SEEDS: Newsletter > Volume 4, Issue 2 - March 2006

SEEDS Highlights

Undergraduate Research Fellowship Mentor: Hunter Lenihan

My name is Hunter Lenihan and I am an Assistant Professor at the University of California at Santa Barbara in the Donald Bren School of Environmental Science and Management. I have enjoyed very much participating as a SEEDS Fellowship mentor and look forward to future interactions with this unique and important program. Working with Fellow Andrea Rivera on her coral population ecology study has been rewarding and fun for both of us.

My research interests are general ecological processes and mechanisms that influence (1) abundance and dynamics of marine populations and (2) species composition, structure diversity of communities. My primary research programs are in the population and community ecology of fishery organisms and ecosystem engineers.  My main scientific focus is to address conservation-related research questions and develop methods to advance marine resource management and restoration, especially through adaptive learning processes.  Past and present projects have used large-scale field experimentation to compare the ecological impacts of fishing practices; to identify how multiple stressors (pollutants, fishing, climate change) interact to cause complex outcomes; to develop more efficient, less-destructive fishing techniques and practices; to examine the fishery effects of marine protected areas; and to test methods for restoring or enhancing populations of fishery organisms or habitat.  Recent work also focuses on development of community-based fishery co-management programs, especially with the California spiny lobster fishery in the Santa Barbara Channel. My work usually involves integration with other disciplines, including physical oceanography and fluid dynamics, chemistry, economics, and governance.  Work in my lab often involves a combination of ecological field experiments, monitoring, and modeling.

I earned my Ph.D. in marine sciences in 1996 from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, where I worked with Charles (Pete) Peterson.  Prior to earning my doctorate, I received a master’s degree from Moss Landing Marine Laboratories, a research facility associated with San Jose State University and six other California state universities.  I was a fishery biologist with the NOAA-National Marine Fisheries Service in Newport, Oregon, studying marine reserves and their applicability to fishery management.  I am pursuing similar research in the Channel Islands Marine Sanctuary, presently with the local lobster fishery.  I teach courses in Applied Marine Ecology, Restoration Ecology, and Coastal Marine Ecosystem Processes.

For more information on the SEEDS Undergraduate Research Fellowship, visit http://www.esa.org/seeds/activities/FellowshipsInfo.php