Institute at Brown for Environment and Society

Maya is researching how damselfish, a family of territorial fish that cultivate algal gardens, impact primary productivity in the Galapagos Marine Reserve. These territories are algal oases in a community characterized by high grazing pressure and support a suite of higher trophic levels. Her study has demonstrated niche differentiation across damselfish species through resource partitioning, highlighting the importance of a diverse guild of damselfishes for ecosystem functioning in the Galapagos Archipelago.