Subject Area
Biological Oceanography
Marine Ecology
Activities
Research Interests
• Physical and biological habitat use by sperm whales and other apex predators in the Gulf of Mexico, extends through summer 2008
• Biogeochemical processes in Gulf of Mexico mesoscale eddies
• Zooplankton stock estimation from ADCP backscatter intensity
• Nutrient enhanced coastal ocean productivity
Sea regions of study
Gulf of Mexico
Caribbean Sea
North Atlantic Ocean
North Pacific Ocean
Skills
Professor Doug Biggs is a sea-going oceanographer. Biggs has lead or otherwise collaborated in a wide variety of oceanographic research programs in the Gulf of Mexico. Since 1995, Biggs has served as Chief or Co-Chief Scientist on 5 Sperm Whale Seismic Study (SWSS) and Gulf of Mexico Cetacean Study (GulfCet) cruises, 9 NorthEast Gulf of Mexico (NEGOM) chemical oceanography and hydrographic cruises, 5 multidisciplinary research cruises that trained TAMU grad students in the northern Gulf of Mexico, and he was a participant on 2 other cruises. Twenty of these research cruises were conducted using the R/V Gyre; the other (in 1995) was on the Mexican Navy research vessel Antares.
Biggs' research bridges physical with biological oceanography. Biggs and his grad students have been investigating the oceanographic habitat of sperm whales and other marine mammals by merging remote sensing with shipboard hydrographic surveys, and by using the acoustic backscatter signal from vessel-mounted as well as moored ADCPs as a proxy for plankton biomass. Zooplankton are potential food for small fish and squid, which are in turn potential prey for marine mammals and other apex predators.
