Corey C. Phillis

Education
University of California, Santa Cruz, 2008-present
Ph.D. in Ecology & Evolutionary Biology

University of California, Santa Cruz, 1998-2002
B.S. in Marine Biology

I am interested in population ecology and the conservation of imperiled populations. Specifically, my research focuses on life history diversity and its role in maintenance of salmonid populations. In Caliornia's Central Valley dams have removed a non-random subset of Chinook salmon spawning habitat, resulting in a reduction in life history diversity--What is the consequence of this loss in diversity to the population's viability? And does the remaining population retain the evolutionary capacity to re-colonize habitat behind the dams if it becomes available again?

 

Ongoing Research

Otolith ecogeochemistry

The application of isotope and trace element geochemistry to fundamental questions in ecology is an important and growing field in fisheries science. In collaboration with researchers from UC Berkeley and Lawerence Livermore National Laboratory I have worked to develop and apply otolith markers to questions of habitat use and migration histories of estuarine and anadromous fish.

Rearing strategies of juvenile Chinook salmon

• Utilizing Sr isotopes, we are examining freshwater rearing strategies in populations of successfully spawned wild spring-run Chinook.

Otolith Sr/Ca-Salinity model for estuarine systems

• We have developed an otolith Sr/Ca-Salinity mixing model in an effort to reconstruct striped bass habitat use patterns within the San Francisco Bay Estuary.