Dr. Valerie Loeb

Adjunct Professor

Education:

Current Research Interests:

Biological oceanography and fisheries oceanography with an emphasis on multispecies ichthyoplankton (larval fish) assemblages and Antarctic krill (Euphausia superba). Areas of recent study include eastern boundary currents (California, Peru-Chile, and Benguela Currents) and the Antarctic. Specific interest in these areas are changes in the marine environment associated with climate change.

Courses:

Occasionally teach a 4 unit "Ichthyoplankton" course (MS 212 Advanced Topics in Marine Vertebrates) which covers the development, biology, ecology, and identification of fish early life stages.

Currently Funded Research Projects:

Funding Agent: U.S. Dept. of Commerce - (NOAA/National Marine Fisheries Service)
Project Title: Krill demography studies: The U.S. Antarctic Marine Living Resources (AMLR) Program"
Funding Period: 01/11/95-31/10/96
Student Support: 1-2 Cruise lab assistant(s)
This work represents continued involvement with the U.S. AMLR Program since it began ship operations in the Antarctic during the 1986-87 austral summer season. The AMLR Program provides information needed for U.S. policy relating to the conservation and management of marine living resources of Antarctica. The program is in support of U.S participation in the Convention of Antarctic Marine Living Resources (CCAMLR). The program undertakes (2) 1-month long multidisciplinary cruises in the Antarctic Peninsula region during January-March each year. The funded research project involves an examination of krill (Euphausia superba) abundance, demography and distribution patterns. Additional information is collected on other macrozooplankton and nekton taxa collected in the net samples. The long-term AMLR data base has provided vital information on changes in krill and other macrozooplankton abundance associated with atmospheric warming in the Antarctic Peninsula region.

Funding Agent: National Science Foundation
Project Title: Research on Antarctic Coastal Ecosystem Rates (RACER): ichthyoplankton.
Funding Period: 1 July 1992-30 November 1995
Student Support: 2 Masters Thesis students
This project is part of the multidisciplinary RACER program which investigated the functioning of highly productive coastal Antarctic ecosystems. The objective of this research is to describe the distribution, abundance, feeding habits and growth rates of fish early life stages within the Gerlache Strait (Antarctic Peninsula) and to relate these to physical and biological processes observed by RACER program scientists. Samples were collected during austral spring (October-November) 1989 and summer (December) 1991 using vertically and horizontally stratified MOCNESS zooplankton tows; additional sampling was done in Gerlache Strait during winter (July) 1992. Analysis of the spring and summer samples permit the first detailed descriptions of seasonal larval fish assemblages in nearshore Antarctic Peninsula waters. The project will permit evaluation of the importance of the coastal area relative to offshore areas in supporting larval fish assemblages and will provide information on the mechanisms affecting larval dispersal. The study will also provide basic biological information on the young stages of commercially and ecologically important fish stocks. Ned Laman is doing the feeding habit and nutritional condition factor work for his Masters thesis. Dawn Outram is focusing on the early growth rates of a dominant Antarctic fish species for her Masters thesis.

Pending Research Projects

Funding Agent: NSF Biological Oceanography
Project Title: Regime shifts in ichthyoplankton composition and zooplankton biomass in relation to environmental change off northern Chile, 1964-1996
Funding Period: 06/01/96-05/31/99
Student Support: 3 years for a Masters Thesis project based on a component of the data base.
This is a renewed collaborative research effort with Dr. Omar Rojas of the Instituto de Fomento Pesquero (IFOP) in Valparaiso, Chile, that involves an examination of the long term ichthyoplankton, zooplankton biomass, hydrographic, and atmospheric data bases derived from IFOP cruises off northern Chile from 1964-1973 and 1983-present. This work is directed towards describing and attempting to discover the underlying factors forcing large-scale environmental changes in the coastal marine ecosystem off Chile. These changes are marked by dominance shifts between anchovy and sardine (fisheries and larval production) as well as changes in the abundance relations of other larval fish taxa and zooplankton abundance. A MLML graduate student will be supported for 3 years to work on some aspect of this extensive data base as a Masters Thesis project.

Funding Agent: NSF Office of Polar Programs
Project Title: "Southern Ocean JGOFS: Spatial, temporal, and trophic variability of mesozooplankton in the Ross Sea and Antarctic Polar Front Zone"
Funding Period: 07/01/96-06/30/00
This is a collaborative effort with Drs. Karen Wishner (University of Rhode Island Graduate School of Oceanography) and Marcia Gowing (UCSC) that fits within the established guidelines of the U.S. Joint Global Ocean Flux Study (JGOFS) if the Southern Ocean. The work is to be done in the Pacific Sector of the Antarctic near the ice edge zone of Ross Sea and at the Polar Front. We are proposing to assess the role of zooplankton in regulating primary productivity and biogenic fluxes in these two areas. Funding is requested to support a technician for 4 years.

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