• jenniferoleary.weebly.com/

Member since: April 30, 2012

A Little About Me

I am a marine ecologist working with communities and agencies to integrate science with conservation and management.  I focus on how human disturbances affect marine ecosystems and ways we can mitigate impacts.  My research has focused on trophic cascades (how the removal of top predators changes grazer abundance and consequence for ecosystems). I conducted research for 5 years on Kenyan coral reefs in collaboration with the Wildlife Conservation Society.  Then, as a postdoctoral researcher with the American Museum of Natural History, I worked with the Kenya Wildlife Service to develop the Adaptive Management Program in the Mombasa Marine Park and Reserve.  The program integrates science with management and is now used as a model for all of Kenya's marine parks. As a Research Associate at the University of California in Santa Cruz, I am working on several publications related to coral resilience and which genera have survived over geological time.  I am also collaborating with the California Department of Fish and Game to adapt some of the research I did in Kenya to kelp forest ecosystems and abalone recovery.