What's Up Post-Doc?

There are currently four "post-docs" or postdoctoral fellows at the Dauphin Island Sea Lab, all working under the mentorship of a faculty member (a fifth, Fulbright Scholar Patricia Prado from Spain, will arrive in September to work with Dr. Ken Heck.

Dr. Joel Fodrie, working with Drs. Heck and Sean Powers, received his doctorate from Scripps Institution of Oceanography.  His research focuses on determining the pathways and distances organisms can travel in the ocean, and studying how that affects populations or ecosystems; generating usable metrics of habitat "value" for fishery species; and investigating predator-prey interactions involving bivalves and fishes within estuarine environments.

"At the Sea Lab, we are all trying to understand the ocean better, and I'm thrilled to play detective and occasionally discover something new. By taking advantage of this post-doc, I've now spent considerable time on the East Coast, West Coast, and Gulf Coast, and have worked with some very talented and distinguished oceanographers and marine ecologists," remarks Dr. Fodrie.

(Left to right) Dr. Ho Kyung Ha; Dr. Joel Fodrie; and Dr. Celine Lafabrie. Not pictured - Dr. Matthew Johnson.

Having earned his doctorate at the University of South Alabama while conducting his research at the Sea Lab, Dr. Matthew Johnson works on understanding the interactions between red snapper and vermillion snapper on offshore reefs. "By building reefs that are located in different depths, that have differing levels of complexity, and experience different amounts of fishing pressure, we can simulate multiple management scenarios and determine how this influences the ecology of these fishes," he explains. 

Dr. Johnson will be working with his post-doc advisor Dr. Sean Powers at the Alabama Deep Sea Fishing Rodeo in late July to further his other research on examining the age, growth and condition of several species of marine fishes. "In studying trends in age and growth we can help evaluate the current stock structure in this part of the Gulf of Mexico and evaluate if conservation efforts have been successful," he adds.

DISL's most recent post-doc, Dr. Ho Kyung Ha, works with Dr. Kyeong Park on sediment transport processes in the water column and bottom using acoustic devices as detectors. He is specifically examining the dynamic processes at the sediment-water interface, such as erosion. 

While at the DISL, Dr. Ha will target Mobile Bay, which has several buoy stations with acoustic devices and CTD. "By looking at the various aspects in water, we can reveal the temporal and spatial change of sediment transport and related biological distribution," he says. Dr. Ha received his PhD from Virginia Institute of Marine Science, College of William and Mary in 2008.

Dr. Céline Lafabrie hails from France, and received her doctorate at the University of Corsica. Her research interests lie in metal accumulation in aquatic ecosystems.

"My current research at the DISL focuses on measuring the concentrations of trace metals in water, sediment and different species of submerged aquatic vegetation in the Mobile Delta and in the Weeks Bay NERR in order to evaluate the use of those plants as bio-indicators of metal contamination.'

"I am also examining the effects of metals on a number of physiological and ecological properties of those primary producers in order to improve our understanding of the impacts of metal pollution on important processes in aquatic ecosystems (e.g. total productivity, food web structure, metabolism)," explains Dr. Lafabrie. Her post-doc advisor is Dr. Just Cebrian.