Mark C. Sullivan
Postdoctoral Associate
B.S., Ecology, Evolution, Organismal Biology, Tulane University; 1996
M.S., Marine Environmental Science, State University of New York at Stony Brook; 1999
Ph.D., Marine Biology and Fisheries, University of Miami; 2004

In a broad sense, I am interested in the interactions between physical and biological variables that determine where marine organisms are found and why. My approach to science can be summed up: pattern – process – mechanism. I seek first to describe general distributions of organisms and then apply experimental techniques to understand processes. My research specifically focuses on the role of anthropogenic and natural stressors as sources of variability in marine and estuarine ecosystems. This work is challenging in that the answers are rarely straightforward – for example, impacts from fishing activity and climate are frequently intertwined, particularly across estuarine-shelf gradients. I enjoy working with a variety of techniques (time series analysis, fish otolith sections, experimental manipulations, GIS) in order to gain a better understanding of the relative contributions of these large-scale impacts to marine systems. Because this type of science frequently shapes policy, I feel it is important to have the stakeholders themselves directly involved in the field.

My current postdoctoral work has focused on the linkages between larval supply and environmental variability for American eel (Anguilla rostrata) “glass eel” populations along the Mid-Atlantic coast of the United States. This unique collaboration brings together data sets that span two large, connected marine ecosystems - Little Egg Inlet, New Jersey and Beaufort Inlet , North Carolina. Larval fishes (including glass eels) have been sampled weekly with plankton nets at these sites since 1985 and 1989, respectively. When used individually (or in combination) these datasets provide a powerful means for addressing larger-scale questions of coast-wide structure, function, and synchrony for estuarine-dependent fishes. This information is highly relevant to the biology and management of the potentially endangered American eel. For example, this research is helping to address concerns by recreational fisherman who rely on American eel as bait for the economically important striped bass fishery. I am currently analyzing these time series for patterns in: (1) abundance of glass eels, (2) timing of glass eel ingress, and (3) glass eel size-at-ingress, to determine if there are linkages with the adult decline. Concurrent field work involves deployments of glass eel collectors to help understand  the processes (freshwater outflow, water temperature, moon phase) moderating eel ingress.

Publications

Sullivan MC, Cowen RK, Able KW, Fahay MP (in press) Applying the basin model: Assessing habitat suitability of young-of-the-year demersal fishes on the New York Bight continental shelf. Continental Shelf Research.

Sullivan MC, Able KW, Hare JA, Walsh HJ (in press) Anguilla rostrata glass eel ingress into two, U.S. east coast estuaries: Patterns, processes, and implications for adult abundance. Journal of Fish Biology.

Sullivan MC, Cowen RK, Steves BP (2005) Evidence for atmosphere-ocean forcing of yellowtail flounder (Limanda ferruginea) recruitment in the Middle Atlantic Bight. Fisheries Oceanography 14:386-399.

Sullivan MC (2005) Book review - Flatfishes: Biology and Exploitation (ed. RN Gibson). Bulletin of Marine Science 77:319-320.

Sullivan MC, Cowen RK, Able KW, Fahay MP (2003) Effects of anthropogenic and natural disturbance on a recently settled continental shelf flatfish. Marine Ecology Progress Series 260:237-253. 

Sullivan MC, Cowen RK, Able KW, Fahay MP (2000) Spatial scaling of recruitment in four continental shelf fishes. Marine Ecology Progress Series 207:141-154. 

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