Tracey T. Sutton - Oceanic Ecology Lab

Dr. Sutton is Director and Principal Investigator of the DEEPEND Research Consortium (www.deependconsortium.org), an initiative with over 140 participants from 22 institutions to date. DEEPEND is dedicated to research and stewardship of the organisms and communities of the open ocean, including effects of human activities on those communities. DEEPEND’s broader goals are to increase public awareness of life in the deep sea and to train the next generation of ocean scientists and resource managers   

Dr. Sutton is an invited Expert Panelist on the United Nations First, Second, and Third Ocean Assessments, a founding member of the Deep Ocean Stewardship Initiative (http://dosi-project.org/), and a society-elected member of the Board of Governors of the American Society of Ichthyologists and Herpetologists. He is a recent recipient of the NSU Provost’s Research and Scholarship Award, given annually to one faculty member across the university. 

Major research topics in the Oceanic Ecology Lab include:

  •  Organismal, community, and spatial ecology of large pelagic ecosystems

  •  Global pelagic biogeography, management, and conservation

  •  Food web structure and trophic interactions in deep-sea ecosystems

  •  Benthic-pelagic coupling in deep-sea ecosystems (reefs, canyons, slopes, seamounts)

  •  Physical oceanographic drivers of oceanic systems

  •  Taxonomy and systematics of deep-sea fishes

Dr. Sutton’s research has been supported by the: National Science Foundation, Office of Naval Research, NOAA Office of Exploration and Research, NOAA/National Marine Fisheries Service, Gulf of Mexico Research Initiative, National Ocean Partnership Program, Sloan Foundation, Schmidt Ocean Foundation, and the Global Ocean Biodiversity Initiative.