Graduate Student
Email address: kdale “at” ucsc.edu
For more on Kat, visit her personal website.
I am a marine ecologist most interested in the early life history of fishes. I earned my BS in Marine and Atmospheric Science at the University of Miami (FL). During this time, I also completed work on tuna and salmonids for the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration under John Lamkin (SWFSC) and Ric Brodeur (NWFSC). After graduating, I went on to work for the United States Geological Survey at the Patuxent Wildlife Research Center in Maryland; while there, I completed sampling for avian influenza viruses in waterfowl and monitored the productivity of waterbirds in the Chesapeake Bay. Besides early life history, I am also interested in migration, feeding ecology, and bridging the gap between classic computer science and field ecology through innovative bioinformatics, modeling, and “Big Data” analysis. I hope to encompass aspects of all of these interests into my PhD work, which will focus on the distribution, connectivity, and diversity of eel populations along the coast of California and Central America. A large part of my work will focus on the unique larval form of eels known as a “leptocephalus” (see photo below).
Eel larvae of 13 species of Anguilliformes and 3 species from family Congridae. Leptocephali can be quite diverse! (from Milller et al 2009).