Joseph Tomoleoni
Biography
Joe is a USGS biologist that is broadly interested in the ecology of coastal marine communities, particularly the influences of vertebrate predators on community structure. Most of his field research has focused on sea otter populations around the Northeastern Pacific Ocean. His past and current study sites focus mostly on Central and Southern California (including the Channel Islands), but also include many other locations around the Northeast Pacific like the Aleutian Islands, Southeast and Southcentral Alaska, and Washington. These studies are designed to better understand the suite of direct and indirect interactions between sea otters and other species in the nearshore environment. Joe and his colleagues use this model system to elucidate the influence of high-trophic-level consumers on the organization of the communities in which they live. Their research questions aim to investigate various aspects of sea otter behavioral ecology including: foraging trends, activity budgets, movement patterns, survival, and reproduction. The information gathered from their research helps to obtain a better understanding of sea otter biology, which, through species interactions with biotic and abiotic factors in their environment, advances our knowledge base for entire nearshore marine ecosystems.
In addition to sea otter population studies, Joe's fieldwork also includes intertidal and subtidal surveys of nearshore communities, as well as dive work to capture and tag sea otters and collect data or samples that help us better understand the link between otters, kelp forests, estuaries, and people. Joe and his USGS colleagues are also the lead agency conducting the annual sea otter census in California, which monitors population change and distribution over time. Joe also serves on the USGS National Dive Safety Board as the Southwest Region Dive Safety Officer.
EDUCATION
MS, Marine Affairs & Policy/Marine Biology & Fisheries, University of Miami Rosenstiel School of Marine & Atmospheric Science (FL), 2007
BS, Marine Biology, University of Miami (FL) 2005
Science and Products
California Sea Otter Stranding Network
The California Sea Otter Stranding Network is part of the USGS effort to monitor southern sea otters (Enhydra lutris nereis) and provide data to the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service. WERC's sea otter team works with multiple institutions and partners to report, recover, and examine stranded sea otters. In addition, instructions on how to report a stranded sea otter are included in this webpage...
California Sea Otter Surveys and Research
WERC colloborates with other research scientists to conduct annual population surveys of the southern sea otter -- a federally listed threatened species. In coordination with the California Department of Fish and Game and other institutions, ongoing surveys and research continues to inform the southern sea otter recovery plan for the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, and contributes to our...
Population Biology and Behavior of Sea Otters
WERC's sea otter researchers are developing and utilizing a variety of methodological and analytical tools to understand the causes of biological and ecological trends in sea otter populations, and to predict the ecological consequences of management practices on these populations and their ecosystems.
Pacific Nearshore Project
Sea otters are crucial indicators of the health of our nearshore waters and coastal resources, from kelp forests to fisheries. What clues does the sea otter's decline hold for our knowledge of ecosystem and global change? WERC's sea otter team and U.S. and Canadian researchers have teamed together to investigate.
Relevance to USGS Missions:
This research project has direct...
Santa Cruz Field Station
Scientists at the Santa Cruz Field Station study sea otters and seabirds in their environment. The USGS Western Ecological Research Center has two research missions based in the Santa Cruz region:
Kelp forest monitoring at Naval Base Ventura County, San Nicolas Island, California: Fall 2017 and Spring 2018, Fourth Annual Report
To assess and track changes to the rocky subtidal communities surrounding San Nicolas Island, the U.S. Navy entered into an agreement with the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) in 2014 to conduct an ecological monitoring program at several sites around the island. Four permanent sites—Nav Fac 100, West End, Dutch Harbor, and Daytona 100—were...
Kenner, Michael C.; Tomoleoni, Joseph
Species recovery and recolonization of past habitats: Lessons for science and conservation from sea otters in estuaries
Recovering species are often limited to much smaller areas than they historically occupied. Conservation planning for the recovering species is often based on this limited range, which may simply be an artifact of where the surviving population persisted. Southern sea otters (Enhydra lutris nereis) were hunted nearly to extinction but recovered...
Hughes, Brent B.; Wasson, Kerstin; Tinker, M Tim; Williams, Susan L; Carswell, Lilian P; Boyer, Katharyn E.; Beck, Michael W.; Eby, Ron; Scoles, Robert; Staedler, Michelle M.; Espinosa, Sarah; Hessing-Lewis, Margot; Foster, Erin U.; Beheshti, Kathryn; Grimes, Tracy M; Becker, Benjamin H.; Needles, Lisa; Tomoleoni, Joseph; Rudebusch, Jane; Hines, Ellen Marie; Silliman, Brian R
California sea otter (Enhydra lutris nereis) census results, spring 2019
The 2019 census of southern sea otters (Enhydra lutris nereis), also known as California sea otters, was conducted from early May to early July along the mainland coast of central California and in April at San Nicolas Island in southern California. The range-wide index, defined as the 3-year average of combined counts from the mainland range and...
Hatfield, Brian B.; Yee, Julie L.; Kenner, Michael C.; Tomoleoni, Joseph A.
Southern sea otter (Enhydra lutris nereis) population biology at Big Sur and Monterey, California --Investigating the consequences of resource abundance and anthropogenic stressors for sea otter recovery
The range of the southern sea otter (Enhydra lutris nereis) spans most of the central California coast from Half Moon Bay to Gaviota. Some coastal areas within this range are heavily developed and highly impacted by humans, while other areas are wild and largely pristine. Determining the relative importance of food resource abundance,...
Tinker, M. Tim; Tomoleoni, Joseph A.; Weitzman, Benjamin P.; Staedler, Michelle; Jessup, Dave; Murray, Michael J.; Miller, Melissa; Burgess, Tristan; Bowen, Lizabeth; Miles, A. Keith; Thometz, Nicole; Tarjan, Lily; Golson, Emily; Batac, Francesca; Dodd, Erin; Berberich, Eva; Kunz, Jessica; Bentall, Gena; Fujii, Jessica; Nicholson, Teri; Newsome, Seth; Melli, Ann; LaRoche, Nicole; MacCormick, Holly; Johnson, Andy; Henkel, Laird; Kreuder-Johnson, Chris; Conrad, Pat
California sea otter (Enhydra lutris nereis) census results, spring 2018
The 2018 census of southern sea otters (Enhydra lutris nereis) was conducted from late April to mid-May along the mainland coast of central California and in April at San Nicolas Island in southern California. The 3-year average of combined counts from the mainland range and San Nicolas Island was 3,128, a decrease of 58 sea otters from the...
Hatfield, Brian B.; Yee, Julie L.; Kenner, Michael C.; Tomoleoni, Joseph A.; Tinker, M. Tim
Southern sea otter range expansion and habitat use in the Santa Barbara Channel, California
The re-colonization of the Santa Barbara channel by sea otters brings these ESA-listed marine mammals closer to active oil and gas production facilities, shipping lanes and naturally occurring oil and gas seeps. However, the degree to which sea otters may actually be affected by human-caused oil spills or exposure to natural oil seeps is currently...
Tinker, M. Tim; Tomoleoni, Joseph; LaRoche, Nicole; Bowen, Lizabeth; Miles, A. Keith; Murray, Mike; Staedler, Michelle; Randell, Zachary Trade-offs between energy maximization and parental care in a central place forager, the sea otter
Between 1999 and 2014, 126 archival time–depth recorders (TDRs) were used to examine the foraging behavior of southern sea otters (Enhydra lutris nereis) off the coast of California, in both resource-abundant (recently occupied, low sea otter density) and resource-limited (long-occupied, high sea otter density) locations. Following predictions of...
Thometz, N M; Staedler, M.M.; Tomoleoni, Joseph; Bodkin, James L.; Bentall, G.B.; Tinker, M. Tim The value of closed-circuit rebreathers for biological research
Closed-circuit rebreathers have been used for underwater biological research since the late 1960s, but have only started to gain broader application within scientific diving organizations within the past two decades. Rebreathers offer certain specific advantages for such research, especially for research involving behavior and surveys that depend...
Pyle, Richrad L.; Lobel, Phillip S.; Tomoleoni, Joseph
USGS and NASA Team Up to Help Scientists Study the “Social Networks” of Wildlife
In the future of wildlife tracking, sea otters have their own social network.