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ABOUT ME & THE LAB

My lab investigates fish ecology, conservation and management, primarily by combining large environmental and fisheries datasets with the analysis of chemical markers in fish archival tissues (e.g. otoliths, eye lenses) to reconstruct migration patterns, health and diet. The results provide unique insights into fish behaviours and habitat needs in natural settings, allowing us to better predict how climate change and other stressors will shape their evolution, productivity and resilience.

I am a Senior Lecturer (Assoc. Prof.) at the University of Essex, UK, and a UK Research and Innovation Future Leaders Fellow (2022-25). Along with Susanne Tanner (University of Lisbon), I co-lead an international working group focused on marine connectivity (2020-24), and am one of the University of Essex's Public Voice Scholars (2023-25). In 2023 I convened the FSBI Symposium Fish Habitat Ecology in a Changing Climate and in 2024 I convened a one-day symposium focused on European seabass All About the Bass at the University of Essex. I'm passionate about public engagement and translational ecology, in 2019, taking part in an art-science collaboration with Tamar Assaf - Hanging by a Thread, in 2022, directing a 'Lightning Lecture' for the Royal Society about tracking animal movement in the sea and why we should care - Ocean Travellers and designing an educational video game The Maze of Misfortune about the perils faced by marine migratory species, and - in 2023 - making a film about staying positive about the future of our marine ecosystems in the face of climate change - Reasons for Optimism.

In my lab, we are working on various projects exploring (1) the effect of different stressors (e.g. warming, habitat loss) and management actions on the migratory behaviour, growth and resilience of salmonids, (2) estimating the connectivity patterns and contribution rates of nursery grounds to the adult stock for sea bass, salmon, tuna, sole and anchovies, (3) combining genetic and otolith tools to explore the relationship between genotype and phenotype, (4) exploring new tools to reconstruct hormone and contaminant histories in eels, dab and other fish species, (5) modeling the influence of environmental and anthropogenic drivers on fish growth and health, (6) analysing historical data on consumer demand and trade in seafood supply chains, (7) using stable isotope analysis to understand the trophic ecology and habitat use of multiple species, including teleosts and cephalopods (primarily the common cuttlefish). 
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STAFF & MENTEES
Current Team

Alexia Dubuc (Postdoc 2024-)
Rebekah Boreham (Postdoc 2024-)
Lucy Smith (PhD student 2023-)
Mike Bevins Cameron (PhD student 2023-)
Marion Lefebvre du Prey (PhD student 2023-; Primary: Ben Ciotti)

Juan Miguel Miro Recio-Mensaque (Postdoc 2023-)
Howard Freeman (Postdoc 2023-24; PI MIchelle Taylor)
Peter Betts (PhD student 2022-; Primary: Eoin O'Gorman)
Joe Dawson (Research Assistant 2022-)
Felix Astejada (BSc/Frontrunner 2021-22, MSD student 2022-24)

Past members
University of Essex

Aaron Burke (BSc 2023-24)

Alice Martin (BSc 2023-24)
Caragh Fletcher (BSc 2023-24)
Amy Webber (Frontrunner 2023)
Hannah Rushton (Frontrunner 2023)
Lorna McKellar (MSc student 2021-22)
Lauren Bell (BSc 2021-22)
Joaquin Diaz Sanchez (BSc 2021-22)

Mike Bevins Cameron (Frontrunner 2022)

Ashmitha Jayachandran Mishma (Frontrunner 2022)
Katerina Schiffnederova (Frontrunner 2022)
Luke Harrison (MSc student 2020-21)
Lucy Smith (BSc 2020-21)
Nicole Grierson (BSc 2020-21)
Sophie Gibson (BSc 2020-21)

University of California Davis
Mollie Ogaz (Junior Specialist 2019-20)
Sage Lee (Junior Specialist 2019-20)
Laura Coleman (Junior Specialist 2018-20)
Sierra Schluep (Student Assistant 2018-19)
Bradyn O'Connor (Student Assistant 2018-19)
Amanda Gonzales (Student Assistant 2019)
Keiko Mertz (Junior Specialist 2017-19)
Pedro Morais (Postdoctoral fellow 2017-19)
Kelly Neal (Student Assistant and Junior Specialist 2016-20)
Dana Myers (Student Assistant 2016-18)
Krista Schmidt (Student Assistant 2016-19)
George Whitman (JJ Lab Manager 2015-)
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MAIN COLLABORATORS
Rachel Johnson (NOAA / UC Davis Center for Watershed Sciences), Stephanie Carlson (UC Berkeley), Carson Jeffres (UC Davis Center for Watershed Sciences), Karin Hussy (DTU), Karin Limburg (SUNY-ESF), Stefanie Haase (Thünen-Institut), Serena Wright (Cefas), Georg Engelhard (Cefas), Jim Ellis (Cefas), Clive Trueman (University of Southampton), Ewan Hunter (AFBI), Stephen Wing (University of Otago), Mariah Meek (Michigan State), Will Satterthwaite (NOAA), Corey Phillis (MWD), Ted Sommer (DWR), J.D. Wikert (USFWS), Flora Cordoleani (NMFS/UC Santa Cruz), Sebastien Nussle (Eawag - Swiss Federal Institute of Aquatic Science & Technology), Malte Willmes (UC Davis), Hugh Sturrock (Locational.io), Brett Harvey (DWR), Jason Hassrick (ICF), Steve Lindley (NOAA), Eoin O'Gorman (University of Essex), Tom Cameron (University of Essex), Boyd McKew (University of Essex), Michelle Taylor (University of Essex), Ben Ciotti (University of Plymouth), Audrey Darnaude (CNRS, France), Susanne Tanner (MARE, Portugal).
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