Associate Professor of Marine Science & Biology

Ecology, Ichthyology
Ph.D., University of Southern California, 1990

Galbraith Marine Science Laboratory
727-864-8439 (Office)
727-864-7964 (Fax)
Email Professor Szelistowski

My primary area of interest is the ecology of tropical and subtropical shallow-water environments and their fishes; much of my work is conducted on the Pacific coast of Costa Rica. Specific interests include ecology of mangrove and coral reef fishes, mangrove intertidal ecology, food web relationships, and fish population biology and evolution. My research regularly involves undergraduate students as assistants.

Courses offered

Principles of Ecology, Biology of Fishes, Elasmobranch (shark and ray) Biology & Management, Tropical Ecology in Costa Rica, and Introduction to Marine Science.

Selected research

*Anderson, P. & W.A Szelistowski. In prep. The association between schooling mysids and territorial damselfish. Manuscript in preparation.

*Bavaro, L., L. Szelistowski and W.A. Szelistowski. 2006. Grackles enhance feeding success of mangrove fishes. First International Symposium on Mangroves as Fish Habitat, Miami, FL.

Szelistowski, W.A. 2005. Semilunar reproduction and fast juvenile growth in the eastern Pacific needlefish Strongylura scapularis. American Society of Ichthyologists and Herpetologists Annual Meeting, Tampa, FL.

Wright, I.E., J.E. Reynolds, III, B.B. Ackerman, L.I. Ward, B.L. Weigle & W.A. Szelistowski. 2002. Trends in manatee (Trichechus manatus latirostris) counts and habitat use in Tampa Bay, 1987-1994: Implications for conservation. Marine Mammal Science 18(1): 259-274.

*Duncan, R.S. and W.A. Szelistowski. 1998. Influence of puffer predation on vertical distribution of mangrove littorinids in the Gulf of Nicoya, Costa Rica. Oecologia 117: 433-442.

*Eckerd student collaborator