Smithsonian Environmental Research Center

Beth Bowers, PhD

Beth is a marine ecologist who studies species distributions and environmental drivers of movement. Her doctoral dissertation work focused on the migratory drivers and sexual segregation of blacktip sharks, Carcharhinus limbatus, along the U.S. East Coast using acoustic telemetry, an animal-borne tracking technology. In her postdoctoral appointment, she is developing recommendations for acoustic telemetry applications to offshore wind. Her other research interests include climate change effects on animal distribution, movement modeling, satellite telemetry, reproductive biology, biodiversity, survivorship, and kinematics. 

Michele Repetto, PhD

While a global trend of poleward migration of marine fish species due to ocean warming has been widely noted, local scale shifts in individual species and assemblages are not well understood. Long-term observational studies can provide robust results for understanding community dynamics and improving predictive models. I aim to characterize how fish communities in the Rhode River, Maryland have changed through time along a habitat gradient. I am using long-term data from SERC's seine and trawl surveys to test for changes in fish assemblages associated with environmental changes (e.g. rising temperature, salinity fluctuation) using trait based analyses. Understanding how communities respond to environmental change on a local scale is important for managing and conserving commercially and recreationally important fish.

Henry Legett, PhD

The timing of life-history events in many plants and animals depend on seasonal environmental conditions. Annual migratory and reproduction events, for example, are often timed to match periods of specific conditions that correspond with peak recourse abundance. Climate change, however, is altering environmental regimes and disrupting natural cycles and patterns.

At SERC, I am investigating how environmental factors are driving the spawning migration patterns of river herring, alewife (Alosa pseudoharengus) and blueback herring (Alosa aestivalis), in Chesapeake Bay rivers. I am also characterizing the thermal regimes within these river networks and assessing the effect of anthropogenic influences and riparian habitats on stream temperature dynamics and river herring spawning behavior. My research will alow for more focused management of river herring and habitat restoration efforts in the Chesapeake Bay.