About

I was born and raised in the Pacific Northwest and have always had a deep abiding love for the misty and mysterious forests and waterways of the Salish Sea.Whippo_headshot.jpg

Applying my love of ecosystems to the sciences came later in life after an unplanned SCUBA diving trip. From my first breath underwater I was hooked, and promptly returned to school for my undergrad degree at the  University of Washington, where I became a certified scientific diver conducting subtidal research in the San Juan Islands at Friday Harbor Labs. I went on to get my Masters at the University of British Columbia where I spent several summers at the Bamfield Marine Sciences Centre in Barkley Sound BC working in subtidal eelgrass ecosystems. I then worked as a dive and field technician for the Hakai Institute and Smithsonian Institution, exploring kelp forests, coral reefs, and mangrove wetlands around the world.  Currently I am a PhD student at the Oregon Institute of Marine Biology’s Coastal Trophic Ecology Lab studying food webs in kelp communities.

My experiences as a student, teacher, and researcher have reinforced my belief that scientists have a duty to communicate their work with the public, particularly the next generation. The role of scientific outreach and education cannot be underestimated. As such, I strive to share my work with others and take every opportunity to make outreach an integral part of what I do.

Thanks for visiting!

PUBLICATIONS

Galloway AWE, Gravem SA, Kobelt JN, Heady WN, Okamoto DK, Sivitilli DM, Saccomanno VR, Hodin J, Whippo R (2023). Sunflower sea star predation on urchins can facilitate kelp forest recovery. Proc. R. Soc. B. 290:20221897. 20221897. http://doi.org/10.1098/rspb.2022.1897

Harper LM, Lefcheck JS, Whippo R, Jones SM, Folts Z, Duffy JE (2022) Blinded by the bright: How species-poor habitats contribute to regional biodiversity across a tropical seascape. Diversity and Distributions 28:11(2272-2285) https://doi.org/10.1111/ddi.13632

Whippo R, Fields SA, Aylesworth L (2022). SCUBA Kelp Report. Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife Marine Resources Program. Newport, OR. https://ecologyreports.oregon marinereserves.com/Data_Files/7.%20Collaborations/SCUBA%20Algal%20Swath%20Report/ODFW_markdown_algae.html

Ritter CJ, Harper LM, Lefcheck JS, Paul VJ, Whippo R, Jones S, Ogburn MB, Duffy JE (2021) Patterns of Consumption Across a Caribbean Seascape: Roles of Habitat and Consumer Species Composition Through Time. Front. Mar. Sci. 8:742907. doi: 10.3389/fmars.2021.742907

de Pablo, LX, Lefcheck JS, Harper L, Paul VJ, Jones S, Whippo R, Seemann J, Kline DI, Duffy JE. (2021) A doubling of stony coral cover on shallow forereefs at Carrie Bow Cay, Belize from 2014 to 2019. Sci Rep 11, 19185. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-021-96799-2

Whalen, MA, Whippo RDB, (64 other authors), Duffy JE (2020) Climate drives the geography of marine consumption by changing predator communities. PNAS 117 (45) 28160-28166; DOI: 10.1073/pnas.2005255117.

Whippo R, Knight NS, Prentice C, Cristiani J, Siegle MR, O’Connor MI (2018) Epifaunal diversity patterns within and among seagrass meadows suggest landscape-scale biodiversity processes. Ecosphere 9:e02490.

Staaterman E, Ogburn M, Altieri A, Brandl S, Whippo R, Seemann J, Goodison M, Duffy J (2017) Bioacoustic measurements complement visual biodiversity surveys: preliminary evidence from four shallow marine habitats. Marine Ecology Progress Series 575:207–215.

Lowe AT, Whippo R, Galloway AWE, Britton-Simmons KH, Dethier MN (2015) Sedentary urchins influence benthic community composition below the macroalgal zone. Marine Ecology 36:129–140.

Whippo CV