Please note that I am no longer taking graduate students.
Welcome to the Coleman & Koenig Lab
Our primary research focus is the connection between reef fish life history characteristics and habitat use. Specific lines of inquiry have included recruitment patterns of juvenile fish, behavioral patterns of reef fish in their habitat, trophic linkages across horizontal (inshore-offshore) and vertical (benthic-pelagic) trajectories, and evaluation of the use of marine reserves for protected species.
Our interdisciplinary approach--which involves collaboration with scientists from a number of disciplines (e.g., benthic ecologists, geologists, and economists), institutions (federal, state, and academic), and commercial and recreational fishers--enhances significantly our ability to understand and contribute to the conservation and management of marine resources by state and federal agencies. Our focus here is in bridging the gap between science and policy.
We focus mainly on the grouper species -- fishes in the family Epinephilidae -- their behaviors, ecology, and relationships to the habitats within which they live. This has been a rich and exciting area of research for us, our students, and our colleagues.