Marine Conservation Ecology Lab

Department of Biology

San Diego State University
xxxxxxxxxxxHovel lab homexxxxxxxxxResearchxxxxxxxPeoplexxxxxxxxDr. HovelxxxxxxxxFacilitiesxxxxxxxxSDSU
People in the lab

Present graduate students

Former graduate students

Undergraduate interns & techs
Dr. Kevin Hovel

click here to see Dr. Hovel's background
Present graduate students (in random order)
 
Brian Cheng I began the MS program at SDSU in the Fall of 2005. Prior to graduate school I have worn several different hats, primarily as a quarantine aquarist at the Aquarium of the Pacific in Long Beach, CA and also as the lead aquarist at the Ocean Institute in Dana Point, CA.

I received my BS in Aquatic Biology from the University of California at Santa Barbara in 2001 and credit my introduction to marine science to Dr. Danielle Zacherl who trained me as a scientific research diver during her time there as a doctoral student. Just after graduation I was fortunate enough to join the Palmer LTER and work with Dr. Robin Ross and Dr. Langdon Quetin for two summer LTER cruises and for one season at Palmer Station, on the Antarctic Peninsula.

My research interests are generally linked to the ecology of marine invasions, in particular:

  • Pre- vs. post recruitment processes
  • Invasion resistance by native species
  • Invasion meltdown (facilitation by invaders)
  • Range limits (on multiple scales)

For more information about my research interests please click here or email me at bcheng1122@yahoo.com
Eliza Moore I'm originally from New England, and spent my undergraduate career studying biology at Northeastern University (NU) in Boston, Massachusetts. During my third year as an undergrad, I participated in the Three-Seas (formerly East-West) Marine Biology program, which is based at NU but open to students from any university. The program consists of graduate level field-based courses in marine science and emphasizes research techniques and independent discovery. I spent three months studying the rocky intertidal and salt marsh ecosystems along the New England coast based at NU's marine lab in Nahant, Massachusetts. I also spent three months at the Discovery Bay Marine Lab in Jamaica, studying coral reef ecology under high-caliber faculty from various universities where I designed and conducted my first independent research project.

Connections I made with faculty and graduate students in the Three-Seas program led to my securing an opportunity to spend the following summer at the Hawaii Institute of Marine Biology as a research technician for a marine biologist from Cal-State Northridge. I assisted in his research on hydrodynamics over turf algae on a reef flat and also conducted independent research looking at morphological differences in a coral species growing in both high and low wave energy areas. I continued this research the following summer as well and have presented my results in posters at the Benthic Ecology Meetings in 2004 and 2005.

After graduation in 2005, I stayed at NU for a couple months working as a technician and lab manager for a faculty member at our marine lab before moving to San Diego to begin my graduate studies in the fall of 2005. I'm studying how habitat structure in eelgrass beds affects the community composition of fishes and their prey (mobile epifauna) and the interactions between these organisms. Please click here for more information about my work and for any questions please email me at moore.eliza@gmail.com!

Katie Nichols
I graduated from the University of California, Santa Cruz in 2004. During my undergraduate work, I studied Environmental Science with a focus in Marine Ecology. I also worked in the intertidal lab for the Partnership of Interdisciplinary Studies of Coastal Oceans (PISCO) where I had my first taste of field research.

During my time as an undergrad, I participated in a variety of field research programs; including a course through the Denali Institute in Alaska, a semester in fisheries and wildlife management in Tasmania, Australia and a course in marine resource management in the Turks and Caicos through The School for Field Studies. In 2002, I took part in the Marine Ecology Field Quarter with Dr. Pete Raimondi and Dr. Giacomo Bernardi. While on this field quarter in Moorea, French Polynesia, I conducted an independent research project on the social behavior of a coral reef dwelling wrasse species.

Since the completion of my undergraduate degree, I spent one year working as a marine science educator at the Catalina Island Marine Institute (CIMI) and one year working as a program coordinator for the outdoor education department at the Ocean Institute in Dana Point, CA. I began the MS program at San Diego State in the fall of 2006. My research focuses on the top-down effects of the California spiny lobster and other predators on sea urchin populations in Southern California. For more information about the lobster research currently in progress in the Hovel lab click here. Feel free to contact me at nichols3@rohan.sdsu.edu.
Julia Coates

I began the Joint Doctoral Program in Ecology at SDSU in fall 2007. I am a San Diego native who grew up sailing and enjoying San Diego's beautiful coastal landscape. I completed a BA in Integrative Biology at UC Berkeley in 2000. I then spent some time at the University of Washington's Friday Harbor Laboratories as a student and employee studying fish ecology, fisheries science, and ichthyoplankton dispersal. There the influence of Dr. Donald Gunderson and Dr. Bruce Miller was critical in the development of my passion for coastal marine ecology and species management. I obtained a maters degree in the biological oceanography lab of Dr. Stephen Bollens at San Francisco State University. There I investigated the population dynamics of chaetognaths and nutritional condition of larval Pacific hake as they related to the two species' feeding success on their shared copepod prey.

Following graduate school I worked for over 2 years as an Associate Biologist at the environmental consulting firm, Merkel & Associates, Inc., here in San Diego. This was an invaluable experience allowing me to learn a great deal about the process of marine habitat and species resource management. I am interested in the connectivity and dispersal patterns of benthic marine invertebrates in the context of species management. I want to learn about how the habitat on the ground (habitat type, area, configuration, fragmentation) interacts with the relative dispersal ability of species and water column features to produce connected functioning populations.

Kira Withy-Allen

I was raised in Kailua, Hawaii, with the ocean as my playground. As I grew older, I became captivated by marine life and the unknowns of the underwater world. To determine whether my fascination with the ocean could lead to a potential career, I participated in internships at the Hawaii Institute of Marine Biology (HIMB) and Oceanic Institute (OI) while still in high school. I then ventured to the University of California, Santa Barbara (UCSB) to obtain a Bachelor of Science degree in aquatic biology.


While at UCSB, I worked as a marine outreach educator for the touch tank and floating laboratory programs. I was also the coordinator for the Blue Water Task Force Program of the Surfrider Foundation, in which we monitored harmful bacteria in local waters. I produced research on zooxanthellae genetics and fish shoaling behavior during an education abroad program with the Centre for Marine Studies at the University of Queensland in Australia. However, most of my time was spent as an assistant in the lab of Dr. Russell Schmitt and Dr. Sally Holbrook, studying temperate invertebrate ecology. As a result, I spent two summer field seasons assisting with coral research for the Long Term Ecological Research (LTER) Program in Moorea, French Polynesia.


Following graduation, I returned to Hawaii as a middle school science teacher at the University Laboratory School. During this time, I developed curriculum on symbiotic interactions of coral reef organisms with support from the Research Experience for Teachers (RET) Program and LTER Program of the National Science Foundation (NSF). I also was an outreach educator for the Waikiki Aquarium and a member of the NOAA/DOE Marine Science Teacher Advisory Committee. Additionally, I assisted in coral genetics research in association with the GK-12 program of the University of Hawaii at Manoa (UH).


Presently, I have returned to California to pursue a Master of Science degree in marine ecology. My research will explore movement behavior of the California spiny lobster, Panulirus interruptus. I will use tag recapture and telemetry techniques to identify movement patterns, and will develop a model that can describe these patterns. I will also investigate the emigration and immigration of lobsters from the La Jolla Ecological Reserve (LJER), and apply this to conservation management. Furthermore, I will be assessing whether an adjacent spillover fishery exists, and how this affects the spiny lobster population.


Interested in my research? Please contact me at withyall@rohan.sdsu.edu. I am eager to build partnerships with fishermen, teachers, and other researchers, so all inquiries are welcomed!
Ryan Jenkinson
 I have been fortunate to have the opportunity, both academically and professionally, to accumulate research experience in a variety of marine ecological systems using multiple taxa. I received my B.A. from Humboldt State University where much of my early field work experience involved subtidal macroinvertebrate surveys along the north coast of California. Following completion of my B.A. degree, I was able to continue subtidal invertebrate research with the Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife. I also expanded my research experience by becoming involved in fisheries management issues and worked marine finfish positions in nearshore waters of Oregon, the Bering Sea, and the Gulf of Alaska. I then began a series of positions examining pinniped foraging ecology, particularly the interaction of pinnipeds and endangered salmonids in bays and rivers of southern Oregon and northern California.

This early experience with marine mammal research led to my M.A. degree from Humboldt State University where my thesis examined the foraging ecology of gray whales in northern California. Following completion of my M.A. degree, I was able to gain research experience in tropical marine ecology. In 2001 I assisted with the sampling and assessment of coral health along reefs of southwestern Madagascar. I then spent two seasons in the Northwestern Hawaiian Islands where I was involved in at-sea prey sampling and on-island population assessment activities surrounding the endangered Hawaiian monk seal. Most recently I have been involved in pinniped and cetacean monitoring programs from the Channel Islands to the Bering Sea as part of the California Current Ecosystems Program at the National Marine Mammal Laboratory in Seattle, WA.

I look forward to returning to subtidal ecological research as part of the Joint Doctoral Program in Ecology at SDSU and UCD. I am interested in community ecology and biogeography, and my thesis research will examine the role of the commonly accepted trophic paradigm of top down forcing in subtidal rocky reef habitats in temperate marine communities. In particular, I hope to explore the ecological consequences of sea urchin-spiny lobster-sheephead interactions across a latitudinal gradient and the role of this trophic cascade in structuring the communities of nearshore temperate reefs south of Point Conception, California.
Former graduate students
Former students in the Hovel lab from 2001 - 2006. From left to right,top row: Brendan Reed (graduated 2005), Rachel Kushner (graduated 2006), and Danielle Healey (graduated 2005); bottom row: Jennifer Selgrath (graduated 2006), Thien Mai (graduated 2006), and Lindsday Sirota (graduated 2005). Information about their projects can be found on our research page.
Jennifer Selgrath
Jenny graduated with her masters in 2006, and is now a PhD student at the University of British Columbia in Canada. More information on her thesis on the effects of habitat fragmentation on American lobster ecology can be found by clicking here.
Rachel Kushner
Thien Mai Rachel completed her thesis on Asian mussel ecology in 2006. She now is in law school in San Diego. More on here thesis work an be found by clicking here.
Thien completed his thesis on California spiny lobster habitat use in 2006. More about his project can be found by clicking here. Thien now works at the University of California at Davis.

Born and raised in San Diego, I was lucky enough to have an ocean oriented family. I grew up diving, fishing and surfing in the San Diego area, which led to an interest in marine science. I began my college career as an undergraduate at SDSU as part of the Grant family scholarship program in the fall of 2001. In my sophomore year I decided to enroll in the scientific diving course, where I met former graduate student Thien Mai, who was interested in doing research on California spiny lobsters. After becoming friends, I decided it would be interesting to help Thien with his project, as I had trapped and dove for lobsters in San Diego when I was younger. While diving with Thien for two years, I decided to undertake my own undergraduate project on spiny lobster shelter colonization.


After receiving my B.S. in May of 2005, I was asked by Dr. Kevin Hovel if I would like to stay on in the lab as a graduate student. Dr. Hovel had just gotten funding from California Sea Grant for a spiny lobster shelter use and movement project in conjunction with Dr. Chris Lowe at Cal State Long Beach. In addition to staying in the lab and working on this interesting project, I decided to branch out and pursue my own interest in marine protected areas (MPAs). For my personal research I conducted a study comparing lobster behavioral differences in the Point Loma kelp forest and the no-take La Jolla Ecological Reserve. I defended my thesis in 2006 and I have submitted my thesis work for publication.


My future interests include environmental and fisheries law, policy and management, from the local to the international level. For more information about my research please click here or feel free to email me at cllongboard@yahoo.com

 Chad Loflen

KAH January 16, 2008

This page has been accessed times since I created it on October 19, 2001 Web counter
The statements found on this page/site are for informational purposes only. While every effort is made to ensure that this information is up to date and accurate, official information can be found in the university publications. Comments can be addressed to Kevin Hovel at: hovel@sciences.sdsu.edu