Cara Schweitzer

NOAA-EPP LMRCSC Doctoral Graduate
Ph.D., Marine, Estuarine & Environmental Science, Graduated May 2019
University of Maryland Eastern Shore

Cara received her B.S. in Biology at The University of Missouri – St. Louis. There she researched behavioral sexual selection in the live breeding fish, Poecilia parae and the electrosensory pathway of the dorsal octavolateral nucleus (DON) within the paddlefish brain. Cara completed an M.S. in Biology at Washington University with an emphasis in circadian rhythms in mouse model. She then joined the MEES program at UMES. Her research aims to understand how habitat complexity and health influence fish abundance and recruitment within the Mid-Atlantic Bight by using sea whips as a health bio-indicator and black sea bass for abundance predictor. Cara is also investigating how the commercial trap fishing industry affects habitat integrity and juvenile abundance and survival. Her research was conducted under the supervision of Dr. Bradley Stevens.

Cara completed her degree in May 2019 and moved on to a Post Doctoral Fellowship at Hampton University, where her research focused on on how temperature and exposure to elevated CO2 levels affect neurosensory functions, specifically the auditory brainstem response (ABR), of sciaenid fishes. She now works as a Fishery Management Specialist for NOAA in Silver Spring, MD.

NERTO Project Title:  Evaluation of Southeast Reef Fish Survey (SERFS) videos for Atlantic Sharks

NOAA Mentor: Dr. Michael Burton, NOAA Beaufort, NC Lab. 

Academic Advisor: Dr. Bradley Stevens

Publications/Presentations

  1. Schweitzer, C. C., and B. G. Stevens. (2019). The importance of soft coral sea whips (Leptogorgia sp.) to fish abundance on artificial reefs in the Mid-Atlantic Bight. PeerJ 7:e7277.
  2. Schweitzer, C.C., Lipcius, N.R. & Stevens, B.G. (2018). Impacts of multi-trap-line on benthic habitat containing emergent epifauna within the Mid-Atlantic Bight. ICES Journal of Marine Science, 75: 6, 2202–2212.
  3. Schweitzer, C.C., Horodysky, A.Z., Price, A.L. & Stevens, B.G. In press. Impairment indicators for predicting delayed mortality in black sea bass (Centropristis striata) discards within the commercial trap fishery.  Submitted to Fisheries Research.
  4. Schweitzer, C.C. & Stevens, B.G. (2018). The effectiveness of increasing connectivity between two patch reefs for increasing site fish abundance in the Mid-Atlantic. Presented at Ecological Society of America, New Orleans, LA August 2018.
  5. Schweitzer, C.C., Horodysky, A.Z., Price, A.L. & Stevens, B.G. (2018). Evaluating the effectiveness of reflex action mortality predictor (RAMP) in black sea bass, Centropristis striata, bycatch within the commercial trap fishery. Presented at American Fisheries Society: Tidewater Chapter, Beaufort, NC January 2018.
  6. Schweitzer, C.C., Lipcius, N.R. & Stevens, B.G. (2017). The use of sea whips (Leptogorgia sp.) as an indicator species (IS) for habitat quality assessment within the Mid-Atlantic Bight. Presented at American Fisheries Society (AFS) conference, Tampa, FL August 2017.
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