Expertise:
Ecology, Marine Conservation, Marine Ecology, Marine Restoration, Coastal Ecosystems, Human Impacts on Coastal Ecosystems, California Rocky Intertidal and Subtidal Habitats, Marine Protected Areas, Seaweed Identification, Tropical Coral Reef and Rocky Intertidal EcosystemsA marine conservationist, Jayson Smith studies human disturbances on ecosystem functioning and community structure in coastal marine habitats. Southern California’s dense human population affects urban coastal ecosystems in numerous ways. Of particular interest Smith are the impact of invasive seaweeds on marine ecosystems, the effects of human visitation in rocky intertidal habitats, long-term change in coastal community structure and dynamics, and the effects of climate change. All of these areas have implications for in policy-making decisions, particularly with current emphasis on ecosystem-based management.
Smith is a member of the Laguna Ocean Foundation Board, the Orange County Marine Protected Area Council, the Multi Agency Rocky Intertidal Network (MARINe), and other organizations and government agencies.
Recent Grants and Fellowships:
- Subcontract from the University of California, Santa Barbara from primary funder Ocean Protection Council, “Restoring rocky intertidal foundation species across California”, ~1.7 million (total to CPP ~$400,000), 2019-2024.
- Subcontract from the University of California, Santa Cruz from primary funder California Sea Grant, “Assessment of rocky intertidal habitats for the California Marine Protected Area monitoring program,” ~$1.1 million (total to Cal Poly Pomona ~$40,000), 2019 – 2022
- Subcontract UCSC from primary funder, Bureau of Ocean Energy Management, “MARINe Long-Term Monitoring of Rocky Intertidal Shores,” ~$2.1 million (total to CPP ~$221,000), 2015- 2020
- Consulting within Merkel Associates, “San Elijo Restoration Project: Long-term monitoring of the effects of sand movement on rocky intertidal communities in San Diego, CA,” ~$200,000, 2017-2022
- Consulting (seaweed identification and abundance sampling) for Dancing Coyote Environmental, “Biotic assessment of rocky habitats in the Port of Los Angeles and Long Beach,” ~$4,000, 2019
- Consulting within Laguna Ocean Foundation, “Effectiveness of the Laguna Ocean Foundation Tidepool Educator Program,” ~$15,000, 2018-2019
- Cal Poly Pomona Provost’s Teacher-Scholar Support Program, “Tropical rocky intertidal ecology,” $6,000, 2017-2018
- Cal Poly Pomona Strategic Interdisciplinary Research Grant Program (SIRG), “Death and Taxa: Monitoring Seismic Cycle Ground Deformation Using Rocky Intertidal Zone Mortality, Nicoya Peninsula, Costa Rica,” $19,583, 2016-2017
- Cal Poly Pomona President’s Research, Scholarship, and Creative Activities Program (RSCA), “The impacts of warm and dry Santa Ana winds on community composition of rocky intertidal communities,” $8,500. 2015-2015
Selected Publications:
- With P. Jhaveri, “Evaluation of two outreach tools, an educator program and a mobile touch tank, in reducing deleterious visitor activities in rocky intertidal ecosystems of southern California, USA,” Ocean and Coastal Management, 178:104821, 2019
- With C.M. Miner, J.L. Burnaford, R.F. Ambrose, L. Antrim, H. Bohlmann, C.A. Blanchette, J.M. Engle, S.C. Fradkin, R. Gaddam, C.D.G. Harley, B.G. Miner, S.N. Murray, S.G. Whitaker and P.T. Raimondi, “Large-scale impacts of sea star wasting disease (SSWD) on intertidal sea stars and implications for recovery,” PLOS ONE 13(3): e0192870, 2018
- With B.J. Lucas, “Alterations in human visitation patterns and behaviors in southern California rocky intertidal ecosystems over two-decades following increased management efforts,” Ocean and Coastal Management, 121:128-140, 2016
- With S.N. Murray, S.B. Weisberg, P.T. Raimondi, R.F. Ambrose, C.A. Bell, C.A. Blanchette, J.L. Burnaford, M.N. Dethier, J.M. Engle, M.S. Foster, C.M. Miner, K.J. Nielsen, J.S. Pearse and D.V. Richards, “Evaluating ecological states of rocky intertidal communities: A Best Professional Judgement exercise,” Ecological Indicators, 60:802-814, 2016
- “The putative impacts of the non-native seaweed Sargassum muticum on native communities in tidepools of southern California and investigation into the feasibility of local eradication,” Marine Ecology, 37:645-667, 2016
- With L.M. Marks, P. Salinas-Ruiz, D.C. Reed, S.J. Holbrook, C.S. Culver, J.M. Engle, D.J. Kushner, J.E. Caselle, J. Freiwald, J.P. Williams, L.W. Aguilar-Rosas and N.J. Kaplanis, “The range expansion of a non-native, invasive macroalgae Sargassum horneri in the eastern Pacific,” Bioinvasions Records, 4: 243-248, 2015
- With S. Vogt, F. Creedon, B.J. Lucas and D.J. Eernisse, “The non-native turf-forming alga Caulacanthus ustulatus displaces space-occupants but increases diversity,” Biological Invasions, 16:2195-2208, 2014
- With A. Garcia, “Factors influencing human visitation of southern California rocky intertidal ecosystems,” Ocean and Coastal Management, 73: 44-53, 2013
- With S. Diaz, S. Zaleski, and S.N Murray, “Effectiveness of the California state ban on the sale of Caulerpa species in aquarium retail stores in southern California,” Environmental Management, 50:89-96, 2012
Interviews:
- “Local environmental groups petition wildlife commission for changes in protected coastal areas,” Orange County Register, Dec. 26, 2023
- “Tide Pool Life Diminishes,” Laguna Beach Independent, May 10, 2015
- “Limpets and Abalone,” Life in a Tide Pool, Mar. 2, 2015
- “Starfish Mysteriously Disappearing Along the Pacific Coast,” Orange County Register, May 2, 2014
- “Sea Stars in Southern California Are Dying in Droves from Mysterious Disease,” KPCC Radio, Apr. 3, 2014
- Video: “Nonnative Seaweed at Little Corona del Mar in Newport Beach,” PolyCentric, March 16, 2012
- “Are We Loving Our Tide Pools to Death,” OC Register, Jan. 28, 2011
Education:
B.S., Biology, University of California Los Angeles
M.S., Biological Sciences, California State University, Fullerton
Ph.D., Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, University of California, Los Angeles