Members

Principal Investigator

Jenn Caselle's headshot

By training I am a marine ecologist, with specific interests in the study of kelp forest and coral reef ecosystems. My research focuses on the ecology of coastal marine organisms, their role in nearshore ecosystems, and the response of these ecosystems to environmental change and human impacts.

Project Scientists

Peter has been working with the Caselle Lab since 2007 and join the lab full time after graduating from UCSB with a BS in Aquatic Science to 2008. In 2015 Peter was awarded his Masters in Ecology, Evolution and Marine Biology for his work on parrotfish movement patterns and their benthic impact at Palmyra Atoll National Wildlife Refuge.

Chris Honeyman wearing dive gear and smiling

Since graduating from UC Santa Barbara, Chris has managed our CCFRP project and been one of the lead divers on our kelp forest monitoring team. In his spare time he enjoys photography, cooking, and exploring the world’s last wild spaces.

Conner Jainese on the deck of a boat with the BRUV camera system

Conner graduated from UC Santa Barbara in 2015 with a B.S. in Aquatic Biology. He is currently a Master’s student in the Caselle Lab, researching fish communities in and around Marine Protected Areas in the Santa Barbara Channel using baited remote underwater video (BRUV) systems.

Avrey wearing a wetsuit and smiling

Avrey has bachelor and masters degrees from UC Santa Barbara in Aquatic Ecology. He currently manages subtidal and intertidal field operations. Avrey serves on the temperature committe for the MARINe project.

Coming Soon

Postdoctoral Researchers

Coming Soon

Anita is a postdoctoral researcher who conducts quantitative spatial modeling of kelp forest to identify the best environmental and biotic variables to which kelp responds to, with the aim of identifying the best locations to conduct kelp restoration efforts in California.

Graduate Students

Noe is currently interested in the feeding interactions of reef fishes considering morphological and behavioral variation at the species and individual level to understand the indirect effects on marine community structure. He hopes to examine this variation among predatory and herbivorous fishes in both tropical and temperate marine habitats to learn more about the differences in food web structure and the importance of individual level traits.

Coming Soon

Undergraduate Students

Geri works on multiple projects in the Caselle lab including understanding the effects of herbivory on coral reef recovery.

Alumni

Darcy Bradley is a PhD candidate at the Bren School of Environmental Science & Management undertaking a research program that seeks to improve the management of coral reef associated top predators.

Katie is interested in the ecology of kelp forest and coral reefs, specifically how these habitats are structured by herbivory and how direct and indirect interactions with humans modify the processes of herbivory in these systems.

picture of Jake underwater

I am interested in the effects climate change has on near shore temperate rocky reefs and how the community dynamics will be altered. I want to understand how we can better prepare and protect our local reef based communities for the future so our fisheries and recreational anglers can sustainable harvest our waters resources. I believe using statistical modeling alongside long-term data sets, like PISCO data, will allow us to unravel these mysteries. Currently much of my work involves subtidal data collection and BRUV video analysis at the Northern Channel Islands.

Ryan joined the Caselle Lab in 2016 and will be working on synthesizing long term data sets around the Channel Islands National Marine Sanctuary. 

Lauren worked as part of our subtidal monitoring program, conducting dive surveys in the rocky reefs in the Santa Barbara Channel. She is now a graduate student at Cal State Monterey Bay.

As an ecologist, April is interested in human impacts to predator-prey dynamics in marine systems. 

Sara primarily works on projects involving remotely deployed underwater video as a survey technique. She also works as a member of the subtidal monitoring dive team.

Ana is joined the lab in 2016 and is interested in researching animal aggregations. Click for more.

Barbara is a postdoctoral researcher who conducts quantitative modeling of kelp forest surveys to inform marine protected area performance around the state of California. She is broadly interested in scale-dependent responses of marine communities across space and time. Most of her research focuses on identifying underlying mechanisms that produce complex multi-scale responses of benthic communities (i.e., macroalgae) and how these mechanisms and responses affect ecosystem-level processes from the bottom up.

Brittany is a third-year undergrad and aquatic biology major at UCSB. While diving for PISCO last summer, she discovered the joy of waking up early on the ocean, especially if there’s coffee.

Jade coming out of the ocean with SCUBA gear on, She is smiling.

Jade graduated from UC Santa Barbara in 2020 with a B.S. in Aquatic Biology. She joined the lab in 2017 as an undergrad intern to help out with the larval dispersal and connectivity project. She eventually began working for our subtidal monitoring program, conducting dive surveys in the rocky reefs in the Santa Barbara Channel.