Alan M. Friedlander

Research Interests:

My major research areas of interest are coral reef community ecology, fisheries science, marine conservation biology, and traditional marine resource use and management. I have been examining population regulation in marine fishes throughout the Hawaiian Archipelago, the Caribbean, and the wider Indo-Pacific region, with particular emphasis on responses to exploitation, disturbance, and habitat quality. One of my current major research efforts involves the development of biogeographic approaches to integrate information on the distribution of habitats and associated species to characterize species affinities, define biologically relevant marine protected area (MPA) boundaries, and evaluate MPA effectiveness. Through the combination of remote sensing, GIS, and comprehensive ecological studies, we are developing large-scale, spatially-explicit, and statistically robust evaluations of MPAs as well as exploring the relationship between coral reef habitat complexity and coral reef fish population dynamics at multiple broad spatial scales to inform future MPA design.

Representative publications:

Friedlander AM, SA Sandin, EE DeMartini, E Sala. 2010. Habitat-specific characterization of the fish assemblage at a piscivore-dominated, pristine atoll in the central Pacific. Marine Ecology Progress Series. In press.

Papastamatiou, Y.P., Caselle, J.E., Lowe, C.G., Friedlander, A.M. 2009. Scale-dependent effects of habitat on movements and path structure of reef sharks at a predator-dominated atoll. Ecology 90:996-1008

Wedding L and Friedlander A.M. 2008. Determining the influence of seascape structure on coral reef fishes in Hawaii using a geospatial approach. Marine Geodesy 31:246-266

Friedlander, A.M., Brown, E.K., Monaco, M.E. 2007. Coupling ecology and GIS to evaluate efficacy of marine protected areas in Hawaii. Ecological Applications 17:715-730.

Friedlander, A.M., E.K. Brown, and M. E. Monaco. 2007. Defining reef fish habitat utilization patterns in Hawaii: comparisons between MPAs and areas open to fishing. Marine Ecology Progress Series 351:221-233

Friedlander A., J. Sladek Nowlis, J. A. Sanchez, R. Appeldoorn, P.Usseglio, C. McCormick, S. Bejarano, and A. Mitchell-Chui. 2003. Designing effective marine protected areas in Seaflower Biosphere Reserve, Colombia, based on biological and sociological information. Conservation Biology 17:1769-1784.

Friedlander A.M., E. K. Brown, P. L. Jokiel. W. R. Smith, and K.S. Rodgers. 2003. Effects of habitat, wave exposure, and marine protected area status on coral reef fish assemblages in the Hawaiian archipelago. Coral Reefs 22:291-305.

Friedlander, A.M. and E.E. DeMartini. 2002. Contrasts in density, size, and biomass of reef fishes between the Northwestern and the main Hawaiian Islands: the effects of fishing down apex predators. Mar. Ecol. Prog. Ser. 230:253-264.

Friedlander, A. K. Poepoe, K. Poepoe, K. Helm, P. Bartram, J. Maragos, and I. Abbott. 2002. Application of Hawaiian traditions to community-based fishery management. Proc. 9th Inter. Coral Reef Symp. Vol. 2:813-818.

Current Research Projects:

• Using remote sensing, GIS, and spatial ecology to model reef fish habitat suitability in Hawaii - NOAA
• A survey of the fisheries of West Maui - Hawaii Division of Aquatic Resources
• Hawaii bonefish research and conservation program - UH Sea Grant
• Ecological linkages between Virgin Islands Coral Reef National Monument and Virgin Islands National Park - National Park Service
• Assessing lay-gillnet regulations and nursery habitat for fishes in protected and unprotected areas on windward Oahu - Harold Castle Foundation

BOOK CHAPTERS:

Friedlander, A.M. in press. Marine protected areas. In: Encyclopedia of Islands (R. Gillespie and D.A. Clague, eds.). University of California Press.
Grigg, R. W., J. Polovina, A. Friedlander, and S. Rohman. 2008. Pages 573-594 in: Biology and paleoceanography of the coral reefs in the northwestern Hawaiian Islands. In: Coral reefs of the United States (B. Riegl and R. Dodge, eds.). Springer-Vergal Publishing.
Friedlander, A, J. Caselle, J. Beets, C. Lowe, B. Bowen, T. Ogawa, K. Kelly, T. Calitri, M. Lange and B. Anderson. 2007. Aspects of the biology, ecology, and recreational fishery for bonefish at Palmyra Atoll National Wildlife Refuge, with comparisons to other Pacific Islands. Pages 28-56 in: Biology and management of the world's tarpon and bonefish fisheries (J. Ault, ed.). CRC Press, Boca Raton, Florida.
Poepoe, K., P. Bartram, and A. Friedlander. 2007. The use of traditional Hawaiian knowledge in the contemporary management of marine resources. Pages 117-141 in: Fishers' knowledge in fisheries science and management (N. Haggan, B. Neis, and I.Baird, eds.). UNESCO, Paris.
Sladek Nowles, J. and A. M. Friedlander. 2005. Marine reserve design and function for fisheries management. Pages 280-301 in: Marine conservation biology: the science of maintaining the sea's biodiversity (E. A. Norse and L. B. Crowder, eds.). Island Press.
Sladek Nowles, J. and A. M. Friedlander. 2004. Research priorities and techniques. Pages 187-233 In: Marine Reserves; their science, design and use (J. Sobel and C. Dahlgren, eds.). Island Press. Washington, DC.
Sladek Nowles, J. and A. M. Friedlander. 2004. Marine reserve design and designation process. Pages 128-163 In: Marine Reserves; their science, design and use (J. Sobel and C. Dahlgren, eds.). Island Press. Washington, DC.