Bret S. Danilowicz
Professor of Biology
Dean
Allen E. Paulson College of Science & Technology
My
students and I work together in exploring the ecology of fish. We generally
use nested spatial scales in field sampling 
programs,
supplemented by laboratory-based analyses, to explore the dispersal of
ichthyoplankton (eggs and larvae of fish), and the consequences of this
dispersal on the ecology of fish populations and assemblages. Field-based
programs include collections and surveys using a combination of diving,
and sampling from small and large vessels. Our laboratory-based analyses
include otoliths increment analyses (for growth and age estimates), otolith
composition, enumeration of ichthyoplankton samples, and most importantly-
statistics! Generally, my students use multivariate analytical and statistical
techniques to infer the movement of fish, and to place their findings
into the context of metapopulation biology. Please see my mini-CV
for additional details about my research.
All of my current students are still at University College Dublin, Ireland
(where I worked the last 7.5 years), although several will be visiting
Georgia Southern in the near future. As I have only recently returned
to the States, most of my research remains international in focus. However,
I will become more involved in research exploring marine fisheries in
Georgia, and I expect to start taking new graduate students and/or post-docs
into my lab starting in 2005/06.
To give you some understanding of my research interests, I have listed
synopses of a few of the ongoing research projects in my laboratory below:
BIOMEX, CODTRACE, & REEF CONNECTIVITY.
This
project will investigate the efficiency of Marine Protected Areas (MPAs;
also called herein ‘marine reserves’) as sources of biomass.
The main objective is to assess the export of fisheries-related biomass
from MPAs to surrounding areas. Measures of efficiency of MPAs for biomass
export will be based on a multidisciplinary approach that will include
biological and fisheries aspects. In this project, we consider MPAs as
a management tool for sustainable fisheries in areas open to fishing.
While sometimes not the main focus for establishing marine reserves in
the Mediterranean, the ideas of protecting breeding stocks, improving
recruitment to neighboring areas, or restocking marine species of commercial
interest have often been put forward as important goals. However, to date,
no study has been carried out in Europe, and few elsewhere, to assess
the value of MPAs as sources of biomass to surrounding fisheries, although
this is certainly a crucial point. This project will focus on the export
of biomass of fish species. Ciara O’Leary and Jennifer Lawson are
my students currently working on the project.
Cod
is one of the European Union's most economically important fish species,
yet as 
cod
cannot be traced to their origin, problems arise with stock management
and consumer safety. This project will develop the methodology to establish
the location of spawning and of harvest of individual cod. Objectives
will be achieved through the use of multiple tracing techniques followed
by multivariate statistics. These techniques include body morphometry,
otolith morphometry, otolith core chemistry, otolith surface chemistry,
genetic analysis of fish tissue (allozyme, mtDNA, Syp I and microsatellite),
fish parasite and bacterial assemblages, and molecular markers for specific
fish bacteria. Research findings will be placed in a context of EU Common
Fisheries Policy and law. Ruth Higgins is my student and working on this
project, and Bry Wilson is a post-doc on the project who I co-supervise
with Wim Meijer (UCD).
Most
species of reef-fishes are ‘attached’ to a specific reef.
While not held in place by strings of glue, fish behaviorally do move
between reefs during as juveniles or adults. But most reef fish also have
a ‘dispersive’ larval stage, a life-stage with the capacity
to move long distances among reefs. Researchers have traditionally used
numerical models to describe how larval fish move among coral reefs, but
measurement of swimming capacity and behavior of these larvae suggests
that many do not disperse among reefs and instead may remain close to
a reef for the duration of their larval phase. This project, funded by
the World Bank Global Environment Facility, will try to qualify and quantify
the movement of fish among reefs in the Mesoamerican Barrier Reef System
(MBRS). A wonderful aspect of this project is that it is intended to be
a capacity-building project for researchers in the MBRS region; therefore
researchers and students from the region will be brought into the project
for a two-way exchange of knowledge, technology and results. Cormac Nolan
is my student working on this project, who will be co-supervised with
Tas Crowe (UCD). The website for this project is yet to be developed,
but when it is available I will place its link here.