Julie Thayer

Julie Thayer, Ph.D., studies top marine predators and their prey in relation to ocean climate.  Understanding food web interactions is particularly important as the climate shifts and mechanisms may change. This information is translated into the framework of ecosystem-based management. Julie and her research group have developed the California Current Predator Diet Database as a platform for synthesizing data on multiple spatio-temporal scales and from species to community levels. She collaborates with a wide diversity of scientists and managers at federal and state levels, in academia, other NGOs and internationally. This includes using predators as indicators of fish stocks and ocean health (U.S., Japan, Canada), and collaborative fisheries research in which scientific data is collected in partnership with commercial and recreational fishers (U.S., Brazil). Her current work involves incorporation of predator food needs into strategies for more sustainable forage fish management along the U.S. West Coast. Julie obtained her Ph.D. in marine ecology from the University of California at Davis. She works with the Farallon Institute for Advanced Ecosystem Research in Petaluma, Calif. and is a research associate at the University of California Santa Cruz.