Dr. Jenn Dijkstra
Research Associate Professor
Center for Coastal & Ocean Mapping
University of New Hampshire
Friday, December 5, 2025, 3:10 p.m.
Chase 105
Abstract
The Gulf of Maine is a rapidly changing ecosystem, with concurrent shifts in both kelp and fish communities. Spatially explicit assessments are essential for effective monitoring, yet many traditional survey methods are constrained by depth and seafloor type. Advances in seafloor mapping and machine learning now allow prediction of species distributions and, importantly, a more detailed understanding of interactions among macroalgae, substrate, and associated fauna. In this talk, I’ll give a few examples of how we leverage and integrate remote sensing and acoustic technologies to characterize and predict species distributions.
Bio
Dr. Jenn Dijkstra is a Research Associate Professor in the Center for Coastal and Ocean Mapping. She received her B.A. in biology from the University of New Brunswick, master's in marine biology from the University of Bremen and Ph.D. from UNH. She is a marine ecologist who studies coastal and deep-sea ecosystems. Her interdisciplinary research spans a range of environments and is unified by a focus on spatial ecology: integrating remote sensing and acoustic technologies to characterize and predict species distributions in a spatially explicit framework, and investigating the causes and consequences of shifting communities.
