Daniel Egli

Daniel Egli is the third and current Constantine S. Niarchos Fellow in Marine Conservation. His goal while the Niarchos fellow is to help the Wildlife Conservation Society’s Marine Program better achieve the conservation of marine wildlife by using ecosystem based management focusing on bottom up (resource driven) and top down (consumer drivien) influence on the recovery and trajectory of marine reserves.  

Contact information:
Wildlife Conservation Society,
International Marine Program
2300 Southern Blvd.,
Bronx, NY 10460
email:degli@wcs.org

Background

Daniel Egli attended James Cook University (Townsville), where he completed a Bachelor of Applied Science in marine biology in 1999. In 1999 he was recognized with the Golden Key Society award for his academic achievement in the field of GIS. During this time he travelled widely and further developed his interest in other cultures and new challenges.

After working for the World Conservation Union for a year, he enrolled for a Masters Degree at the University of Auckland in 2001. This was subsequently converted to a PhD enrollment with the award of a University of Auckland Doctoral Fees Scholarship. Daniel’s PhD investigated the population dynamics of snapper in the Goat Island marine reserve and was supervised initially by Associate Professor Russell Babcock and later by Professor John Montgomery.

During his PhD Daniel used baited underwater video surveys to study the seasonal population dynamics of the snapper within the Leigh Marine Reserve and adjacent exploited areas.  He further developed a novel approach using automated acoustic tracking and implanted archival tags to investigate individual fish movement. These combined approaches provided insight into the relationship between fish behavior and the efficiency of marine reserves for conservation and for fisheries management. Outputs of the thesis work include a spatial model of marine reserve protection effects on snapper which was submitted to New Zealand Department of Conservation and will be used as a tool to improve the design and efficiency of future reserves. Daniel’s work also showed that, while the snapper have a much higher abundance inside the marine reserve there was a high degree of connectivity between protected and adjacent unprotected populations. Of particular interest from a fisheries management point of view was the indirect observation of local spawning behavior.  Archival tag data showed a distinctive diving pattern associated with spawning. The demonstration of local spawning behavior by the large reserve residents has significant implications in terms of the reserve population reseeding adjacent areas. His findings have demonstrated the importance of marine reserves as a conservation and fisheries management tool. Daniel’s thesis has provided a significant step forward in our understanding of fish population dynamics and the function of marine reserves in New Zealand.

Daniel’s research has attracted considerable attention and funding from both academic and public sector sources. During his PhD, he received travel grants from the UoA Graduate Research Fund, Department of Conservation, and won two awards for presentations at conferences in New Zealand.

After completing his PhD, Daniel has accepted the Niarchos Postdoctoral Fellowship with the Wildlife Conservation Society in Fiji where he is currently investigating the functioning and connectivity of marine reserve networks in tropical environments. This opportunity has allowed him to combine his two major passions, which are science and conservation of the sea.

Education


-  Ph.D. University of Aucland, New Zealand, 2007. Dissertation title: “Linking fish movement patterns with population dynamics in a small temperate no-take marine reserve.”  Masters of Science upgrade to Ph.D

-  B. Sc. (Marine Biology, Spatial Date Analysis and GIS) James Cook University, Townsville, Australia 

Professional Experience

- 2003 –2006 Teaching assistant, Leigh Marine Laboratory & School of Biological Science, University of Auckland. Presenting lectures on marine reserves and fish ecology in marine science courses. Organizing and conducting fieldtrips for fish ecology courses.
- 08/2005 – 10/2005 Research consultant, Ensid Technologies, NIWA Natural Solutions, Auckland, New Zealand. Developed and compiled a database with relevant commercial and scientific contacts utilizing PIT tagging technologies.
- 04/2001 – 04/2005 Research assistant, Leigh Marine Laboratory, University of Auckland. Reef associated predator monitoring in Goat Island Marine Reserve for Department of Conservation, New Zealand. Involvement in organization, conducting and report writing of visual diver counts and baited underwater video surveys of reef fish in marine reserves and adjacent areas.
- 10/2002 – 04/2003 Research assistant, NIWA Auckland. Coordinated and supervised small team sampling and scanning commercial snapper catch at Leigh Fisheries as part of a regular stock assessment programme for the Ministry of Fisheries.
- 03/2000 – 12/2000 Intern with Programme on Protected Areas (PPA) and World Commission on Protected Areas (WCPA), The World Conservation Union (IUCN), Gland, Switzerland. Coordinating the publication of PARKS magazine and WCPA Newsletter. Involvement in design and implementation of East Asia Action Programme. Organizing and coordinating the first workshop on “Mining in World  Heritage Areas”. Involvement in organization of cross-boundary conservation theme session at World Parks Congress, Amman 2000 & design and establishment of the new WCPA website.

Honors and Awards


-  2005  New Zealnd Marine Science Society Annual Conference, First Place for Best Marine  Reserve Talk
-  2002-2005  University of Auckland, Internatioanl Doctoral Fees Scholarship
-  2004  University of Auckland, Graduate Research Fund Travel Grant
-  2003 University of Auckland, Faculty of Science Postgraduate Poster Competition, First Prize
-  2003 University of Auckland, Graduate Research Fund Travel Grant
- 1999 Golden Key National Honour Society award, James Cook University
- 19999 Northern Group of Institutions of Surveyors Australia Prize in Science

Research experience

- February 2008 International Tagging Symposium, Auckland, New Zealand– oral presentation
- October 2005 International Marine Protected Areas Congress, Geelong, Australia– oral presentation
- August 2005 New Zealand Marine Science Society annual conference, Wellington, NZ– oral presentation, 1st prize for best marine reserve talk.
- July 2004 Australian Marine Sciences Association annual conference, Hobart, Tasmania– oral presentation
- May 2004 Fourth World Fisheries Congress, Vancouver, Canada– poster presentation
- October 2003 Exposure 03 – the University of Auckland Postgraduate Research Exposition, Auckland, NZ– poster presentation. 1st price for the faculty of science
- September 2003 Joint conference of the New Zealand Marine Sciences Society and the Australasian Society for Phycology and Aquatic Botany, Auckland, NZ– oral presentation
- June 2003 ICES Symposium on Fish Behaviour in Exploited Ecosystems, Bergen, Norway– oral presentation
- June 2003 Fifth Conference on Fish Telemetry Held in Europe, Ustica, Palermo, Italy– oral presentation
- January 2003 6th International Temperate Reef Symposium, Christchurch, NZ– oral presentation
- October 2002 Graduate Student Seminar Day at School of Geography and Environmental Science, Auckland University, Auckland, NZ– oral presentation
- September 2002 New Zealand Marine Science Society annual conference, Nelson, NZ– oral presentation
- September 2001 Graduate Student Seminar Day at School of Environmental and Marine Science Auckland University, Auckland, NZ– oral presentation

Select Publications

- Parsons D, D Egli (2005) Fish Movement in a Temperate Marine Reserve: New Insights through Application of Acoustic Tracking. Marine Technology Society Journal 39:15-22.
- Egli DP, RC Babcock (2004) Ultrasonic tracking reveals multiple behavioral modes of snapper (Pagrus auratus) in a temperate no-take marine reserve. ICES Journal of Marine Science 61:1137-1143.
- Hayes S, D Egli (2002). Directory of Protected Areas in East Asia: People, Organizations and Places. IUCN Gland, Switzerland and Cambridge, UK.

Technical Reports

- Taylor, R.B., Anderson, M.J., Egli, D., Usmar, N., Willis, T.J. (2005) Cape Rodney to Okakari Point Marine Reserve monitoring 2005: Final report. Department of Conservation, Auckland, New Zealand.
- Taylor, R.B., Anderson, M.J., Egli, D., Willis, T.J. (2003) Cape Rodney to Okakari Point Marine Reserve monitoring 2003: Final report. Department of Conservation, Auckland, New Zealand.
- Egli DP, RC Babcock, CG Attwood, DM Parsons, TJ Willis (2003) Optimising marine reserve design in New Zealand - Part III: Revised Individual-Based Models. Department of Conservation, Auckland, New Zealand.
- Babcock RC, CG Attwood, DP Egli, DM Parsons, TJ Willis (2002) Optimising marine reserve design in New Zealand - Part II: Individual-Based Models. Department of Conservation, Auckland, New Zealand.
- Egli DP, RC Babcock (2002) Optimising marine reserve design in New Zealand - Part I: Behavioural data for individual based models. Department of Conservation, Auckland, New Zealand.

Work in Progress

- Egli DP, RC Babcock, JC Montgomery (in prep) Dynamics of a marine reserve population of snapper (Pagrus auratus) shows strong seasonal and spatial structure.
- Babcock RC, DP Egli, CG Attwood (In press) Individual-Based model of snapper (Pagrus auratus) populations in temperate marine reserves based on acoustic telemetry data. Canadian Journal of Fisheries and Aquaculture