Applied, interdisciplinary science for coastal & marine solutions.

Hi, I’m Erica, and I’m postdoctoral scholar in the Halpern Research Group at the National Center for Ecological Analysis and Synthesis (NCEAS). My research examines how climate change affects coastal ecosystems, fish, and fisheries across the United States and Latin America, and how we can leverage this information to enact effective biodiversity conservation and fisheries management. I am particularly interested in understanding the impacts of natural oceanographic cycles (like El Niño), anthropogenic warming, and deoxygenation on nearshore ecosystems, invertebrate taxa, and fishery populations targeted by small-scale fisheries and mariculture.

Currently, I am using the Ocean Health Index to evaluate the status of marine biodiversity and sustainability of food provisioning in the Gulf of California (Mexico) as part of a larger project effort to inform science-based conservation and management in the region. Long-term, I seek to develop conservation solutions across the Eastern Pacific by identifying social-ecological factors that are within our control and can be adapted to enhance coastal resilience.

To accomplish my work, I draw heavily on the lessons I’ve gained from my training in marine biology and oceanography, coastal policy and management, and Earth systems science. I earned my Ph.D. in Marine Biology and M.S. in Oceanography at UC San Diego’s Scripps Institution of Oceanography in the Aburto Lab where I also received formal training in global policy and strategy through the Center for Marine Biodiversity and Conservation’s Program for Interdisciplinary Environmental Research. Prior to joining NCEAS, I was a Chancellor’s Postdoctoral Fellow in the Coastal Sustainability Lab at UC Santa Cruz.

I am passionate about the work that I do and believe that our efforts to build a more just, sustainable future will require ambition, clarity of vision, and a willingness to work together across fields in good faith. As part of this commitment, I dedicate part of my time as a scientist to outreach, teaching, community-building, and service initiatives, including co-founding the Scripps SCUBA DIVERsity Program and UCSC’s ACCESS Diving Program.

Outside of work, I like to spend time at the beach, in the ocean, at the zoo, and with friends!