As a new member of the Plankton Portal Science Team, I would like to introduce myself. I am Kelsey Swieca, a Doctoral Student at Oregon State University under Drs. Su Sponaugle and Robert Cowen. Originally from Chicago, I moved to Oregon to attend the University of Oregon where I received my B.S. in Marine Biology. At Oregon State University I will use our first set of ISIIS images off the Oregon Coast to try and answer a few questions about larval fish interactions with prey, predators, and competitors.

Plankton distributions are typically patchy in nature forming aggregations of prey with their predators following suit. Although these prey aggregations enhance larval fish feeding, they may also promote predation and competition by decreasing spatial distances between larval fish and their predators and competitors who have all come to feed on the prey. My work aims to understand how different oceanographic conditions impact these spatial distributions and thus larval fish interactions in the highly productive and oceanographically dynamic Northern California Current.

I’m really excited to be a member of this team and look forward to classifying with you!

Kelsey Swieca on a research cruise aboard the NOAA FSV Bell M. Shimada off the Oregon Coast in June, 2016.

Dr. Robert Cowen and Kelsey Swieca in the dry lab of the NOAA FSV Bell M. Shimada, monitoring an ISIIS transect off the Oregon Coast. June, 2016.