Mark C. Benfield
Associate Professor

Mailing and Contact Information:
2271 Energy, Coast and Environment Building
Department of Oceanography and Coastal Sciences
Baton Rouge, LA 70803

E-mail: mbenfie@lsu.edu
Phone: (225) 578-6372
Fax: (225) 578-6513

Educational Background:
Ph.D. Texas A&M University, 1991
M.S. University of Natal, 1985
B.S. University of Toronto, 1980

Research Interests:
Zooplankton ecology, optical and acoustic sensing of zooplankton, computer-based classification of zooplankton, acoustical telemetry studies of fish and invertebrates, application of industrial remotely operated vehicles (ROV) in biological observatories.

Grants:
2008-2011 National Marine Fisheries Service, MARFIN – Digital archiving and processing of the surviving SEAMAP zooplankton samples: preservation of a historical record of zooplankton composition and abundance in the Gulf of Mexico. (PI M. Sutor; Co-PI M.C. Benfield).

2003-2008 National Science Foundation – Collaborative research: ITR: interactive software systems for expert-assisted image analysis and classification of aquatic particles (PI M.C. Benfield).

2007-2010 Mineral Management Service – GULF SERPENT: establishing a deepwater plankton observation system using industrial ROVs (PI M.C. Benfield).

2003-2008 Mineral Management Service – Assessing tropic linkages between platform and pelagic fishes using ultrasonic telemetry and active acoustics (PI M.C. Benfield)

2006-2008 Oregon State University – An ROV-based system for sampling planktonic thin layers (PI M.C. Benfield; Collaborative proposal with T.J. Cowles and K. Benoit-Bird, OSU)

2005-2006 National Science Foundation – SGER Katrina: responses of fish and crabs to nearshore habitat degradation in Lake Pontchartrain caused by Hurricanes Katrina and Rita (PI M.C. Benfield)

Recent Publications:
Benfield, M.C., B.A. Thompson, and J.H. Caruso. 2008. The second report of a sleeper shark (Somniosus (Somniosus) sp.) from the bathypelagic waters of the northern Gulf of Mexico. Bulletin of Marine Science 82(2):195-198.

Lavery, A., P.H. Wiebe, T. Stanton, G. Lawson, M.C. Benfield, and N. Copley. 2007. Determining dominant scatterers of sound in mixed zooplankton populations. Journal of the Acoustical Society of America 122:3304-3326.

Benfield, M.C., P. Grosjean, P.G. Culverhouse, X. Irigoien, M.E. Sieracki, A. Lopez- Urrutia, G. Dam, Q. Hu, C.S. Davis, A. Hansen, C.H. Pilskaln, E. Riseman, H. Schultz, P.E. Utgoff, and G. Gorsky. 2007. RAPID: research on automated plankton identification. Oceanography 20(2):172-187.

Keenan, S.F., M.C. Benfield, and J.K. Blackburn. 2007. Potential importance of the artificial light field around offshore petroleum platforms for the associated fish community. Marine Ecology Progress Series 331:219-231.

Bi, H. and M.C. Benfield. 2006. Egg production rates and stage-specific development times of Clausocalanus furcatus (Copepoda, Calanoida) in the northern Gulf of Mexico. Journal of Plankton Research 331:219-231.

Culverhouse, P.F., R. Williams, M. Benfield, P.R. Flood, A.F. Sell, M.G. Mazzocchi, I. Buttino, and M. Sieracki. 2006. Automatic image analysis of plankton: future perspectives. Marine Ecology Progress Series 312:297-309.

Trevorrow, M.V., D.L. Mackas, and M.C. Benfield. 2005. Comparison of multifrequency acoustic and in situ measurements of zooplankton abundances in Knight Inlet, British Columbia. The Journal of the Acoustical Society of America 117:3574-3588.

Benfield, M.C., C.J. Schwehm, R.G. Fredericks, G. Squyres, S.F. Keenan, and M.V. Trevorrow. 2004. Measurement of zooplankton distributions with a high- resolution digital camera system. in. P. Strutton and L. Seuront. Eds. Scales in aquatic ecology: measurement, analysis and simulation. CRC Press. Pp. 17-30.

Greene, C.H., A.J. Pershing, A. Conversi, B. Planque, C. Hannah, D. Sameoto, E. Head,P.C. Smith, P.C. Reid, J. Jossi, D. Mountain, M.C. Benfield, P.H. Wiebe, and T. Durbin. 2003. Trans-Atlantic responses of Calanus finmarchicus populations to basin-scale forcing associated with the North Atlantic oscillation. Progress in Oceanography 58:301-312.

Benfield, M.C., A. Lavery, P.H. Wiebe, C.H. Greene, T.K. Stanton, and N. Copley. 2003. Distributions of physonect siphonulae in the Gulf of Maine and their potential as important sources of acoustic scattering. Canadian Journal of Fisheries and Aquatic Sciences 60(7):759-772.

Courses Taught:
OCS 2008. Introduction to Marine Like Processes (every Spring)
OCS 7001. Introduction to Matlab (every Fall)