Texas Tech University

Sandra Diamond

Assistant Professor
Marine Ecology and Fisheries Biology

Email: sandra.diamond@ttu.edu

Phone: 1(806)834-5061

  • Ph.D., Zoology, North Carolina State University (1999)
  • B.Sc., Biology, McGill University, Montreal (1981)
Dr. Diamond

Web Links:

Research Interests

My major research interests are Marine Ecology and Fisheries Biology. I am particularly interested in studying the effects of human impacts on marine populations and communities, and the ecology and population dynamics of fishes and marine mammals.  My current research projects concern: 

  1. Studying the population effects of bycatch on marine fishes and marine mammals.  This research involves investigating ways to estimate bycatch magnitude, using population models to understand the effects of bycatch, developing a mechanistic understanding of the causes of bycatch, and looking for ways to avoid, prevent, or reduce bycatch.
  2. Studying the effects of discarding on fish survival and the causes of delayed mortality.  This research involves investigating the effects of catch-and-release fishing on red snapper behavior and physiology, and looking for blood factors that indicate stress, which leads to delayed mortality.  
  3. Studying the reasons for the decline in Stellers sea lions, an endangered marine mammal, using elemental analysis of the fish bones that are excreted in scat.
  4. Investingating potential locations for Marine Protected Areas in the Gulf of Mexico using GIS techniques to delineate ecological communities.
  5. Studying the life history and population dynamics of estuarine-dependent species such as Atlantic croaker, using population models,  analysis of age and growth using earbones, or otoliths, and tracking movements using the chemistry of otoliths.
  6. Studying the biology of whale sharks.  

Selected Publications

  • Diamond , S.L. (2003). Estimation of shrimp trawl bycatch: comparing methods using field and simulated data. Fishery Bulletin. 101(3)484-500.
  • Rose, K.A., C. Murphy, S. Diamond , P. Thomas, and L. Fuiman (2003). Using nested models and laboratory data for predicting population effects of contaminants: a case study using PCB effects on Atlantic croaker. Human and Ecological Risk Assessment 9(1): 231-257.
  • Jang, S. R.-J., and S. Diamond (2003). Population-level effects of density dependence in a size-structured fishery model. Applied Mathematics and Computation. 139:133-155.
  • Diamond , S. L. , L. G. Cowell, and L. B. Crowder. 2000. Population impacts of shrimp trawl bycatch on Atlantic croaker. Canadian Journal of Fisheries and Aquatic Sciences 57:2010-2021.
  • Diamond , S. L. , L. B. Crowder. and L. G. Cowell. 1999. Catch and bycatch: the qualitative effects of fisheries on population vital rates of Atlantic croaker. Transactions of the American Fisheries Society 128:1085-1105.

Department of Biological Sciences

  • Address

    Department of Biological Sciences, Texas Tech University, Box 43131 Lubbock, TX 79409
  • Phone

    806.742.2715
  • Email

    biology@ttu.edu