Participants
Christopher Jones
My primary interests are the population characterization and dynamics of Antarctic fish species and finfish communities. My work includes conducting surveys in the Southern Ocean to characterize biology, size composition, reproduction, age & growth, spatial distribution, predator/prey interaction, & habitat characteristics and preferences of Antarctic fish. I also am interested in quantitative stock assessment methodologies, and serve as a scientific representative of the U.S. delegation to the Convention for the Conservation of Antarctic Marine Living Resources (CCAMLR).
The considerable diversity of Southern Ocean habitats that will be sampled as part of the ICEFISH cruise will include contrasting finfish species assemblages, diverse pelagic and benthic invertebrate communities and heterogeneous seabeds structural features. I plan to apply a suite of quantitative modeling approaches to the information collected at these contrasting habitats to elucidate aspects of the complex relationships between different components of the ecosystem and the spatial distribution of fish communities. These models will be used toward identifying predictive explanatory variables and ecological components that affect Antarctic finfish biomass, presence/absence, trophic structure, and spatial partitioning across shelf areas of several important Antarctic island archipelagoes.
For more information on the U.S. Antarctic Marine Living Resources (U.S. AMLR) Program, visit swfsc.noaa.gov/staff.aspx?&id=642