Shallin Busch

Background

Shallin Busch has been a research ecologist for the CB division since 2010. She was a National Research Council postdoctoral fellow for the division from 2007-2010, focusing on population viability and habitat models for salmonid species listed under the Endangered Species Act. Shallin received a doctorate in Zoology from the University of Washington in 2006 and an undergraduate degree in Ecology and Evolutionary Biology from Princeton University in 1998. Prior to graduate school, she worked for the Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute.

Current Research

Shallin is interested in how environmental change influences animal physiology, populations, and communities. Her current research focuses on how ocean acidification and climate change may impact North Pacific ecosystems. Working with other members of the NWFSC ocean acidification group, she helped develop a state-of-the-art laboratory at the NWFSC for studying the impacts of ocean acidification, hypoxia, and temperature change on coastal marine organisms. Shallin uses this laboratory facility to conduct experiments on species of economic, ecologic, or conservation concern. Shallin incorporates data from her laboratory work and other published data into ecological models to explore how the impacts of ocean acidification and climate change on susceptible species cascade through food webs via trophic interactions. By integrating results from organismal to ecosystem levels, Shallin aims to generate data relevant to management of species and communities in a changing environment.