Gerber Lab
Tara Gancos Crawford
Biology MS Program
Arizona State University
School of Life Sciences Graduate Program
PO Box 874601
Tempe, AZ 85287-4601
Office – LSA 208
T.Gancos.Crawford@asu.edu
RESEARCH INTERESTS
I am interested in individual specialization and niche diversity within generalist populations. If individuals differentially require or affect resources, they can experience dissimilar ecological interactions that influence population dynamics, community structure, and ecological functioning. I am specifically interested in elucidating the nature and degree of niche variation within pinniped populations and how this variation differs among populations in different ecological contexts. Furthermore, I am interested in the management implications of intrapopulation niche variation - when the simplifying assumption of ecologically-equivalent conspecifics is appropriate and when more detailed consideration of a population’s ecology can improve management outcomes at a lesser cost to society.
Read more about my project Untangling Sea Lion Individuality.
BACKGROUND
I graduated from the University of Georgia in 2006 with a BS in Ecology. Afterwards, I joined the United States Peace Corps and served as the Programs Coordinator for a parish-based environmental NGO in St.Thomas, Jamaica. In Jamaica I became interested in holistic approaches to natural resource management that take into consideration the social context in which management is carried out. This interest led me to Brown University where I earned a MA degree in Environmental Studies. My Master’s thesis investigated how social, ecological, and institutional contexts influence what ecosystem-based management is in practice.
TEACHING
Arizona State University
Conservation of Biological Diversity (BIO 322)
The Living World (BIO 100)
Fundamentals of Ecology (BIO 320)
Human Anatomy and Physiology II (BIO 202)
Brown University
Marine Conservation Science and Policy (ENVS 1455)
Humans, Nature and the Environment (ENVS 0110)
Environmental Science in a Changing World (ENVS 0490)
PUBLICATIONS
Gerber, L. R., T. G. Crawford, and B. Halpern. (2012) Marine reserves and ecosystem-based management: Nested approaches for marine conservation. in A. Hastings and L. Gross, editors. Sourcebook in Theoretical Ecology. University of California Press.
Gerber, L., J. Estes, T.G. Crawford, L. Peavey, and A. Read. (2011). Managing for extinction? Conflicting conservation objectives in a large marine reserve. Conservation Letters 00, 1-6. (PDF)
Bradford, M.A., T.N. Gancos and C. Frost. (2008). Slow-cycle effects of foliar herbivory alter the nitrogen acquisition and population size of Collembola. Soil Biology and Biochemistry 40, 1253–1258. (PDF)
