Sarah Glaser Home
Education
- B.S. Biology, Environmental Sciences, Kansas State University
- Ph. D. Oceanography, Scripps Institution of Oceanography
Research Interests
My research explores the dynamics of fish populations and the impacts of fishing. One on-going project, based in Uganda, explores the relationships between civil conflict, food prices and security, fishing behavior, and fish abundance in the major commercial fisheries of Lake Victoria. As part of this project, I am engaged with the National Fisheries Resources Research Institute (NaFIRRI) in Uganda to establish a collaborative Geographic Information Systems research and education center. This center will host W&M students for summer research projects and will provide continuing education and training of NaFIRRI scientists in GIS. I approach the study of fisheries from a dynamic systems perspective, using nonlinear forecasting models to classify and predict fish abundance and to understand the impact fishing has on population dynamics. I also use time series approaches to ecological modeling to study the relationships between predators and prey, fish and the environment, fishing and fish abundance, and spatial distributions of populations. Finally, I specialize in predator-prey dynamics of marine fishes, including gut content analysis, modeling, and bioenergetics.
Current Projects
- Establishment of a collaborative Geographic Information Systems Center at the National Fisheries Resources Research Institute, Jinja, Uganda
- Feedbacks between fish population dynamics, fishing catch and effort, food security and civil conflict in East Africa
- Modeling population dynamics of marine fishes using nonlinear forecasting approaches
- Predator-prey dynamics and food web ecology
Publications
- H. Liu, M. J. Fogarty, S. M. Glaser, I. Altman, L. Kaufman, A. A. Rosenberg, and G. Sugihara. Nonlinear dynamic features and co-predictability of the Georges Bank fish community. (in press) Marine Ecology Progress Series.
- Sugihara G, J. R. Beddington, C.-h. Hsieh, E. Deyle, M. J. Fogarty, S. M. Glaser, R. Hewitt, A. Hollowed, R. M. May, S. B. Munch, C. Perretti, A. A. Rosenberg, S. A. Sandin, and H. Ye. (2011) Are exploited fish populations stable? Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. 108: E1224-E1225.
- Glaser, S. M. (2011) Do albacore exert top-down pressure on Northern anchovy? Estimating anchovy mortality as a result of predation by North Pacific albacore in the California Current System. Fisheries Oceanography. 20: 242-257.
- Glaser, S. M., H. Ye, M. N. Maunder, A. D. MacCall, M. J. Fogarty, and G. Sugihara. (2011) Detecting and forecasting complex nonlinear dynamics in spatially-structured catch-per-unit-effort time series for North Pacific albacore. Canadian Journal of Fisheries & Aquatic Sciences. 68: 400–412.
- Hendrix, C. S. and S. M. Glaser. (2011) Civil conflict and world fisheries, 1952-2004. Journal of Peace Research. 48: 481-495. JPR Paper of the Year Award.
- Glaser, S. M. (2010) Interdecadal variability in predator-prey interactions of North Pacific albacore in the California Current System. Marine Ecology Progress Series 414: 209–221.
- Hendrix, C. S. and S. M. Glaser (2007) Trends and triggers: climate, climate change and civil conflict in Sub-Saharan Africa. Political Geography 26(6): 695–715.
- Hsieh, C. H., S. M. Glaser, A. J. Lucas, and G. Sugihara (2005) Distinguishing random environmental fluctuations from ecological catastrophes for the North Pacific Ocean. Nature 435: 336–340.
Current Students
- Jessica Carr, College of William & Mary '15. Topic: the contribution of urban agriculture to food security in the U.S. and Uganda.
- Catherine Mahoney, College of William & Mary '15. Topic: wage structure and socioeconomic organization of artisanal fisheries in Uganda.
Courses Taught
- BIOL 150W: Global Fisheries Conservation (Instructor)
- BIOL 460: Critical Transitions in Aquatic Ecosystems (Instructor)
- MSCI 504: Fundamentals of Statistical Methods and Data Analysis (Instructor Spring 2013)
