Estes & Tinker Lab at the Santa Cruz Field Station

Katherine Dale, PhD Student
Ecology and Evolutionary Biology
University of California, Santa Cruz

Research

I am a marine ecologist most interested in the early life history of fishes. I earned my BS in Marine and Atmospheric Science at the University of Miami (FL). During this time, I also completed work on tuna and salmonids for the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration under John Lamkin (SWFSC) and Ric Brodeur (NWFSC). After graduating, I went on to work for the United States Geological Survey at the Patuxent Wildlife Research Center in Maryland; while there, I completed sampling for avian influenza viruses in waterfowl and monitored the productivity of waterbirds in the Chesapeake Bay. Besides early life history, I am also interested in migration, feeding ecology, and bridging the gap between classic computer science and field ecology through innovative bioinformatics, modeling, and “Big Data” analysis. I hope to encompass aspects of all of these interests into my PhD work, which will focus on the distribution, connectivity, and diversity of eel populations along the coast of California and Central America. A large part of my work will focus on the unique larval form of eels known as a “leptocephalus" shown in the image below from Miller (2009).

Education
BS, Marine Science and Biology
University of Miami, FL, 33146

Email:

kdale@ucsc.edu

Contact Us: USGS Santa Cruz Field Station - 100 Shaffer Road - Center for Ocean Health - Room 251 - Santa Cruz, CA 95060 - 831 459-2357 - werc@ucsc.edu