Spencer Fire, Ph.D.

Assistant Professor | Ocean Engineering and Marine Sciences Florida Tech

  • Melbourne FL

Dr. Fire's research program combines an interest in the very smallest and the very largest organisms in the sea.

Contact

Florida Tech

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Areas of Expertise

Wildlife Toxicology
Marine Mammals
Harmful Algal Blooms
Marine Biotoxins
Red Tide

About

Spencer Fire's research program combines an interest in the very smallest and the very largest organisms in the sea (and occasionally a few in between). From single-celled marine algae (phytoplankton) to shellfish, finfish, sea turtles, humans and marine mammals such as baleen whales, the interactions between these organism can tell us much about the status of our oceans' health.

Dr. Fire's current research focuses on the impacts of harmful algal blooms and their toxins on marine food webs and the health of sentinel organisms such as marine mammals. To carry out this work, Dr. Fire and his students focus on three core areas:

1. Developing and using molecular detection methods to investigate how natural contaminants move through marine food webs,

2. Drawing on field experience with small cetaceans and pinnipeds, as well as knowledge of field survey methods, to study marine mammal health and behavior in the wild,

3. Combining a knowledge of large-scale oceanographic processes with laboratory and field methods to study changing marine ecosystems and their links to wildlife and human health.

Media Assets

Media Appearances

Florida Tech’s Marine Science Students Examines Red Tide’s Effect on Dolphins in Gulf of Mexico

Space Coast Daily News  

2020-12-11

Florida Tech ocean engineering and marine sciences assistant professor Spencer Fire’s paper, “Association between red tide exposure and detection of corresponding neurotoxins in bottlenose dolphins from Texas waters during 2007–2017,” was released this month.

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Algae's toxin remains in dolphins livers, even when not blooming

Florida Today  

2020-02-20

"We're not making any conclusions about what it's doing to them," said Spencer Fire, an assistant professor at Florida Tech. The study for the first time establishes a baseline level of the toxin in lagoon dolphins by which to compare future toxin levels during dolphin strandings or die-offs.

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Whales change their tunes when ships appear

CNN  

2018-10-24

Despite these caveats, Spencer Fire, assistant professor in Florida Tech’s Department of Ocean Engineering and Marine Sciences, described the new research as “solid.”

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Education

University of California Santa Cruz

Ph.D.

Ocean Sciences

2007

Brigham Young University

B.S.

Zoology

2000

University of California Santa Cruz

M.S.

Marine Science

2002

Social

Selected Articles

Marine algal toxins and their vectors in southern California cetaceans

Harmful Algae

2021

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Utility of Red Tide (Karenia brevis) Monitoring Data as a Predictive Tool to Estimate Brevetoxin Accumulation in Live, Free-Ranging Marine Mammals

Frontiers in Marine Science

2021

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An assessment of temporal, spatial and taxonomic trends in harmful algal toxin exposure in stranded marine mammals from the U.S. New England coast

PLoS ONE

2021

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Languages

  • Spanish