Dr. Jeremy B.C. Jackson

William and Mary B. Ritter Memorial Professor of Oceanography and      Director, Geosciences Research Division                                             Scripps Institution of Oceanography                                               University of California at San Diego

• American Academy of Arts and Sciences, Fellow
• Secretary’s Gold Medal for Exceptional Service, Smithsonian Institution
• American Association for the Advancement of Science, Fellow

Dr. Jackson is a marine ecologist and paleontologist. His early research demonstrated the importance of competition and predation among coral reef species in the development of reef communities. His studies of speciation in the fossil record showed that morphological evolution is not gradual but occurs in bursts after long period of quiescence. He also co-founded the Panama Paleontology Project, an international team of some 30 scientists, to document the extensive marine biological consequences of the formation of the land barrier between the oceans that changed marine environments and caused mass extinction of Caribbean marine biotas. Dr. Jackson’s recent research centers on the historical causes of the modern collapse of coastal marine ecosystems around the world, and on new ways to use this historical perspective for more effective ecological restoration and management. Dr. Jackson currently holds a part-time appointment as a Senior Research Scientist at STRI where, from 1984-1998, he was a full-time staff member.