Bradley Wetherbee

  • Assistant Professor
  • Biological Sciences
  • Phone: 401.874.2335
  • Email: wetherbee@uri.edu
  • Office Location: Woodward Hall 024
  • Website

Research

My research focuses on habitat use, movement patterns and migration of sharks and other marine fishes with an emphasis on their ecology and applications towards sustainable management of their populations. Understanding population-wide characteristics of movements of sharks and marine fishes reveals their responses to environmental conditions, delineates boundaries of their population, quantifies distribution of different demographics and identifies interactions with humans. This information ultimately contributes to better informed and more effective management of populations of marine fishes. Both coastal and oceanic species are being studied at locations including New England, Bermuda, The Bahamas, The Cayman Islands and Mexico.

Involvement of undergraduate students in my research is heavily emphasized, through independent study, fellowships and volunteers contributing to the URI Shark Research Program.

Education

B.S. 1982 (Biological Sciences, Environmental Science), Willamette University
M.S. 1988 (Biology and Living Resources), University of Miami
Ph.D. 1998 (Zoology), University of Hawaii

Selected Publications

  • Womersley, F, Sousa, LL, Humphries NE …. BM Wetherbee et al. Future climate-driven global redistribution of an ocean giant predicts increased threat from ship collisions. Nature Climate Change. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41558-024-02129-5
  • Byrne, MB, J Vaudo, H Dewar, BM Wetherbee, M Shivji. 2024. You shall not pass; shoaling of the Pacific oxygen minimum zone creates a boundary to shortfin mako shark distribution in the Eastern North Pacific Ocean. Distrib. 2024; 0:e13924 https://doi.org/10.1111/ddi.13924
  • ǂDaye, D, R de la Parra, JR Garrison, GH Harvey, JC Harvey, J Vaudo, M Shivji, BM Wetherbee. 2024.  Tracking four years in the life of a whale shark reveals consistent patterns of movement in the Gulf of Mexico and Western Atlantic.  Freshwat. Res. 75, MF23147 https://doi.org/10.1071/MF23147
  • ǂTavares, R. CD Kresge, BM Wetherbee. Movements and habitat use of a nursery area by a wide-ranging species of shark in the southern Caribbean. Mar. Bio. 171, 132. https://doi.org/10.1007/s00227-024-04447-w
  • Vaudo, JJ, H Dewar, ME Byrne, BM Wetherbee, M Shivji. 2024. Integrating vertical and horizontal movements of shortfin mako sharks, Isurus oxyrinchus, in the eastern North Pacific Ocean. Ecol. Prog. Ser.  732:85-99. https://doi.org/10.3354/meps14542

Courses

Courses
BIO 262 Ecology
BIO 360 Marine Biology
BIO 422 Biology of Sharks and Their Relatives
BIO 491 and 492 – Directed research on independent projects