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Thomas Shirley, Ph.D.
Professor of Life Sciences,
Endowed Chair for Biodiversity
& Conservation Science
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Education
- Louisiana State University, Ph.D., 1982 (Zoology & Physiology, Minor: Mar. Sciences)
- Texas A&I University, M.S., 1974 (Biology, Minor: Geology)
- Texas A&I University, B.S., 1969 (Biology, Minor: Chemistry)
Research Interests
Dr. Tom Shirley is a marine biologist and has published on the ecology and physiology of marine mammals, sea birds, fish, invertebrates, and also on pollution biology and conservation issues. He has described new species of invertebrates from around the world, including the Antarctic, the Arctic, Philippines, Mediterranean, Alaska, and the Gulf of Mexico. His recent research has addressed the ecology of commercially important crabs, distribution of invertebrates on WWII shipwrecks, seamount ecology, organisms associated with deep-sea corals, ecology and systematics of priapulid worms, and ecology of meiofauna.
Current Active Projects
- “Biodiversity of decapod crustaceans of Saba Bank, Netherlands West Indies” funded by Netherlands Antilles Dept. of Environment and Nature; Saba Bank Foundation
- “A massive and heterogeneous data repository for computing research” funded by NSF
- “CAMEO: An integrative approach to managing the dewatering of estuaries” funded by NSF
- “Online database on the biodiversity of the Gulf of Mexico” funded by Sloan Foundation
- “Finding Coral: a study of assemblages on deep-water corals” funded by Living Oceans Society
- “Mesophotic banks and reefs of the western Gulf of Mexico” funding pending
Selected Publications
- Park, W. and T. C. Shirley. 2008. Variations of abundance and hatch timing of Dungeness crab larvae in southeastern Alaska: Implications for climate effect. Animal Cells and Systems 12(4): 287-295.
- Church, R., D. Warren, R. Cullimore, W. Schroeder, W. Patterson, T. Shirley, M. Kilgour, N. Morris, J. Moore and L. Johnston. 2008. A study of living history: Deep WWII shipwrecks in the Gulf of Mexico. The Past Foundation, 261 pp.
- Shirley, T. C. 2008. Snow crab status and perspectives in the USA. pp. 53-65 IN Proceedings of the Uljin International Snow Crab and Marine Bioindustry Symposium, 169 pp. Uljin, Republic of Korea.
- Shirley, T.C. 2007. Cultivation potential of golden king crab, Lithodes aequispinus. Pp. 47-54 IN Stevens, B. G. (ed.) Alaska Crab Stock Enhancement and Rehabilitation. Workshop Proceedings, March 14-16, 2006. Alaska Sea Grant College Program, AK-SG-06-04.
- Kilgour, M. J. and T. C. Shirley. 2008. Distribution of the red deepsea crab by sex and age in the Gulf of Mexico. U.S. Fisheries Bulletin 106(3): 317-320.
- Kilgour, M. J. and T. C. Shirley. 2008. Bathymetric and spatial distribution of decapod crustaceans on deep shipwrecks in the Gulf of Mexico. Bull. Mar. Science 82(3): 333-344.
- Park, W and T. C. Shirley. 2007. Distribution of larval Dungeness crabs in Glacier Bay, southeastern Alaska. Journal of Fisheries Science and Technology 10(2): 86-92.
- Nielsen, J., S. Taggart, T. C. Shirley and J. Mondragon. 2007. Distribution of juvenile and adult Tanner crabs (Chionoecetes bairdi) in a glacial fjord ecosystem: implications for understanding recruitment processes. ICES Journal of Marine Science 64: 1772-1784.
- Webb, J. G. Eckert, T.C. Shirley and S. Tamone. 2007. Changes in embryonic development and hatching in Chionoecetes opilio (Snow Crab) with variation in incubation temperature. Biol. Bull. 213: 67-75.
- Park, W., D. C. Douglas and T. C. Shirley. 2007. North to Alaska: evidence for conveyor belt transport of Dungeness crab larvae along the west coast of the United States and Canada. Limnol. Oceangr. 52: 248-256.
Current Graduate Students
Peter Etnoyer, Ph.D. Dissertation: “Deep-water Gorgonacea in the Gulf of Mexico”
Morgan Kilgour, Ph.D. Dissertation: “Galatheoids of the Gulf of Mexico: Distribution, reproduction, connectivity”
Michael Reuscher, Ph.D. Dissertation: “Deep-water polychaetes of the Gulf of Mexico”
Larissa Bright, M.S. Thesis: “Defensive compounds of the deep-sea bubblegum coral”
Larry Lloyd, M.S. Thesis: “Preferential habitat utilization of parrotfish in the Flower Garden Banks National Marine Sanctuary”
