Principal Investigator

Robert D. Ellis, Graduate Student
Florida State University
Education: B.S., Aquatic Biology, UC Santa Barbara; M.S., Oceanography, LSU
Degree: Ph.D. Florida State University (anticipated 2014)
Born in: Honolulu, HI

My Qualifications

AAUS Scientific Diver

Previous SciFlies Projects


Awards

PADI Foundation Grant (2011) Sigma Xi Grant-In-Aid of Research (2010) Outstanding Teaching Assistant (nominated FSU, 2010) Louisiana State Board of Regents Fellow (LSU, 2007-2009) Worster Award for U ...
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Links

· http://www.marinelab.fsu.edu/ ...
· www.ellissurf.com

Photos


Videos


Passion/Philosophy

I believe that the ocean represents the most important reservoir of natural resources on Earth. At present, we humans are doing a fantastically poor job of managing these resources. By improving our ...
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Books I'm Reading

"Four Fish" by Paul Greenberg; "The Last Fish Tale" by Mark Kurlansky; "Merchants of Doubt" by Naomi Oreskes and Erik Conway.

Red Grouper: Prairie Dogs of Florida Bay?



Why? Red grouper increase the amount of complex habitat in the bay by cleaning out holes that have been filled in with sediment, bits of broken shells, and dead algae. The red grouper dig out holes so they can hide from predators, but in the process they create habitat that is colonized by a suite of other organisms including commercially important organisms like Caribbean spiny lobster, black grouper ...
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Ultimate Goal The ultimate goal of my research is to explore a unique example of a marine ecosystem engineer to enhance our understanding of the mechanisms by which biodiversity is maintained in marine systems. In addition, our current understanding of the full ecological effects of fishing by humans is lacking. In this case, a popular fisheries species (the red grouper) plays an important ecological role in i ...
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Project Updates & Media


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Welcome

Goal

$5,000

Raised
$3780
Days Left
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Donors

who have given to this project

Andrew Humphrey

Anonymous

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Brian George

Bonnie Joan Garcia

Paul Taylor

Joshua Jackson