Fisheries and Aquatic Sciences

Dr. Tom Frazer, Professor, Director of School of Natural Resources and Environment

Aquatic resources are threatened worldwide. More intensive land use, growing populations requiring water for drinking and irrigation, and pollution from urban, industrial and agricultural activities have disrupted the water cycle and transformed ecosystems. In addition, the quality and security of aquatic resources are stressed by extreme events such as hurricanes, monsoonal flooding, and droughts that may be intensified by climate change. These threats are particularly evident in Florida where aquatic systems provide significant commercial and recreational opportunities. In fact, stakeholders have raised serious concerns about our water and associated resources.

The overarching goals of my individual and collaborative research efforts are to develop and transfer into management a mechanistic understanding of the effects of nutrient enrichment in aquatic systems, with a major focus on spring-fed rivers and associated estuaries along Florida’s central Gulf coast. Achieving these goals involves attaining several inter-related objectives that stem from long-term, large-scale sampling programs implemented by my colleagues and me a decade ago. The patterns documented by these regional programs that regularly sample over 100 stations spanning more than 100 kilometers of coastline provide a spatial and temporal context for designing, implementing and interpreting interdisciplinary experiments that elucidate ecological processes shaping the structure and function of aquatic ecosystems.

Degrees:
PhD, Biological Science University of California, Santa Barbara, 1995
MS, Fisheries, University of Florida, 1990
BS, Fisheries, Humboldt State University, 1986