Jennifer Dijkstra

Dr. Jenn Dijkstra is a Research Associate Professor the Center for Coastal and Ocean Mapping. She is currently the chair of the Diving Control Board and the Reseaerch Faculty Council.

I am a marine ecologist in which my group detects change in benthic systems, particularly foundation species. Within this context, we use a variety of optical (e.g., photogrammetry), remote sensing (e.g., satellite) and acoustic tools (e.g., bathymetry), and often develop methods and models for characterizing and predicting change in benthic systems. We study mutliple ecosystems that span the deep sea to kelp forests and coastal coral reefs. However, our main focus is on nearshore communities where our research questions mainly center around the detection and mapping of change in communities, causes and consequences of those changes, habitat complexity, and species distribution. 

Dr. Dijkstra received a B.A. from the University of New Brunswick (Canada), a M.Sc. in Marine Biology from the University of Bremen (Germany), and a Ph.D. in Zoology from the University of New Hampshire.