As Senior Conservation Scientist at the American Museum of Natural History's Center for Biodiversity and Conservation, Dr. Dan Brumbaugh has developed and collaborates on projects focusing on the design of marine protected areas (MPAs) and processes of resilience in coral-reef ecosystems. MPA research focuses on how to map coral-reef biodiversity for conservation purposes, how to incorporate connectivity into marine conservation planning, and how the biological and socioeconomic aspects of MPAs interact to influence how protected systems work (see the Bahamas Biocomplexity Project). Resilience research, currently based at Palmyra Atoll, targets improved understanding of coral-recruitment processes that could facilitate the recovery of reefs. Dan also helps address scientific and policy aspects of marine protected areas as a visiting scientist at NOAA's National Marine Protected Areas Center, a member of the IUCN World Commission on Protected Areas' North American Region and Marine Priority Biome groups, a member of the Council of Bahamas National Trust, and as a contributor to various meetings, workshops, and working groups. In addition to marine conservation work, Dan is interested in marine evolutionary biology, especially studies of how marine organisms adapt to their local environments and how they evolve through time and space. Dan has worked throughout the wider Caribbean, including Florida, The Bahamas, Puerto Rico, Jamaica, Costa Rica, and Panama; along the Pacific coast from Washington state to Baja California; and in the Central Pacific Line Islands. He was the principal content designer and coordinator of the AMNH symposium "Sustaining Seascapes." Dan received a Ph.D. in Zoology (with emphases in evolutionary ecology and conservation biology) from the University of Washington and bachelor degrees in Biological Sciences (B.S.) and Art History (A.B.) from Stanford University. He was a NSF Postdoctoral Fellow at the University of Texas, Austin before joining the Museum in 1998.

Representative Publications

Harborne, A.R., P.J. Mumby, C.V. Kappel, C.P. Dahlgren, F. Micheli, K.E. Holmes, and D.R. Brumbaugh. In press. Tropical coastal habitats as surrogates of fish community structure, grazing, and fisheries value. Ecological Applications.

Mumby P.J., K. Broad, D.R. Brumbaugh, C.P. Dahlgren, A.R. Harborne, A. Hastings, K.E. Holmes, C.V. Kappel, F. Micheli, and J.N. Sanchirico. In press. Coral reef habitats as surrogates of species, ecological functions and ecosystem services. Conservation Biology.

Harborne, A.R., P.J. Mumby, C.V Kappel, C.P. Dahlgren, F. Micheli, K.E. Holmes, J.N. Sanchirico, K. Broad, I.A. Elliott, and D.R. Brumbaugh. 2008. Reserve effects versus natural variation in coral reef communities. Journal of Applied Ecology 45: 1010-1018.

Mumby, P.J., A.R. Harborne, J. Williams, C.V. Kappel, D.R. Brumbaugh, F. Micheli, K.E. Holmes, C.P. Dahlgren, C.B. Paris, P.G. Blackwell. 2007. Trophic cascades facilitates coral recruitment in a marine reserve. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences 104(20): 8362-8367.

Mumby, P.J., C.P. Dahlgren, A.R. Harborne, C.V. Kappel, F. Micheli, D.R. Brumbaugh, K.E. Holmes, J.M. Mendes, K. Broad, J.N. Sanchirico, K. Buch, S. Box, R.W. Stoffle, and Andrew B. Gill. 2006. Fishing, trophic cascades, and the process of grazing on coral reefs. Science 311: 98-101.

Harborne, A.R., P.J. Mumby, F. Micheli, C.T. Perry, C.P. Dahlgren, D.R. Brumbaugh and P. Kramer. 2006. The functional value of Caribbean coral reefs, seagrass and mangrove habitats to ecosystem processes. Advances in Marine Biology 50: 57-190.

Semmens, B.X., D.R. Brumbaugh, and J.A. Drew. In press. Interpreting space use and behavior of blue tang, Acanthurus coeruleus, in the context of habitat, density, and intra-specific interactions. Environmental Biology of Fishes.

Granek, E.F., D.R. Brumbaugh, S.A. Heppell, S.S. Heppell, D. Secord. 2005. A blueprint for our oceans: Implications of two national commission reports for conservation practitioners. Conservation Biology 19(4): 1008-1018.

Brumbaugh, D.R. 2002. "Bryozoa," "Cnidaria," "Coral Reefs," "Nurseries," "Preservation of Habitats" (w/ M. Laverty) and other topics. In: N. Eldredge (ed.), Life on Earth: An Encyclopedia of Biodiversity, Ecology, and Evolution. ABC-CLIO, Santa Barbara.

Paine, R.T., J.L. Ruesink, A. Sun, E.L. Soulanille, M.J. Wonham, C.D.G. Harley, D.R. Brumbaugh, and D.L. Secord. 1996. Trouble on oiled waters: lessons from the Exxon Valdez oil spill. Annual Review of Ecology and Systematics 27: 197-235.

Brumbaugh, D.R., J.M. West, J.L. Hintz, and F.E. Anderson. 1994. Determinants of recruitment in an epiphytic marine bryozoan: field manipulations of flow and host quality. In: W.H. Wilson, Jr., S.A. Stricker, and G.L. Shinn (eds.), Reproduction and Development of Marine Invertebrates. John Hopkins University Press, Baltimore: 287-301.