General interests and research experience.

I am broadly interested in the processes that drive patterns of biodiversity on ecological and evolutionary timescales in aquatic systems. My research has focused on three major areas within this overarching theme: 1) Evaluating how natural history, environmental factors, and life history strategies determine the spatial scales of populations; 2) discovering the mechanism facilitating novel biodiversity; and 3) assessing the role of ecological characteristics and biological traits on species distribution.  

I have participated in many research expeditions that have brought me to remote areas of the globe including the Phoenix Islands, American Samoa, the Northwestern Hawaiian Islands, Johnston Atoll, Saudi Arabia, the Philippines, Pohnpei (Federated States of Micronesia), Papua New Guinea and most recently Vanuatu. Each of these expeditions gave me the opportunity to form ongoing relationships with many researchers and has led to collaborations on several projects. 

I have conducted dives as closed-circuit rebreather (CCR) diver and trained in technical trimix and staged decompression. The use of CCR has allowed to explore and conduct research in mesophotic ecosystems where I have conducted mesophotic research on three international expeditions. To date, my deepest dive is 400 feet (~120 meters) and my longest continuous submerged dive has been more than 4.5 hours! 

The links to the left provide more detail regarding specific areas of my research.

Photo: Processing samples during the a Red Sea Biodiversity Cruise. Each vial has a unique ID code and contains a tissue sample of each specimen we collect.  A saturated salt solution is used to preserve the tissue and DNA until we can begin conducting genetic analyses. Photo credit: Tane Sinclair-Taylor