Luiz A. Rocha
Born
João Pessoa, Brazil
NationalityBrazilian
CitizenshipAmerican
Alma materUniversity of Florida
Federal University of Paraiba
Scientific career
FieldsIchthyology
Marine conservation
Evolutionary biology
InstitutionsCalifornia Academy of Sciences
ThesisEcology, the Amazon barrier, and speciation in western Atlantic Halichoeres (Labridae). (2003)
Doctoral advisorBrian Bowen

Luiz Alves Rocha is the Curator and Follett Chair of Ichthyology at the California Academy of Sciences.[1] He is also an adjunct professor at the University of California Santa Cruz[2] and San Francisco State University.[3]

Education

Rocha has obtained a PhD in Fisheries and Aquatic Sciences from the University of Florida, and a BS in Biology and Masters in Zoology from the Federal University of Paraiba in Brazil. He also conducted post-doctoral work at the Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute and the University of Hawaii.

Career

Rocha has authored one book[4] and more than 150 scientific articles.[5] He is best known for his work in speciation in coral reef fishes[6] using advanced genomic methodologies to understand fish evolution,[7] and more recently has been actively exploring the diversity of deep (mesophotic) coral reefs throughout the tropics.[8]

He has also published an opinion piece in the New York Times about the problems associated with the creation of large marine protected areas in the open ocean,[9] and has evaluated the conservation status of hundreds of species for the IUCN Red List, including the endangered Social Wrasse.[10]

Taxon named in his honor

Honors and awards

In 2019 he won the inaugural Margaret M. Stewart Achievement Award for Excellence in Ichthyology or Herpetology for his scientific contributions and scholarly impacts on the field of ichthyology.[11]

Taxon described by him

References

  1. ^ "Profile: Luiz A. Rocha". 2016.
  2. ^ "Adjunct & Affiliated Faculty". www.eeb.ucsc.edu. Retrieved 2021-02-27.
  3. ^ "CAS Research Professors | SFSU Department of Biology". biology.sfsu.edu. Retrieved 2016-11-03.
  4. ^ Kells, Valerie A.; Rocha, Luiz A.; Allen, Larry G. (2016-01-22). A Field Guide to Coastal Fishes: From Alaska to California. Johns Hopkins University Press. ISBN 9781421418322.
  5. ^ "Luiz A. Rocha - Google Scholar Citations". scholar.google.com. Retrieved 2021-01-07.
  6. ^ Rocha, Luiz A.; Robertson, D. Ross; Roman, Joe; Bowen, Brian W. (2005-03-22). "Ecological speciation in tropical reef fishes". Proceedings of the Royal Society of London B: Biological Sciences. 272 (1563): 573–579. doi:10.1098/2004.3005. ISSN 0962-8452. PMC 1564072. PMID 15817431.
  7. ^ Gaither, Michelle R.; Bernal, Moisés A.; Coleman, Richard R.; Bowen, Brian W.; Jones, Shelley A.; Simison, W. Brian; Rocha, Luiz A. (2015-04-01). "Genomic signatures of geographic isolation and natural selection in coral reef fishes". Molecular Ecology. 24 (7): 1543–1557. doi:10.1111/mec.13129. ISSN 1365-294X. PMID 25753379.
  8. ^ Rocha, Luiz A.; Pinheiro, Hudson T.; Shepherd, Bart; Papastamatiou, Yannis P.; Luiz, Osmar J.; Pyle, Richard L.; Bongaerts, Pim (2018-07-20). "Mesophotic coral ecosystems are threatened and ecologically distinct from shallow water reefs". Science. 361 (6399): 281–284. Bibcode:2018Sci...361..281R. doi:10.1126/science.aaq1614. ISSN 0036-8075. PMID 30026226.
  9. ^ Rocha, Luiz A. (2018-03-20). "Opinion | Bigger Is Not Better for Ocean Conservation". The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved 2021-06-02.
  10. ^ Texas), Luiz Rocha (University of (2015-08-03). "IUCN Red List of Threatened Species: Halichoeres socialis". IUCN Red List of Threatened Species. Retrieved 2021-06-02.
  11. ^ "Stewart Award | American Society of Ichthyologists and Herpetologists". asih.org. Retrieved 2020-11-24.
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