PhD Students

Tali Vardi

Undergraduate Degree:      BA Biology and Environmental Studies

Undergraduate University:  University of Pennsylvania

Postgraduate Degree:          MA in Conservation Biology

Postgraduate University:      University of Pennsylvania

Email: tvardi@ucsd.edu

Advisor:  Jeremy Jackson

Bio
   Tali Vardi, a Ph.D. student at Scripps Institution of Oceanography at the University of California, San Diego, is developing a population model forAcropora palmata, a species currently listed as threatened on the Endangered Species List. Tali holds a Master's and Bachelor's Degree in Conservation Biology from the University of Pennsylvania. Her master's work involved sea urchin population studies in the coral reefs of the Israeli Red Sea.

Prior to pursuing her Ph.D. at Scripps Oceanography, she worked with the New York City Parks Department's Natural Resources Group where she coordinated a $10 million grant funding habitat restoration projects. These projects tackled controlling erosion, invasive species management, and large-scale tidal and fresh-water wetland construction. Tali also served as a Benthic Ecology Researcher at the Bermuda Biological Station for Research where she conducted long-term monitoring of three primary tropical marine ecosystems, mangroves, coral reefs and sea grass beds, to better understand the effects of urbanization on tropical marine ecosystems.

Research Interests
Coral  Reef Ecology, Population Biology

Research

Examining Reefs on a Gradient of Degradation  

Current Research
Population model for the threatened coral, Acropora palmata
    Acropora palmata  , a fast growing coral that relies primarily on asexual reproduction, was once the dominant reef-builder in shallow reef environments throughout the Caribbean. Since the 1980s it has suffered a 97% decline in abundance throughout its range and was included on the US Endangered Species List in 2006. Despite the dramatic nature of this decline, and the equally dramatic loss of reef habitat that would be caused by an extinction, neither abundance nor rates of decline have been documented systematically throughout the Caribbean.  In Autumn 2007, abundance of A. palmata  was estimated in Florida, Puerto Rico, Jamaica, Virgin Gorda (British   Virgin Islands), and Curaçao. Abundance in Florida was dramatically lower than in other sites. The scarcity of A. palmata in Florida is explained by increased hurricanes and disease, problems that are difficult to manage.  

Publications