Profile : Franz Smith
Marine Conservation Planning Post-Doctoral Fellow

Role

Development of quantitative and qualitative approaches to incorporate climate research into systematic marine conservation planning and fisheries management. Project aims to address the theoretical underpinning and analytical practices for spatial design of marine reserves and off-reserve spatial management under various climate change predictions.

Biography

Franz's past research efforts have centred around understanding the ecology of sessile suspension-feeding organisms (i.e. sponges, corals, et cetera), with a particular interest in how these assemblages are shaped by oceanographic factors – but also how they are able to modify the physical environment in a way that feeds back into their biology.  After finishing his PhD research on the maintenance of diversity in epifaunal assemblages in the New Zealand fjords, he became involved in several broad-scale projects looking at the influence of upwelling and estuarine processes in disparate regions of central and southern Chile.  Franz's work has also extended to parts of Antarctica, Galápagos, Micronesia, subtropical Australia (Norfolk Island), and throughout New Zealand (i.e. from the Kermadec Islands to the Subantarctic Islands).

The focus of the past 5 years of Franz's work has been dedicated to the development and testing of marine environment classification systems, interaction and trophic modelling, and generating decision-support tools for aspects of marine resource management, systematic conservation planning and biological risk assessments.

Academic Qualifications:

• Ph.D. Marine Science, University of Otago, Dunedin, New Zealand, 1999
• BSc Biology, University of the Virgin Islands, St. Thomas, Virgin Islands, 1992

Publications:

Smith, F.  2001.  Historical regulation of local species richness across a geographic region.  Ecology 82(3):  792-801.

Smith, F. and J.D. Witman.  1999.  Species diversity in subtidal landscapes: Maintenance by physical processes and larval recruitment.  Ecology 80:  51-69.

Shears, N.T., F. Smith, R.C. Babcock, C.A.J. Duffy and E. Villouta.  2008.  Evaluation of biogographic classification schemes for conservation planning:  Application to New Zealand’s coastal environment.  Conservation Biology 22:  467-481

Witman, J.D., R.J. Etter and F. Smith.  2004.  The relationship between regional and local species diversity in marine benthic communities:  a global perspective. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences 101:  15664-15669.

Witman, J.D. and F. Smith.  2003.  Rapid community change at a tropical upwelling site in the Galápagos Marine Reserve.  Biodiversity & Conservation 12:  25-45.

Broitman, B.O., S.A. Navarrete, F. Smith, and S.D. Gaines.  2001.  Geographic variation of southeastern Pacific intertidal communities:  Associations with oceanographic patterns.  Marine Ecology - Progress Series 224:  21-34.

Klinkhammer, G.P., C.S. Chin, R.A. Keller, A. Dählmann, H. Sahling, G. Sarthou, S. Petersen, F. Smith, and C. Wilson.  2001.  Discovery of new hydrothermal vents sites in Bransfield Strait, Antarctica.  Earth and Planetary Science Letters 193: 395-407.

Witman, J.D., M. Brandt, and F. Smith. In press. Coupling between subtidal prey and consumers along a mesoscale upwelling gradient in the Galápagos Islands. Ecological Monographs.

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Modified: 25/03/10