My research focuses on the effects of climate on marine living resources (exploited as well as protected species) and ecosystems. We conduct field and retrospective studies to determine how climate impacts ecosystems today and over the past 50 years.

I feel that climate change is the largest threat to global environmental security during this century. By using my expertise in oceanography, marine ecosystem dynamics, and ocean technology, I have been able to lead teams of investigators to new discoveries about the impacts of climate on marine living resources and ecosystems.

We have retrospectively analyzed long-term data sets that have allowed us to identify new modes of climate variability that impact large marine ecosystems in the North Atlantic. We have also begun major new efforts to develop ocean observing systems to monitor future changes in marine living resources and ecosystems in the Pacific Ocean.

We have made major progress in identifying two modes of climate variability that impact marine ecosystems from the Labrador Sea to Cape Hatteras, North Carolina. This has resulted in predictive models that will be useful to managers of commercial fisheries and protected cetacean species in the northwest Atlantic. The ocean observatories will let us collect new data in the Pacific and use them in predictive models for marine ecosystem forecasting.

Marine Living Resources & Ecosystems

• Other Federal non-USDA (e.g., NSF, NIH, DOA, DOD)
• Kohala Center

• Andrew Pershing
• Bruce Monger
• John Horne
• David Mountain
• Peter Smith