MK Lab (ecology and evolutionary biology)

A solid understanding of the ecology and evolution of population fluctuations is fundamental to many issues of sustainability, including human and wildlife health, food security, and resource management. We conduct analyses on the population ecology of commercially and socially important marine fish species, such as Pacific salmon and herring, to better understand their basic biology as well as sustainable harvests. We also conduct analyses of marine mammals, such as killer whales and sea lions, to better understand threats to these endangered species and to help inform their conservation management. Although infectious diseases may appear very different in fish or whales, the fundamental concepts of population ecology also applies to the emergence, persistence, and spread of infectious diseases. We analyze the dynamics of environmentally transmitted diseases to better understand the population health implications, particularly in relation to climate change, as well as transmission between domesticated and wild fish populations, such as salmon. Our analytical approaches involve a combination of mathematical modeling, statistical analysis of long-term datasets, laboratory experiments to test and refine models, and marine biology fieldwork to contribute to long-term datasets on juvenile salmon ecology and epidemiology.