Costa Lab, ecology, physiology, and conservation of marine animals
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PEOPLE

Dan Costa and friend
Daniel P. Costa, Ph.D.
Professor of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology
costa@biology.ucsc.edu

• B.A., University of California, Los Angeles
• Ph.D., University of California, Santa Cruz
• Postdoctoral, Scripps Institution of Oceanography

Focus: The adaptations of marine mammals and seabirds to life in the marine environment, especially the movements, foraging ecology and energetics of pinnipeds and seabirds.


Scott Shaffer and friend
Scott Shaffer, Ph.D.

Links between ecology, morphology, and physiological adaptations of marine vertebrates, particularly how animals use and allocate energy for various activities and how the environment plays a role in shaping life history patterns.

Yann Tremblay
Yann Tremblay, Ph.D.

Behavioral ecology of seabirds and marine mammals, with special emphasis on movement and diving behavior in relation to the marine environment; developing analytical tools for tracking and diving data analysis.

Sam Simmons
Samantha Simmons, Ph.D.

Tease apart and quantify which oceanographic processes of the coastal and open oceans may influence foraging behavior and how they may shape foraging behaviors.



Glen Worstell

Data Manager and Application Developer for Marine Mammals and Birds, Tagging of Pacific Predators. Data systems architecture and programming, research support, visualization, and analytical software applications design.



Scott Shaffer and friend
Cory Champagne

I'm particularly fascinated with physiological processes operating at an animal's limits- animals that "push the envelope". My current research explores the limits of fasting physiology in elephant seals.

Autumn-Lynn Harrison
Autumn-Lynn Harrison

Conservation biology and biodiversity research and linking conservation science with management. My current focus is to utilize tagging data to identify multispecies oceanic hotspots for wide-ranging animals in the Pacific.

Luis Huckstadt

Luis Huckstadt
Trophic and spatial ecology of pinnipeds and interactions with fisheries Southern sea lion (Otaria flavescens).

 

Sara Maxwell

Sara Maxwell
How highly migratory species of conservation concern use seamounts as part of their migratory pathways.

 

Patrick Robinson

Patrick Robinson

Navigation and search behaviors of the northern elephant seal, specifically the reliable cues used by these animals to accurately navigate thousands of kilometers of open ocean habitat

Melinda Fowler
Melinda Fowler

Pinniped physiological ecology and adaptations that allow an animal to inhabit its particular ecological niche, particularly lactation physiology and the environmental factors that impact provisioning of young.

Jason Hassrick
Jason Hassrick

Development of diving behavior in northern elephant seals, particularly how age and diving behavior are related to feeding success in females, and how oxygen stores relate to different diving behaviors

Michelle Kappes
Michelle (Antolos) Kappes

Ecology of marine birds, specifically the influence of oceanographic variability and prey dynamics on seabird foraging behavior, diet, energetics, and demography.

Gitte McDonald
Gitte McDonald

Age related maternal investment and provisioning strategies in the Antarctic fur seal and relationship of specific diving and southern elephant seal movement behaviors to oceanographic and bathymetric features.

Stella Villegas

Stella Villegas
Diving physiology and behavior in relation to water temperature of California and Galapagos sea lions.



The Costa lineage includes over thirty former students. Click here to see the full list.