Modeling the effects of environmental variability on marine zooplankton dynamics and production

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Climate change is profoundly affecting marine ecosystems, from the primary producers at the bottom of the food chain to large predators like fish and whales. We need to be able to anticipate future changes in order to sustainably manage our ecologically and economically important marine resources, including multi-billion dollar fisheries. In this regard, it is critical to understand how climate influences the dynamics and production of marine zooplankton, as they are key links in marine food chains, and their roles as both predator and prey regulate marine ecosystem structure and function. This work will develop and apply models to quantify how changes in the environment affect the population dynamics of marine zooplankton, with the goals of advancing zooplankton ecology, improving predictive capabilities and providing crucial information to policy makers and environmental managers.