ECU biologist receives NSF funding to investigate responses of marine fishes to climate change.

Congratulations to Dr. Rebecca Asch who recently received funding from the National Science Foundation. Dr. Asch and her colleagues intend to utilize six multi-decadal fisheries data sets to investigate the responses of fishes to climate change and climate variability. Most research on how climate change impacts marine organisms has focused on adult life history stages even though existing literature indicates that early life history stages may be more vulnerable to climate stressors. Dr. Asch will utilize this long-term data to advancing our understanding of how different life history stages of marine fish respond to changing ocean conditions. Her work will provide critical insight about the extent to which marine species respond to climate change by shifting their spatial distribution versus changing the seasonal timing of temperature-sensitive activities, such as spawning. Such information is absolutely critical to help society manage ocean resources.