Ben Richards
Department of Zoology,
University of Hawai`i
2538 McCarthy Mall,
Edmondson 152
Honolulu, HI 96822
ben@hawaii.edu
www.oceanben.com/bio.shtml

Other Interests: Photography
http://www.benrichardsphotography.com/

Research Interests
I am currently studying reef fish population distributions and the relationships between reef fish communities and the physical reef framework (rugosity, relief, substrate, % coral cover, etc.). In a nut shell, I am interested in where different species of fish live and why. Information in this area is critical for discussions of essential fish habitat and appropriate management of exploited fisheries. In time, I hope to use GIS and existing benthic habitat data to predict likely distributions of various reef fish species.

Increasingly, my interests also include the use of genetic techniques to look at reef fish population structure and biogeography, parapatric speciation, and genetic crossover between reef fish populations. Conventional wisdom has taught that, to a large extent, many marine populations are closely connected and that planktonic dispersal maintains the genetic links between distant populations. Modern genetic techniques including the use of microsatellites and mitochondrial DNA have called this theory into questions and have shown that even populations in close proximity may have little genetic crossover due to a variety of barriers including oceanic currents, river outflows and strict habitat constraints. Increased knowledge in this areas is important to the effective management of fisheries. Common sense has suggested that, over time, a depleted fishery will likely be restocked by individuals from neighboring populations. Findings of genetic isolation would greatly undermine this assumption, drastically changing management of fisheries from that of a single population to management of several distinct populations. I am also interested in bathymetric relationships between fish populations that inhabit shallow and deep reef communities. How much crossover is there between the two populations? Do deep water fish move to shallower waters at different times of the day or year and vice versa? What influence to shallow water communities have on their deeper neighbors by way of nutrient drift or other mechanisms?