Department/College/UnitPhysical & Biological Sciences Division

TitlePostdoctoral Scholar

AffiliationStaff

Web SiteGlobal
Climate
RC

Primary Office LocationCSC Coastal Biology Building
139

Mail StopCBB/EE Biology

Biography, Education and Training

I received my BS in Environmental Systems: Ecology, Behavior and Evolution from the University of California San Diego (UCSD) and a Master's and Ph.D. in Ecology and Evolutionary Biology from UC Santa Cruz. I am interested in disentangling the impacts of climate forcing on marine ecosystems and its relevance to natural resource management. I enjoy spending my free time in and around the ocean with family and friends (fishing, boating, diving and surfing).

Summary of Expertise

Impacts of natural and anthropogenic climate forcing on marine ecosystem dynamics

Computational modeling of abiotic and biotic ocean processes

Mechanisms of spatial and temporal populaton dynamics

Research Interests

Fisheries Oceanography

• Physical oceanographic processes determining the structure and function of coastal pelagic ecosystems.
• Physical-biological drivers of marine fish population fluctuation
• Mechanisms of recruitment fluctuations
• Processes promoting the geographic distribution of marine fish (and invertebrate) populations 

Teaching Interests

Quantitative ecology

Statistics

Marine Ecology

Oceanography

Physiology

Fisheries Ecology

Awards, Honors and Grants

National Science Foundation Graduate Research Fellowship Program (2016)

EEB Outstanding Teaching Assistant Award (2020)

Selected Publications

1. Morales, M.M., Fiechter, J., Field, J.C., Kashef, N.S., Hazen, E.L. and Carr, M.H., 2024. Development and application of a bioenergetics growth model for multiple early life stages of an ecologically important marine fish. Ecological Modelling, 488, p.110575.
2. Cimino, M.A., Jacox, M.G., Bograd, S.J., Brodie, S., Carroll, G., Hazen, E.L., Lavaniegos, B.E., Morales, M.M., Satterthwaite, E. and Rykaczewski, R.R., 2021. Anomalous poleward advection facilitates episodic range expansions of pelagic red crabs in the eastern North Pacific. Limnology and Oceanography, 66(8), pp.3176-3189.
3. Dudley, P.N., Rogers, T.L., Morales, M.M., Stoltz, A.D., Sheridan, C.J., Beulke, A.K., Pomeroy, C. and Carr, M.H., 2021. A More Comprehensive Climate Vulnerability Assessment Framework for Fisheries Social-Ecological Systems. Frontiers in Marine Science, 8, p.674.
4. Martínez-Rincón, R.O., Saldívar-Lucio, R., Morales, M., Lluch-Cota, S.E., Lluch-Cota, D.B., Salvadeo, C. and Ponce-Díaz, G., 2019. Contribution of ocean variability to climate-catch models of Pacific sardine. Deep Sea Research Part II: Topical Studies in Oceanography, 159, pp.103-111.
5. Jones, William A, Morales, Mark M. (2014). Catalog of Otoliths of Select Fishes from the California Current System. UC San Diego: Scripps Institution of Oceanography. Retrieved from: http://www.escholarship.org/uc/item/5m69146s