimated 5 million barrels of crude oil into the deep waters of the Gulf of Mexico from a depth of 1500 m. With extremely limited pre-spill data for the deep-pelagic realm, DWHOS prompted extensive research efforts to better understand the dynamic structure, function, and potential vulnerability of the Gulf ecosystems to disturbance. Through this research, we continue to monitor the deep-pelagic fauna in the Gulf of Mexico region, and are developing models and tools to better understand the distributions, population structures, and vulnerabilities of the deep-living pelagic fauna so that we can develop better management tools for the offshore region. We still have many unanswered questions, and there is a need to develop better predictive tools that are applicable to the future management of pelagic ecosystems. Some potential project topics are provided below:

​​

Has there been a regime shift in the offshore Gulf of Mexico?

We now have evidence from 15 years of survey data to suggest that there has been a substantial decrease in the numbers of deep-living micronekton in the Gulf of Mexico, with limited evidence that the fauna are recovering. However, it is not clear whether other ecological metrics have changed alongside this numeric decline (e.g., species composition, size structure, biodiversity, biomass), and so there are several potential projects available that fall under this topic. Can we identify indicators of wider ecological change? Which taxa and metrics do / do not change concurrently with the abundance decline? Is there evidence for changes in population structure in certain species? 

​​

Identifying Drivers of Pelagic Biodiversity & Behaviors

One of the major oceanographic influences in the Gulf of Mexico is the Loop Current and its associated eddies and freshwater run-off associated with the Mississippi River. However, there are several potential drivers and predictors of faunal distributions that warrant further research (e.g., the effects of fronts, estimates of light levels, ocean color, currents, identifying abiotic tolerance limits in different taxa), and there is scope for new projects in this area to develop and assess measures that can be applied to species distribution mapping efforts and assemblage-level analyses. 

​

Current projects on this topic:

  • Meta Hughes (MS thesis): The influence of lunar light on the vertical distributions of the myctophid Hygophum taaningi

​

3D Species Distribution Maps

Understanding where different species live, and the abiotic, biotic and spatial processes that drive observed changes in pelagic fishes is key to improving our predictions of future ecosystem states. Using the DEEPEND abundance, biomass and length biotic data and metadata, there are opportunities to develop models describing the horizontal and vertical distribution patterns and occurrences of key taxa in relation to major oceanographic features and abiotic variables, changes through time, and life history patterns. Similarly, understanding and comparing the strengths and weaknesses of different analytical tools (e.g., GAMMs vs. Random Forests vs. MAXENT) will provide valuable insight when planning future offshore surveys both within the Gulf of Mexico and beyond. 

​

Previous projects on this topic: 

​

Quantifying Carbon Flux through the Water Column

Carbon sequestration is one of the major ecosystem services provided by migratory mesopelagic taxa, with an estimated global annual value of $300 - 900 billion USD. Quantifying the spatial and temporal patterns of carbon flux within the Gulf of Mexico in relation to major abiotic variables and known ontogenetic changes in vertical distribution patterns will allow a better understanding of the relative importance of different taxa in different oceanic regions will allow for better management decisions to be made when valuing marine resources for exploitation or conservation. 

​

Previous projects on this topic:

Biodiversity patterns of Deep-Pelagic Fishes

The deep Gulf of Mexico contains a highly diverse fauna, however relatively little is understood about the drivers and stability of that biodiversity through time. There is scope to use our existing datasets to further examine changing patterns of biodiversity in the fishes of the Gulf of Mexico, and/or for capstone projects examining the theoretical bases for the creation of high levels of biodiversity within the highly dynamic, and highly connected deep-pelagic realm, and what the potential importance of rare species may be. 

​​

Previous projects on this topic: 

​

Functional Ecology of Deep-Pelagic Fishes

Functional ecology is an emerging field that focuses on understanding the roles that different individuals play within an ecosystem, with the intention that functional traits should link more directly with ecosystem functioning than more indirect metrics like taxonomic identify. However, while it is often extremely challenging to identify functional roles for deep-sea organisms, there is likely a great deal that we can learn from studying patterns in individual body sizes and morphology for example, and scaling these to higher organizational levels. Examples of potential projects in this area include the following topics:

​​

Body Size Trends and Size Spectrum Analyses

Marine pelagic assemblages are strongly structured by body size which in turn is strongly linked to the metabolic theory of ecology. Given the relative lack of information regarding functional and life-history traits in most deep-living fauna, proxy measures such as body size offer a potentially valuable, easy-to-obtain metric for assessing changes in assemblage or population structures over time or in response to changing conditions or human impacts. However, while these tools have been successfully used to examine the effects of coastal fisheries impacts, it is not clear how they may be applied to deep-pelagic systems more generally. Within this topic area, projects are available to address these data gaps, including:

 

  1. What data are needed to accurately determine the size structure of the fish fauna? Do sampling and storage (e.g., fixation) methods affect comparisons? Can we correct for sampling effects? 

  2. How does the size-structure of the fish assemblage / population vary over time / with depth / in relation to major environmental features in the Gulf of Mexico? Do the observed patterns match theoretical predictions?

  3. Do different gear types (i.e., high-speed rope trawl vs. MOCNESS) produce consistent results?

​

Previous projects on this topic:

​

Computer-Aided Image Classification of Micronekton 

Through the DEEPEND project, we have amassed the largest collection of deep-living pelagic fishes in the world, but identifying the fauna from this highly speciose region requires extensive taxonomic expertise. In these projects, we can make use of the DEEPEND specimen collections to generate photographic image banks in collaboration with Prof. Tracey Sutton and his lab. Under these projects, we can explore the potential benefits in using computer-assisted imaging tools to examine patterns and trends in the morphology of the deep-pelagic fishes within the Gulf of Mexico assemblage and link them to potential functional traits.  

​​

Previous projects on this topic:

Computer-generated outlines of fishes from our deep-sea fish collection from the Gulf of Mexico

Computer-drawn outlines of Gulf of Mexico fishes. Created by Mikayla Twiss 

bottom of page