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Frank J. Hernandez

Research Senior Marine Scientist I


Ph.D., 2001, Louisiana State University

Email

F Hernandez
Ichthyoplankton Ecology and Taxonomy,
Biophysical Couple in Marine Environments

Research Interests

My research interests focus on the ecology of marine organisms, primarily coastal and reef-associated fishes.  I am particularly interested in the early life history stages of fishes and the physical and environmental processes that affect dispersal, survival to settlement, habitat selection, and the eventual recruitment to the adult population. This work involves describing spatial and temporal patterns of abundance and distribution with the ultimate goal of providing linkages between larval fish survivorship and recruitment to adult populations.

Much of my research is conducted through the Dauphin Island Sea Lab's FOCAL (Fisheries Oceanography of Coastal Alabama) program.  Within this framework I am currently involved in research that addresses relationships between biological and physical processes and larval fish distributions.  We have established a biological survey off the coast of Alabama that includes the collection of depth-discrete ichthyoplankton samples to address temporal (diel and seasonal) and spatial (across-shelf and vertical) variability.  Data collected from the survey, combined with physical data collected from a permanent coastal mooring (ADCP and thermister array), provide the necessary components for biophysical models of fish egg and larval distributions. Species- and stage-specific models can be developed to predict larval fish responses to environmental forcing events in the northern Gulf of Mexico, such as riverine discharge and coastal hypoxia.  Likewise, the coupling of  diel vertical distribution models with physical models can shed light on transport pathways for the early life history stages of economically important finfish and shellfish species.  

Inherent in the study of ichthyoplankton is the ability to identify the early life history stages of fishes. Unfortunately, larval fish descriptions are available for only ~ 40% of the fishes in the Western Central Atlantic (including the Gulf of Mexico).  Little is known about the larval and juvenile stages for many ecologically significant taxa, many of which are also recreationally and commercially important. This lack of taxonomic resolution is troublesome and often leaves many analyses at the family level.  I am therefore interested in combining traditional methods (e.g., clearing and staining and morphometric/meristic analyses) with molecular techniques in order to identify fish eggs and larvae.  Towards this end, I am involved in collaborative efforts with molecular biologists (DISL) and larval fish taxonomists at the Polish Sorting and Identification Center (MIR/ZSIOP) and the National Marine Fisheries Service (among others) that will hopefully resolve fish egg and larval identifications.

Selected Publications

Lindquist, D. C., R. F. Shaw and F. J. Hernandez, Jr.  2005. Distribution patterns of larval and juvenile fishes at offshore petroleum platforms in the north-central Gulf of Mexico. Estuarine, Coastal and Shelf Science. 62:655-665.  PDF of Publication©
Abstract - http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.ecss.2004.10.001

Hernandez, F. J., Jr., R. F. Shaw, J. S. Cope, J. G. Ditty, T. Farooqi and M. C. Benfield. 2003.  The across-shelf larval, postlarval, and juvenile fish community associated with offshore oil and gas platforms and a coastal rock jetty west of the Mississippi River Delta. American Fisheries Society Symposium 36:39-72.  PDF of Publication©

Hernandez, F. J., Jr.
and R. F. Shaw.  2003. Comparison of plankton net and light-trap methodologies for sampling larval and juvenile fishes at offshore petroleum platforms and a coastal jetty off Louisiana. American Fisheries Society Symposium 36:15-38.  PDF of Publication©

Hernandez, F. J., Jr.
, and D. G. Lindquist. 1999. A comparison of two light-trap designs for sampling larval and presettlement juvenile fish above a reef in Onslow Bay, North Carolina.  Bulletin of Marine Science 64(1):173-184.

Hernandez, F. J., Jr. and J. A. Hare. In prep. Comparison and application of vertical distribution models: testing for diel, ontogenetic and environmental effects in larval spotted hake (Urophycis regia).

Hernandez, F. J., Jr.
, Beck, A., S. Muffelman, W. Graham and S. Powers. In prep. A comparison of mesh sizes for the collection of ichthyoplankton and zooplankton in the northern Gulf of Mexico.

Hernandez, F. J., Jr.
, S. Powers, W. Graham and K. Park. In prep. Water column structure and the vertical distributions of winter-spawned species (Micropogonias undulatus and Brevoortia patronus) off coastal Alabama, USA.

Schobernd, Z., W. Graham, F. Hernandez, Jr., S. Powers. In prep. Determining appropriate sample size for a long-term zooplankton survey in the north-central Gulf of Mexico.

 

Current Graduate Students Technicians


Lanora Lang - M.S.
 

Adrienne Beck, M.S.
Sarah Muffelman, M.S.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 
 
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