There’s nothing new or breaking about the importance of the Amazon rain forest. For decades, politicians, celebrities and most recently – even the Pope called on the world to act against the deforestation and further protection of the region. The impacts of this devastation are being felt around the world. The massive forests absorb greenhouse gases, and as deforestation occurs at a staggering rate – so too does the increase in climate change and global warming. But agriculture, mining and development seem to be ignorant to those requests and consequences.
While a lot of attention naturally goes to Brazil, Peru’s is in just as much trouble. According to the United Nations, the country is one of 17 "megadiverse" countries on the planet containing 70 percent of the world's biodiversity.
There’s still a l lot to know about the affects of deforestation and how losing over a million hectares of rain forest has taken a toll on fish, the ecosystem and the vast flora and fauna that remain undiscovered.
That’s where our experts can help. Anthony Mazeroll, PhD, Professor of Biology at Soka University of America, is also Executive Director and Board Chair for the Amazon Research Center for Ornamental Fishes, which is devoted to sustainable breeding and conservation of the rainforest ecology.
Dr. Mazeroll is available to speak with media regarding this and many other issues affecting the Amazon simply click on Anthony’s icon to arrange an interview.
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Media
Biography
I grew up in the Southern California desert (Imperial, CA); the son of a school teacher and a housewife. My parents taught me early on the value of an education and the importance of different cultures. Both my parents were first generation Americans. My fraternal grandparents were French Canadian and my mother's father was from India and her mother from Mexico. Thus I was surrounded by 4 different cultures: French, East-Indian, Mexican and American. From a young age I wanted to study "the ocean"; more specifically fish. Most children go through a phase of being intrigued by the ocean. I just never grew out of it. I primarily study fish ecology of fishes in the Red Sea (Egypt, Israel, and Jordan) but am now population genetics of fishes from the Peruvian Amazon.
My wife and I have twin daughters and 4 wonderful grandchildren.
Areas of Expertise
Ecology of Amazonian Fishes
Population Genetics
Fish Ecology
Fish Behaviour Observation
Human Impact on the Environment
Ecology of Invasive Species
Accomplishments
Who’s Who Among America’s Teachers
2006 Student Nominated
Fulbright Research Fellowship to Jordan
1999
West Texas A&M President's Research Excellence Award
1999
Phi Beta Delta, Honor Society for International Scholars
1994
West Texas A&M University President's Teaching Excellence Award
The density and biomass of mesozooplankton and ichthyoplankton in the Negro and the Amazon Rivers during the rainy season: the ecological importance of the confluence boundary
The boundary zone between two different hydrological regimes is often a biologically enriched environment with distinct planktonic communities. In the center of the Amazon River basin, muddy white water of the Amazon River meets with black water of the Negro River, creating a conspicuous visible boundary spanning over 10 km along the Amazon River. Here, we tested the hypothesis that the confluence boundary between the white and black water rivers concentrates prey and is used as a feeding habitat for consumers by investigating the density, biomass and distribution of mesozooplankton and ichthyoplankton communities across the two rivers during the rainy season. Our results show that mean mesozooplankton density (2,730 inds. m-3) and biomass (4.8 mg m-3) were higher in the black-water river compared to the white-water river (959 inds. m-3; 2.4 mg m-3); however an exceptionally high mesozooplankton density was not observed in the confluence boundary. Nonetheless we found the highest density of ichthyoplankton in the confluence boundary (9.7 inds. m-3), being up to 9-fold higher than in adjacent rivers. The confluence between white and black waters is sandwiched by both environments with low (white water) and high (black water) zooplankton concentrations and by both environments with low (white water) and high (black water) predation pressures for fish larvae, and may function as a boundary layer that offers benefits of both high prey concentrations and low predation risk. This forms a plausible explanation for the high density of ichthyoplankton in the confluence zone of black and white water rivers.
Female Leadership During Migration and the Potential for Sex-Specific Benefits of Mass Spawning in the Brown Surgeonfish (Acanthurus nigrofuscus)
Environmental Biology of Fishes
Moshe Kiflawi, Anthony I. Mazeroll
2006
Spawning aggregations in coral-reef fishes have been hypothesized to confer any one of several mutually non-exclusive benefits, largely expected to serve the interests of both sexes simultaneously. Here we provide indication that in the brown surgeonfish, Acanthurus nigrofuscus, spawning aggregations may confer a sex-specific benefit. Following tagged individuals en-route to their daily spawning-aggregation site we found that while migrating groups (≤20 fish) consist of both males and females, females tend to occupy the lead position more often than expected by chance. In addition, we found evidence that female A. nigrofuscus divide their daily egg-stock among several spawning bouts within the aggregations. We propose that female leadership en-route to spawning aggregations, together with the potential benefits of multiple female mating, are consistent with a sex-specific benefit to spawning aggregations.
Daily migrations of a coral reef fish in the Red Sea (Gulf of Aqaba, Israel): Initiation and orientation
Copeia
Anthony Inder Mazeroll, W. Linn Montgomery
1998
Brown surgeonfish (Acanthurus nigrofuscus) in the Red Sea near Eilat, Israel, undergo daily migrations of up to 1.5 km to feeding sites throughout the year and to spawning sites during June through August. We investigated, by observation and experimentation, the cues that initiate migrations to spawning and feeding sites. We also examined the possible roles that odors, the sun, electromagnetic detection, and landmarks have in determining the routes fish take to the various sites...
Does mass spawning enhance fertilization in coral reef fish? A case study of the brown surgeonfish
Marine Ecology
Moshe Kiflawi, Anthony I. Mazeroll, and Denis Goulet
1998
'Mass spawning' refers to the simultaneous and apparently synchronous spawning of the majority of a mating aggregation. In this study we compare the fertilization rates (FRs) attained by the brown surgeonfish Acanthurus nigrofuscus, an externally fertilizing coral reef fish, when spawning in small groups (4 to 15 individuals) and as part of a mass spawning aggregation (500 to 2000 individuals). Our objective is to test an hypothesized fertilization advantage to mass spawning and, thereby, to mating aggregations...
Structure and Organization of Local Migrations in Brown Surgeonfish (Acanthurus nigrofuscus)
Ethology: International Journal of Behavioural Biology
Anthony Inder Mazeroll, W. Linn Montgomery
1995
In the northern Red Sea (Gulf of Aqaba, Israel), brown surgeonfish (Acanthuridae: Acanthurus nigrofuscus) migrate, in small groups, up to 1.5 km each day from nocturnal shelters to feeding sites in the morning, and from feeding sites back to shelters in the late afternoon. During the summer spawning season, groups of these fish undertake an additional migration of up to 1 km to and from sites of mass-spawning aggregations. The total number of fish migrating to the Laromme feeding site was relatively stable (X̄ = 1018) throughout the study period (1988–1990).
