Ben Laurel

Ben Laurel is a Research Fisheries Biologist with the Alaska Fisheries Science Center's Fisheries Behavioral Ecology Program located on Oregon State University’s Hatfield Marine Science Center in Newport, OR.  Ben has a B.A. in Biology from St. Olaf College in Northfield, MN and completed graduate studies (MSc and PhD) at Memorial University of Newfoundland in eastern Canada.  Ben joined the AFSC in 2005.

Ben’s research focuses on processes regulating growth and survival of early life stages of fish in cold marine systems. He is particularly interested in the thermal sensitivity of gadids in their first year of life and how their potential habitats will shift under varying climate change scenarios.  For Arctic species, Ben conducts much of his research at AFSC’s Newport laboratory where there is access to broodstock and seawater systems for experiments across a range of environments (temperature, salinity, oil and pH).   Ben also heads a long term beach seine program in the Gulf of Alaska to monitor age-0 Pacific cod and understand climate-driven recruitment processes.   Ben serves on the Scientific Steering Committee for Ecosystem Studies of Subarctic and Arctic Seas (ESSAS) and has a Graduate Faculty appointment at Oregon State University.