Hitchcock, Gary

Our laboratory studies the environmental factors that regulate primary production and respiration in pelagic ecosystems, and more recently, the trophic transfer from primary to secondary producers. Our main regions of interest are the Florida shelf and estuaries as well as the eastern Gulf of Mexico, including the Mississippi River plume and oligotrophic Gulf waters. In the RSMAS Oceans and Human Health Center, we are supported to study the Florida ‘red tide’ organism, Karenia brevis, and concentrate on its production and respiration in natural populations and cultures, as well as the fate of brevetoxin in costal communities. A graduate student, Ms Sharein El-Tourky, is examining the secondary productivity of several copepods of Farranula spp. These copepods are key prey for the larvae of several commercially-important fish species in the Florida Current and Florida Reef Track. This research is as a cooperative effort with Prof. Sharon Smith.