Kathleen (Katie) Pitz

Research Interests

I study ecological variability in the California current ecosystem from phytoplankton to zooplankton to fish. I use time series analysis, autonomous approaches, and application of novel methods like environmental DNA combined with acoustics and imagery to examine how organisms are changing with space and time and varying environmental conditions.

Focus Areas:

  • Time series analysis using monthly observations of Monterey Bay to show us how ecological variability is linked with changes in oceanographic conditions from phytoplankton to zooplankton to fish and marine mammals.
  • Advancing our use of autonomous vehicles and novel ways of observing biology through environmental DNA, imagery, and acoustics to look at ecological processes like diel vertical migration
  • Using eDNA alongside traditional fisheries surveys to examine broad spatial and interannual variability in the California Current Ecosystem
  • Advancing Methods and Data Sharing in Environmental DNA:
    • Building infrastructure to better share and report detailed methods: Lead of Better Biomolecular Ocean Practices (BeBOP) project https://github.com/BeBOP-OBON
    • Creating novel methods to model eDNA variability: Metabarcoding Analysis using Modeled Bayesian Occurrences (MAMBO) https://github.com/nvpatin/MAMBO
  • International Networks:
    • Member of Marine Biodiversity Observation Network (MBON)
    • ExCom and SAC member of Ocean Biomolecular Observing Network (OBON) https://obon-ocean.org/; Co-Lead of Protocols and Methodologies Working Group