The Department of Environmental Conservation, as part of its Spring 2016 Seminar Series, will present Michael Frisk of Stony Brook University on the topic of Assessing the Effects of Climate Change: Exploitation and Predation as Drivers of the Collapse of Winter Flounder, on Friday, March 25, beginning at 12:20 pm in Holdsworth Hall, Room 105, at University of Massachusetts, Amherst.
Michael Frisk’s research focuses on the interaction of population dynamics, ecology and life history evolution in fishes in the general areas of applied ecosystem and population modeling, basic ecological questions and meta-analyses. He is developing a length-based statistical catch-at-age model for winter skate in the western Atlantic and a multi-species model of Delaware Bay using Ecopath and Ecosim. Knowledge of a species’ basic vital rates and ecology is essential for development of population models and management. For example, Frisk has estimated growth, age, fecundity and maturation for little skate and winter skate in the western Atlantic. Lastly, meta-analyses use previously published data to develop mathematical and statistical trends of related species to gain insight into the ecology, evolution and management of animal taxa. In this vein, Frisk’s current research focuses on developing meta-analyses for elasmobranchs and teleost species. In other words, he’s smart, and knowing about fish populations carries over to our general understanding of climate change.
