Principal investigator
Dr Alastair Harborne (email)
I am originally from the UK, and after graduating I worked for Coral Cay Conservation. I then completed my PhD within the Marine Spatial Ecology Lab at the University of Exeter, and subsequently became a NERC Independent Research Fellow. I then moved to the University of Queensland, Australia and was an ARC DECRA Research Fellow. I became an Assistant Professor at Florida International University in 2016, and started the Tropical Fish Ecology Lab to research a range of questions relating to the effects of environmental change on reef fishes and how they should be best managed. I received tenure and promotion to Associate Professor in June 2022.
Post-doctoral researchers
Dr Meg Malone (email)
I am a fish behavioral ecologist and coral reef ecologist. I earned a Bachelor of Science from the College of Charleston, and graduate degrees from Loyola University of Chicago and University of Illinois at Chicago. I use a wide range of research approaches to answer questions about fishes, including ecological theory, biological collections, and observational and experimental techniques. I specialize in foraging behavior and aim to understand how fishes assess tradeoffs between food and safety while foraging on coral reefs. As a postdoc on the FISHSCAPE team, I'm excited to explore how fish forage across seascapes and contribute to management decisions that support fishes and their habitat needs.
Post-graduate students
Growing up on Florida’s beaches I would shake Sargassum seaweed to find all the life on it (crabs, shrimps, fishes, etc.). Fast forward a few years (decades!!) and I’m working on my dissertation, focused on using the diets of two lobster species (Panulirus argus and P. guttatus) to understand how reef degradation affects food webs and the trophic role of lobsters. Though 2020 brought its hardships, the advent of the COVID shutdown provided me with the opportunity to start my PhD journey with Dr. Mark J. Butler, IV (no relation), while multitasking a full-time job as a lead lobster biologist with Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission and raising a family. I was welcomed into TFEL following Dr. Butler’s retirement in 2025. I received my BS and MS in marine biology from Florida Institute of Technology. At FWC/FWRI, I am researching how chemical cues from lobsters play a key role in the commercial lobster trap fishery and how these cues may be harnessed for coral reef restoration.
Emily Jackson (PhD student) (email)
I spent most of my childhood in the Florida Keys, Mexico, and the Caribbean working with my family’s dive shop. I completed my undergraduate studies at University of South Florida, while I was there I worked with the Karst Research Group. After undergraduate I worked with Florida Department of Environmental Protection and NOAA at the Apalachicola National Estuarine Research Reserve, where I managed water quality monitoring, conducted surveys, and worked with Coastal Training and Education. In California I worked as a research diver to assess kelp habitat with the SONGS Mitigation Monitoring Program and used acoustic ecology to aid habitat surveys at Scripps Institution of Oceanography. After working on Catalina Island and with FWC as an Artificial Reef Biologist, I am happy to start my doctoral program and plan to explore fish behavior and marine protected areas.
Matthew Marrero (PhD student) (email)
I am originally from Miami, where I grew my love for the ocean. I completed my undergraduate studies at The Ohio State University. During my time there, I worked in several labs and on multiple projects. At the Aquatic Ecology Lab, I worked on a project looking at the size of zooplankton across seasons. At the Bennett Lab, I worked as a lab assistant on many projects, but my main focus was a meta-analysis focusing on herbivory and plants. Finally, I worked at the Hamilton Lab, where I mainly focused on mathematically modeling fishermen and market behavior on a floodplain model. As a PhD student in TFEL, I intend to investigate coupled human-natural systems of marine environments.
Paula Pabon (PhD student) (email)
I am a Fulbright Scholar from Colombia. I am a biologist from the National University of Colombia where I did a Masters in Marine Biology. I have been working in the Caribbean since I was a volunteer at the "Corales del Rosario" National Park and the Tayrona National Park. My undergraduate thesis addressed the trophic ecology of the invasive lionfish and with this research project I won a scholarship to be a “Young Researcher” of the Colciencias' National Marine Fauna group. I also won a scholarship to do a Masters where I worked with the population genetics of two Caribbean grunt species. After graduating my daughter was born, and since then I have been taking care of her and worked in the Marine and Coastal Research Institute - Invemar, in the program "Biodiversity of Marine Ecosystems”. As part of the TFEL, I am interested in working with the influence of seascape on predator-prey relationships of reef fishes.
Sara Schoen (PhD student) (email)
Originally from Virginia, I received my bachelor’s and masters from James Madison University. During this time, I conducted research on the Limnonectes kuhlii complex, a cryptic species of Southeast Asian stream frogs. My goal was to determine a statistical method for refining the morphometric characters to distinguish and delineate between candidate species. This led to the creation of a novel character measurement to remove the male-biased sexual dimorphism and subsequently increase sample size by allowing the inclusion of female specimens. At FIU, I am co-advised by Dr. Alastair Harborne and Dr. Demian Chapman to investigate and analyze the Global FinPrint data. I’m excited to explore a large data set and continue to utilize statistics to answer biological questions and aid in the conservation of species.
Brandon Sosa (PhD student) (email)
I’m from South Florida and earned my B.S. in Freshwater and Marine Sciences from Purdue University. During this time, I conducted a meta-analysis on maternal toxicant transfer in fish, finding that larger, older females carried higher toxicant loads. We also identified a strong correlation between muscle and egg toxicant concentrations, with elevated levels negatively impacting larval success, suggesting that as fish age and bioaccumulate toxicants, egg quality may be compromised. I have ongoing collaborations with the Everglades Foundation on a system-wide economic valuation of the Greater Everglades System to assess its ecological and economic benefits. At FIU, I am co-advised by Dr. Mahadev Bhat and Dr. Alastair Harborne, where I research the role of marine grazers, such as crabs and urchins, in reef restoration, aiming to assess their ecological and economic value to reef ecosystems and society.