Coastal Ecosystem Transition Dynamics: Insights from Ecological Change

Dr. Smith is currently a Conservation Research Fellow at the Monterey Bay Aquarium: 
I am a community ecologist studying how species interactions shape the structure, functioning, and stability of nearshore marine ecosystems. I focus on temperate rocky reefs and am particularly interested in combining theory with observational and experimental approaches to understand how climatic perturbations (e.g., marine heatwaves) alter the behavioral responses of predators and herbivores, and how these interactions in-turn affect community and ecosystem dynamics. I received my Ph.D. degree from the University of California, Santa Cruz in Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, and conducted postdoctoral research at the National Center for Ecological Analysis and Synthesis. I am currently an Ocean Conservation Research Fellow at Monterey Bay Aquarium, where I am conducting research aimed at understanding mechanisms of kelp forest recovery.

Speaker: Joshua Smith, Monterey Bay Aquarium