Marley Jarvis , PhD student

Research Interests: Broadly put, I am interested in the question of what makes a population persist through time.  I am particularly interested in populations of high commercial and ecological importance.  When thinking about population management on land, we often get to make the assumption that an assessment of where the current adults are is the same as where their young will be (the next generation).  However, we do not get to make this assumption in the sea, largely for two reasons. The first is that the watery nature of the ocean along with its many currents and complex oceanography can greatly increase transport of propagules in the sea.  The complex hydrodynamics of the ocean combined with the second reason, that many marine organisms have a highly mobile larval phase, means that the next generation of a population of interest has the potential to travel great distances in the ocean.  Most adults in marine populations have the potential to have started their lives far away, and to have their young swept equally far away.  Because of this, larval dispersal dynamics play an essential role in understanding why population sizes vary from year to year.  Key factors in determining population connectivity and dispersal dynamics include a better understand of the hydrodynamics experienced by dispersing and returning larvae, larval behavior, and improving larval tagging and tracing methods.  I will be working on the first of these in my time at the Oregon Institute of Marine Biology.  For my dissertation work with Dr. Alan Shanks I am studying the effects of near shore coastal oceanography on shore-bound larvae. I am especially interested in applying population connectivity information to issues in management such as fisheries yield and marine reserve design.

Advisor: Dr. Alan Shanks

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