Christian Conroy, Ph.D.
Coordinator, M.S. Environmental Science
Biology and Environmental Science Department
College of Arts and Sciences
Education
Ph.D., Ecology, Evolution, and Marine Biology, Northeastern University
M.S., Marine, Estuarine, and Environmental Science, University of Maryland Center for Environmental Science
B.S., Biology / Environmental Science, Emory University
Research Interests
I am an ecologist interested in the relationships between organisms, especially fish, and the habitats they use. The variable physical, geographical, biological, and chemical environments used by animals play a central role in their existence. Habitat shapes the growth, development, and behavior of individual animals, the dynamics of populations, distributions of species, and composition of ecological communities. In turn, habitats are defined and, in part, influenced by the organisms that occupy and utilize them. I concentrated on the relationships between fish and the habitats they use at a range of scales, including: diversity in phenotypes, behavior, and habitat preferences; subpopulation-scale movement patterns and their underlying causes; mapping essential habitats for mobile species at different developmental stages; and characterizing habitat in ways relevant to both benthic community dynamics and marine spatial management.
Selected Recent Publications
Zajac, R.N., L.M. Stefaniak, I.G. Babb, C.W. Conroy, P.J. Auster, S. Penna, D.S. Chadi. 2020. An Integrated Seafloor Habitat Map to Inform Marine Spatial Planning and Management: A Case Study from Long Island Sound (Northwest Atlantic). In Seafloor Geomorphology as Benthic Habitat: GeoHab Atlas of seafloor geomorphic features and benthic habitats. 2nd Edition. Elsevier, Cambridge, MA. pp199-217.
Auster, P.J. & C.W. Conroy. 2019. Time-series patterns of species richness, diversity, and community composition of fishes at Stellwagen Bank National Marine Sanctuary (1970-2017). Marine Sanctuaries Conservation Series.
Grabowski, J.H., C.W. Conroy, R.K. Gittman, J.T. Kelley, S. Sherman, G.D. Sherwood, G. Wippelhauser. 2018. Juvenile cod in nearshore waters. Reviews in Fisheries Science & Aquaculture. 26.1, 1-14.
Conroy, C.W., J. Calvert, G.D. Sherwood, J.H. Grabowski. 2017. Distinct responses of sympatric migrant and resident Atlantic cod phenotypes to temperature at a remote Gulf of Maine seamount. ICES Journal of Marine Science. 75.1, 122-134.
Conroy, C.W., D.H. Secor, and P.M. Piccoli. 2015. Carryover effects of early growth and river flow on partial migration in striped bass Morone saxatilis. Marine Ecology Progress Series. 541, 179-194.