Dr. David A. Ebert

GRADUATE STUDENTS:

Current (n = 13):

Aaron Carlisle
Ashley Neway
Chante Davis
Chris Rinewalt
Cyndi Dawson
Diane Haas
Heather Robinson
Jasmine Fry
Jayna Schaaf
Lewis Barnett
Paula Lin
Shaara Ainsley
Simon Brown

If your a perspective graduate student interested in applying to MLML to do graduate work on chondrichthyan fishes leading to your Masters degree please carefully review the various pages on my web site and the PSRC to see what types of projects we currently have ongoing in our program. I can tell you that much of my current research is on skate life history (age & growth, reproduction, diet, distribution) and systematics.

SPECIFIC RESEARCH INTERESTS:

The focus of my research efforts and interests are on the biology, ecology, biogeography, fisheries, and systematics of chondrichthyan fishes (sharks, rays, chimaeras). I am especially interested in the community ecology, ecomorphology, and habitat utilization of chondrichthyans within ecosystems. To this end, I have several broad-based projects ongoing in the North Pacific, including the Bering Sea, the western North Atlantic, Gulf of Mexico, southeastern Atlantic and Indian Oceans. Most of my North American projects are conducted in collaboration with several NOAA Fisheries Labs including the Alaska Fisheries Science Center (AFSC), Seattle, WA, Northwest Fisheries Science Center (NWFSC), Newport, OR, and the Southwest Fisheries Science Center (SWFSC), Santa Cruz, CA. In southern Africa I am continuing to collaborate with colleagues on several research projects on the chondrichthyan fauna of this region. Another project that I am involved with is a catalogue to the batoids of the world. This project, supported by the Food and Agriculture Organization, is a collaborative effort with several international experts to catalogue all of the known batoids. This is the first such effort on this group of fishes in nearly a century. I, and several of my students, have participated in several IUCN Shark Specialist Group Red List workshops evaluating the conservation status of chondrichthyan fishes.

CURRENT PROJECTS:

Central California Shelf Survey

Working in collaboration with Don Pearson, SWFSC, Santa Cruz Laboratory, the PSRC is involved in a long-term study on the chondrichthyan fishes of the central California region. Among the primary groups we are currently studying are the skates including the big, Raja binoculata, California, R. inornata, longnose, R. rhina, starry, R. stellulata, and sandpaper, Bathyraja kincaidii skates. Colleena Perez has recently completed her Masters thesis on the age, growth, and reproduction of the sandpaper skate, Bathyraja kincaidii, while two other students Chris Rinewalt and Heather Robinson are studying the diets of B. kincaidii and R. rhina, respectively. Other projects include a study on the life history of the white-spotted chimaera, Hydrolagus colliei, by Lewis Barnett and a recently completed Masters thesis on the life history of three species of deepsea catsharks (Scyliorhinidae) by Brooke Flammang (now a Ph.D. student at Harvard University). These projects are supported in part by a California Sea Grant that funds two student traineeships. The current trainees are Lewis Barnett and Chris Rinewalt. In total, two students have completed their thesis and four others are currently conducting their thesis research on data that we have been collecting from our collaboration with the SWFSC Santa Cruz Lab.

Eastern North Pacific Slope Survey

Over the past four years the PSRC has been involved in an extensive project studying the chondrichthyan fauna occurring along the upper continental slope between 200-1200 m deep. Since 2003 members of the PSRC have been participating with the NWFSC studying the life history and systematics of chondrichthyan fishes that occur between the Canadian and Mexican borders. Among the primary research projects being conducted are a study on the age, growth, and reproduction of the roughtail skate, Bathyraja trachura, by Chante Davis, and a complimentary diet study on this same species by Simon Brown. Data from these surveys are being, or have been, collected by Lewis Barnett, Chris Rinewalt, Colleena Perez, Brooke Flammang, and Diane Haas for their respective thesis projects. These projects are being supported in part by a California Sea Grant.

Alaskan Skate Research Program

Systematics

I am also involved in several systematics projects with colleagues in southern Africa, Australia, and the North Pacific. This includes descriptions, revisions, and species checklists of chondrichthyan fishes from the North Pacific and southern African regions. Among the primary projects is a revision of the softnose skates, Bathyraja sp., from the eastern North Pacific, a biogeographical account of these skates, a description of a new species of frilled shark, Chlamydoselachus, and a revision of the family Hexanchidae. In addition to these projects I am co-teaching a class with Dr. Lara Ferry-Graham in the Fall 2005 semester on the systematics of marine organisms. Each student taking this class will be required to write up a description of a new species and submit it to a peer review journal for publication. If you are interested in conducting a systematic study for a thesis project let’s talk. I will consider accepting perspective students interested in studying systematics.

Apristurus Research Group

Initiated in 2004, the Aprisuturus Research Group (ARG) aims to bring together experts from different geographic regions to revise the genus Apristurus on a global basis. Currently, there are 32 recognized species with perhaps 13 or more undescribed species. Participants in this group include Drs. Kazuhiro Nakaya (chief organizer; Hokkaido University, Hakodate, Japan), Keiichi Sato (Okinawa Churaumi Aquarium, Okinawa, Japan), Samuel Iglesias (Muséum National d’Histoire Naturelle, Paris, France), Leonard Compagno (Iziko – Museums of Cape Town, Cape Town, South Africa), Peter Last (CSIRO Laboratory Hobart, Tasmania, Australia), and Bernard Seret (Muséum National d’Histoire Naturelle, Paris, France) among other regional collaborators. The primary regions that I am examining material include the eastern Pacific and southern African regions.

Centrophorus Research Project

In collaboration with Dr. William White (Murdoch University, Perth, Australia), Peter Last, and Leonard Compagno we are examining and revising the taxonomy of the gulper sharks (Centrophorus) in the western Pacific, Indo-Pacific, and southern African regions. Currently, there are 10 nominal species recognized in this region. However, it appears that some of these species are likely junior synonyms of other valid species while some well known species may in fact be undescribed.

Chimaera Research Project

In collaboration with Dr. Dominique Dagit (Millersville State University, Millersville, Pennsylvania) the focus of this research project will be to clarify the systematics of eastern Pacific and southern African chimaeras including identification and descriptions of several new species. Also, working in collaboration on various aspects of this project are Leonard Compagno and Douglas Long (California Academy of Sciences, San Francisco, California). In addition, Dr Daget and I along with one of my current graduate students, Lewis Barnett, are collaborating on a paper on the biogeography of deepsea chimaeras in the eastern North Pacific. Lewis and Kim Quaranta, another MLML graduate student, are collaborating with Dr. Daget and myself describing a couple of new eastern Pacific chimaera species.

GRANT AWARDS

North Pacific Research Board (Project #621): “Diet and trophic ecology of skates in the Gulf of Alaska (Raja and Bathyraja spp.): ecological information for ecosystem-based management of demersal resources”

John D. Isaacs Marine Undergraduate Research Assistant Award (2006): “Diet and feeding ecology of the spiny dogfish (Squalus acanthias)”

California Sea Grant (R/F-199): “Life History Studies of California Chondrichthyans: Determining Essential Biological Information for Effective Management of Bycatch and Emerging Fisheries”

North Pacific Research Board (Project #510): “Age and Growth Determination of Alaskan Skates: Providing Essential Quantitative Information for Effective Management of Target and Bycatch Species”