Profile
Noelle Bowlin is a doctoral candidate in the Biological Oceanography program at Scripps Institution of Oceanography. She studies the relationships between ontogeny and habitat use by marine fishes. As fishes develop they typically undergo a series of morphological changes that enable or require them to change the habitats they live in. Her dissertation work focuses on mesopelagic fishes that inhabit the zone of their namesake – the mesopelagic zone, which is the region of the water column that spans 200-1000 meters below the surface of the ocean. The implications of her work on the ecology of these fishes have direct impacts on fisheries management as this group of fishes is an important prey or forage source for a variety of commercially and ecologically important predators including dolphins, whales, seals, sea lions, swordfishes, tunas, mackerels, and sea birds. Her long-term goals are to apply her work on forage fishes to research involving marine community ecology and the holistic impacts of fisheries management decisions.
