Eric Bjorkstedt, Ph.D. | Fisheries Biology

Current Research Interests

As a fisheries oceanographer, I conduct research to understand how ocean dynamics and biological processes generate structure and variability in marine populations and ecosystems, with the goal of translating insights from this work into effective conservation and management of marine fisheries in a changing ocean. Much of my work focuses on oceanographic and ecological factors that influence ecosystem productivity in the California Current and recruitment (i.e., growth and survival of early life history stages) in rockfishes and salmon. My research program integrates observations and samples from ship-based ocean surveys, laboratory analysis and experiments, remote sensing, fisheries data, and a variety of quantitative modeling approaches.

Education

Honors B.A. Biological Sciences and English, 1992, University of Delaware

Ph.D. Biological Sciences, 1998, Stanford University

Courses Taught

FISH 478/578 Fisheries Oceanography

Former Graduate Students

Name	Thesis	Graduation Year
Natasha Ficzycz	Inferring exposure to harmful pseudo-nitzschia blooms from ocean-to-estuary gradients in domoic acid concentrations in Humboldt Bay bivalves	2023
Braden Herman	Use of foreign eDNA tracers to resolve site- and time-specific eDNA distributions in natural streams	2023
Roxanne Robertson	Resolving variability in size structure in an individual-based model for the North Pacific krill, Euphausia pacifica	2021
Blair M. Winnacott	Response of coastal ichthyoplankton assemblages off northern California to seasonal oceanographic and climate variability	2021
Laura Solinger	Spatial variability in recruitment of Chilipepper rockfish (sebastes goodei) in the California current system	2019
Cori Flannery	The effects of ocean acidification and reduced oxygen on the behavior and physiology of juvenile rockfish	2018
Kathryn Crane	Environmental effects on growth of early life history stages of rockfishes (Sebastes) off Central California based on analysis of otolith growth patterns.	2014

Publications

Shaffer, J. T., Kinziger, A. P., Bjorkstedt, E. P., & Buchheister, A. (2024). Comparison of environmental DNA and underwater visual count surveys for detecting juvenile Coho Salmon in small rivers. *North American Journal of Fisheries Management*.
Flannery, C., & Bjorkstedt, E. P. (2024). Critical swimming speed of juvenile rockfishes (Sebastes) following long-and short-term exposures to acidification and deoxygenation. Journal of Experimental Marine Biology and Ecology, 573, 151993.
Hanley, P. H., Bjorkstedt, E. P., Morse, B. L., & Rochette, R. (2024). Pop-up satellite archival tags and an individual-based model provide new insights on behavioural thermoregulation in migrating ovigerous American lobster. Ecological Modelling, 489, 110607.
Robertson, R., E. P. Bjorkstedt (2020) Climate-driven variability in Euphausia pacifica size distributions off northern California. Progress in Oceanography, 188, p.102412.
Mattiasen, E., N. S. Kashef, D. M. Stafford, C. A. Logan, S. M. Sogard, E. P. Bjorkstedt, S. L. Hamilton, (2020) Effects of hypoxia on the behavior and physiology of kelp forest fishes. Global Change Biology. DOI: 10.1111/gcb.15076.
Fisher, J., D. Kimmel, T. Ross, S. Batten, E. Bjorkstedt, M. Galbraith, K. Jacobson, J. Keister, A. Sastri, K. Suchy, S. Zeman, R. I. Perry (2020) Copepod responses to, and recovery from, the recent marine heatwave in the Northeast Pacific PICES Press 28(1): 65-71,74.
Hamilton, S. L., N. S. Kashef, D. M. Stafford, E. G. Mattiasen, L. A. Kapphahn, C. A. Logan, E. P. Bjorkstedt, S. M. Sogard (2019) Ocean acidification and hypoxia can have opposite effects on rockfish otolith growth. Journal of Experimental Marine Biology and Ecology, 521, p.151245.
Carloni, J., Wahle, R., Geoghegan, P., Bjorkstedt E. 2018. The ‘Great Disconnect’: Declines in American lobster benthic recruitment despite surging spawning stock linked to the pelagic food web. Bull. Mar. Sci. 94(3), pp.719-735.
Jones, T., Parrish, J.K., Peterson, W.T., Bjorkstedt, E.P., Bond, N.A., Ballance, L.T., Bowes, V., Hipfner, J.M., Burgess, H.K., Dolliver, J.E. and Lindquist, K., 2018. Massive mortality of a planktivorous seabird in response to a marine heatwave. Geophysical Research Letters, 45(7), pp.3193-3202.
Chao, Y., Farrara, J.D., Bjorkstedt, E., Chai, F., Chavez, F., Rudnick, D.L., Enright, W., Fisher, J.L., Peterson, W.T., Welch, G.F. and Davis, C.O., 2017. The origins of the anomalous warming in the California coastal ocean and San Francisco Bay during (2014)–(2016). Journal of Geophysical Research: Oceans, 122(9), pp.7537-7557.
Bjorkstedt, E. P., M. García-Reyes, M. Losekoot, W. Sydeman, J. Largier, B. Tissot. 2017. Oceanographic context for baseline characterization and future evaluation of MPAs along California's North Coast. Technical report to California Sea Grant for Projects R/MPA-31A, R/MPA-31B, and R/MPA-31C.
Hassrick, J.L., Henderson, M.J., Huff, D.D., Sydeman, W.J., Sabal, M.C., Harding, J.A., Ammann, A.J., Crandall, E.P., Bjorkstedt, E.P., Garza, J.C. and Hayes, S.A. 2016. Early ocean distribution of juvenile Chinook salmon in an upwelling ecosystem. Fisheries Oceanography 25:133-146.
Bjorkstedt, E.P. and W.T. Peterson. 2015. Zooplankton data from high-frequency coastal transects: enriching the contributions of ocean observing systems to ecosystem-based management in the northern California Current. pages 119-142 in Y. Liu, H. Kerkering, and R. H. Weisberg (eds.) Coastal Ocean Observing Systems: Advances and Syntheses. Elsevier.
Bjorkstedt, E. P., J. Field, M. Love, L. Rogers-Bennett, R. Starr. 2015. California's marine fisheries: tradeoffs in transition. pages 779-815 in E. Zavaleta and H. Mooney (eds.) Ecosystems of California, UC Press.
Sakuma, K. M., E. P. Bjorkstedt, S. Ralston. 2013. Distribution of young-of-the-year rockfish (Sebastes spp.) in relation to temperature and fronts off central California. CalCOFI Reports 54: 167-179. 2013
Garwood, R. S., T. J. Mulligan, and E. P. Bjorkstedt. 2013. Ichthyological Assemblage and Variation in a Northern California Zostera marina Eelgrass Bed. Northwestern Naturalist, 94(1), 35-50. 2013
Bjorkstedt, E.P., and 39 others. 2012. State of the California Current 2011-2012: Ecosystems respond to local forcing as La Niña wavers and wanes. CalCOFI Reports 53: 41-76. (See also "State of the California Current" papers in CalCOFI Reports from 2008 to present)
Duffy, W. G., E. P. Bjorkstedt, and C.S. Ellis. 2011. Predation on juvenile salmon (Oncorhynchus spp.) in downstream migrant traps. Transactions of the American Fisheries Society. 31: 151-164. 2011.
Spence, B. C., E. P. Bjorkstedt, J. C. Garza, J. J. Smith, D. G. Hankin, D. Fuller, W. E. Jones, R. Macedo, T. H. Williams, E. Mora. 2008. A framework for assessing the viability of threatened and endangered salmon and steelhead in the North-Central California Coast Recovery Domain. NOAA Technical Memorandum NMFS-SWFSC-423. 173 p.
Bonine, K. M., E. P. Bjorkstedt, K.C. Ewel, M. Palik. 2008. Population characteristics of the mangrove crab Scylla serrata (Decapoda: Portunidae) in Kosrae, Federated States of Micronesia: Effects of harvest and implications for management. Pacific Science 62: 1-19.
Armsworth, P. R., C. V. Kappel, F. Micheli, and E. P. Bjorkstedt. 2006. Marine species. In: D. D. Goble, J. M. Scott, and F. W. Davis (eds.), The Endangered Species Act at thirty, vol. 1: Renewing the conservation promise, p. 36-44. Island Press, Washington, DC.
Armsworth, P. R., C. V. Kappel, F. Micheli, and E. P. Bjorkstedt. 2006. Working seascapes. In: J. M. Scott, D. D. Goble, and F. W. Davis (eds.), The Endangered Species Act at thirty, vol. 2: Conserving biodiversity in human-dominated landscapes, p. 244-255. Island Press, Washington, DC.
Bjorkstedt, E. P., B. C. Spence, J. C. Garza, D. G. Hankin, D. Fuller, W. E. Jones, J. J. Smith, and R. Macedo. 2005. An analysis of historical population structure for evolutionarily significant units of Chinook salmon, coho salmon, and steelhead in the North-Central California Coast Recovery Domain. U. S. Dept. Commer., NOAA Technical Memorandum NMFS-SWFSC-382. 210 pp.
Bjorkstedt E. P. 2005. DARR 2.0: updated software for estimating abundance from stratified mark-recapture data. U.S. Depart. Commer., NOAA Technical Memorandum NMFS-SWFSC-368, 13 p.
Bjorkstedt E. P., L. K. Rosenfeld, B. A. Grantham, Y. Shkedy, and J. Roughgarden. 2002. Distributions of larval rockfish (Sebastes spp.) across nearshore fronts in a coastal upwelling region. Marine Ecology Progress Series 242: 215-228.
Bjorkstedt E. P. 2000. Stock-recruitment relationships for life cycles that exhibit concurrent density dependence. Canadian Journal of Fishery and Aquatic Sciences 57(2): 459-467.
McElhany P., Ruckelshaus M., Ford M. J., Wainwright T., Bjorkstedt E. P. 2000. Viable Salmonid Populations and the Recovery of Evolutionarily Significant Units. U.S. Depart. Commer., NOAA Technical Memorandum NMFS-NWFSC-42, 156 p.