Despite their often significant roles in local ecosystems though, large sharks have been conspicuously absent from management efforts in the Northern California Current System. Using techniques such as bio-logging, stable isotopes, and stomach content analysis, Jess’s research will provide critical insights into the trophic ecology of an abundant apex predator in these marine ecosystems, the Broadnose Sevengill Shark (Notorynchus cepedianus). Her project will determine how this predator maintains productive Pacific Northwest marine ecosystems to inform management of critical fisheries through top-down interactions. Jess’s research aims to understand fisheries as part of a larger cultural picture in the Pacific Northwest and contribute to critical outreach and engagement with the broader public – teaching that sharks are important, necessary, and downright cool members of healthy marine ecosystems.
Academic Interests:
As part of Dr. Taylor Chapple's Big Fish Lab, I am researching the movement and foraging ecology of a top coastal predator - the Broadnose Sevengill Shark - within the Northern California Coastal Current to eventually incorporate shark predators into fisheries management and modeling.
