Brian Hunt

Associate Professor

Institute for the Oceans and Fisheries

IOF Graduate Advisor

Research Unit

Pelagic Ecosystems Lab

Contact Information

Email: b.hunt@oceans.ubc.ca
Website: Pelagic Ecosystems Lab
Twitter: @UBCpelagic

Research Interests

Dr Hunt is an ecosystem oceanographer who researches the structure and function of pelagic marine ecosystems and their response to climate forcing and anthropogenic impacts. His Pelagic Ecosystem Lab conducts their research through the lens of marine food web dynamics, applying biogeochemical (stable isotopes and fatty acids) and molecular approaches to resolve food web response to environment, food web linkages, energy transfer efficiencies, and the emergent nutritional health of biota.

Biography

Dr. Hunt grew up next to and in the oceans around Durban, South Africa. Fascinated with fish, he planned to become an Ichthyologist, however, an unexpected voyage to the Antarctic open his eyes to the world of ocean science. Brian went on to complete his PhD at the University of Tasmania, researching zooplankton biogeography in the Southern Ocean using the Continuous Plankton recorder. Following that, he moved to the University of British Columbia where he researches the connectivity between the component parts of marine ecosystems, mostly from the perspective of food webs. Brian’s research has and continues to be been wide ranging, spanning interests in the Antarctic, tropical South Pacific, New Zealand, Mediterranean and Arctic, though his primary focus is currently on British Columbia coastal ecosystems and the North Pacific. Here he connects ecosystem oceanography with his first love of fish, through research into how ocean health effects salmon. Brian is a strong believer in collaboration and has extensive partnerships with the Hakai Institute, Department of Fisheries and Oceans, Pacific Salmon Foundation, and many academic colleagues at UBC and beyond.

Dr. Hunt currently holds the Hakai Professorship in Oceanography, established through a generous donation of the Tula Foundation to the IOF.

Teaching

SCIE 113 – First-Year Seminar in Science
EOSC 270 – Marine Biodiversity
EOSC 473 / 573 – Methods in Oceanography
EOSC 575 – The Biology and Ecology of Marine Zooplanktonic Organisms
FISH 520 – Fisheries Oceanography

Selected Publications

Publications

Since the 1990’s, TDC has been associated with fish and seabird declines in the Great Lakes and the Baltic Sea. In addition to direct mortality, TDC includes sublethal effects across all salmon life stages, including reduced visual acuity and feeding rates, reduced migration performance, and impaired immune response.

Pelagic Ecosystems Lab wins BC Conservation & Biodiversity Award

The award will fund a project to provide high resolution zooplankton biodiversity data by integrating eDNA, and the Zooscan imaging system, to establish a biodiversity benchmark for the wider BC coast.

Environmental DNA in nearshore ecosystems in urban & non-urban environments

Student profile: Grace Melchers, MSc student in the Pelagic Ecosystems Lab

PICES Symposium brought together science from all around the world

Several IOF members presented at the symposium, with Research Associate Dr. Anna McLaskey, winning the best oral presentation in the Biological Oceanography Committee section.

Dr. Brian Hunt receives NSERC Discovery Grant to research the impacts of urbanization on the coastal ocean

Dr. Brian Hunt will receive an NSERC Discovery Grant for work on the impacts of urbanization on coastal oceans, specifically regarding ocean cities.

Jellyfish size might influence their nutritional value, UBC study finds

Researchers confirmed what was already known: jellyfish eat bigger prey as they grow, which means they also occupy a higher position in the food web as they grow. They also found that some of the concentrations of ‘healthy fats,’ increase as jellyfish grow. These changes might be influenced by their diet, and as they feed on bigger prey with higher levels of fatty acids, the jellyfish accumulate more of these fatty acids.

Food quality matters for southern resident killer whales, UBC study states

If southern resident killer whales ate just low-lipid salmon, they would have to eat around 80,000 more Chinook salmon every year than if they just ate high-lipid salmon.

Food quality might be key for juvenile sockeye salmon growth and survival

The quality of food sockeye salmon eat along their migration routes is more important to their growth and condition than quantity, a new study has found, highlighting concerns about the effects of climate change on ocean conditions and salmon.

Expect shorter food chains in more productive coastal ecosystems

“We provided evidence for bottom-up omnivory in nutrient-rich temperate pelagic ecosystems, where food chain length is determined by the level of diatom production,” said Jacob Lerner. “This is very different from the global model for pelagic ecosystems.”

International Year of the Salmon Expedition helps IOF researchers map North Pacific food webs

For scientists in the IOF’s Pelagic Ecosystems Lab, the trip represents a chance to trace the outline of North Pacific food webs, in which salmon play a central role as both predator and prey.