The Whitney Laboratory for Marine Bioscience
The Carl and Marcella Matthaei Ecological Scholarship Fund at the Whitney Laboratory provides support for University of Florida scientists-in-training to have access to the Matanzas River Basin, where they can engage in its biodiversity, ecology, and conservation. The Matanzas River Basin is a dynamic regional ecosystem, and the Whitney Laboratory’s campus is strategically located with access to numerous and diverse habitats along the Florida coast. We thank those who have contributed to the Matthaei Ecological Scholarship Fund, and would like to introduce you one of the 2023 summer scholars.
Through generous donation to the endowed fund, we are able to offer Brendan Gibbs the opportunity to spend a portion of the summer working on focused projects in the Matanzas River Basin.
Brendan's current research at the lab is multidisciplinary and spans from neural recordings to behavior in the wild. His work involves maintaining an acoustic receiver array in the Matanzas and St. Augustine inlet and tagging and tracking large marine animals over the period of several years. His work introduces a unique temporal component to biodiversity that has a climate change component. Specifically, understanding when animals come through the Matanzas region may give insight into why they are utilizing this unique ecological area.
This summer he is working under Dr. James Liao to set up a new project, with an additional 10 receivers, spearheaded by the FWC and the Rehage Lab at FIU to track snook movements in response to rising ocean temperatures.
Brendan Gibbs is a UF graduate student, entering the fourth year of his Ph.D. in the Fall of 2023.