Past Projects

NSERC – Ecosystem oceanography

Core support for our research program ‘Ecosystem oceanography: understanding the dynamics of a changing ocean’ comes from the National Science and Engineering Research Council of Canada. The goal of this program is to analyze the causes and consequences of recent changes in marine food webs. Specifically, our lab will attempt to analyze the potentially complex interdependencies of observed changes in predator and plankton abundance throughout the world’s oceans.

Future of Marine Animal Populations Project (FMAP)

In this project we are exploring global patterns of species diversity in the world’s oceans, past, present, and future, as part of the Census of Marine Life. For more information visit the project website www.fmap.ca.

Finding common ground in marine conservation and management

In this working group at the National Center for Ecological Analysis and Synthesis (NCEAS), we are trying to bridge divergences between fisheries science and marine ecology by developing a common database and analytical framework for assessing marine fisheries and ecosystem change. We are then applying this framework to a number of representative marine ecosystems around the globe, assessing management successes and failures. The group is co-led by Boris Worm and Ray Hilborn (University of Washington).

Marine Extinction Project

In this project, which is supported by the Lenfest Ocean Program, we are trying to document how the abundance and spatial distribution of marine species have changed in response to fishing and habitat alteration over the past 50 years, and to project how they are likely to change in the future.

Trophic Cascades Project

In this project, also supported by the Lenfest Ocean Program, we are examining the global implications on marine ecosystems of the loss of top predators due to overfishing.