Kate Hanson

Marine Biodiversity: Understanding Threats & Providing Solutions IGERT
University of California, San Diego, Scripps Institution of Oceanography


I am a first year Biological Oceanography student at SIO. My previous research experience includes work on the Rogue River (Oregon) with the Wildlife Conservation Society employing biotelemetry to study the migratory patterns and habitat use of the green sturgeon Acipenser medirostris. My current research interests center around issues of larval transport. The local retention or long distance dispersal of larvae from a given population is a function of both physical and biological processes. I am interested in how larval behavior interacts with flow to influence the outcome of a populations reproductive export. Gaining knowledge about spatial and temporal variability in larval transport is critical to both fisheries management and marine reserve design. Understanding the exchange of individuals between populations may also inform the development of property-rights based economic management strategies, especially in areas where metapopulations span political boundaries. Before being advected to the left coast, this member of team IGERT spent her larval phase in New Jersey (a dead zone to some) and has certainly enjoyed shifting baselines toward life in La Jolla.

Click here to edit your profile