Jeff A. Eble is a Research Scientist and Florida Program Director at Hubbs-SeaWorld Research Institute, specializing in understanding the influence of natural and anthropogenic factors on marine biodiversity. He obtained his PhD from the University of Hawaii where he worked at the Hawaii Institute of Marine Biology investigating the genetic diversity of coastal fishes. More recently, Dr. Eble has been working with collaborators to investigate the utility of environmental DNA (eDNA) as a cost-effective marine biomonitoring tool. eDNA relies on the detection of trace amounts of naturally shed DNA in sediments and water samples to determine species’ presence and abundance, offering enormous potential for future assessment and monitoring of marine biodiversity.

Dr. Eble previously co-led development of the Gulf Islands Research and Education Center (GIREC) in partnership with the U.S. National Park Service Gulf Islands National Seashore to spur new research collaborations and hands-on research experience for secondary and university students. As a Visiting Assistant Professor at Florida Tech, Dr. Eble advanced development of a $2.5M multi-disciplinary research program investigating eutrophication remediation strategies for the imperiled Indian River Lagoon.

Select Recent Publications

Complete list of publications (Google Scholar)

Kumar, G., Farrell, E., Reaume, A., Eble, J., Gaither, M. (2021). One size does not fit all: Tuning eDNA protocols for high and low turbidity water sampling. Environmental DNA. http://dx.doi.org/10.1002/edn3.235‡

Eble, J.A., J. DiBattista, T. Daly-Engel, M. Gaither (2020). Invited Review: Marine eDNA approaches, applications, and challenges. Advances in Marine Biology 86:141-169. https://doi.org/10.1016/bs.amb.2020.01.001†

Kumar, G., J.A. Eble, M.R. Gaither (2020). Invited Technical Review: A practical guide to sample preservation and pre-PCR processing of aquatic environmental DNA. Molecular Ecology Resources 20:29-39. https://doi.org/10.1111/1755-0998.13107†

Crandall, E., M.R. Gaither, C. Bird, et al. (2019). The molecular biogeography of the Indo-Pacific: Testing hypotheses with multispecies patterns. Global Ecology and Biogeography. https://doi.org/10.1111/geb.12905

Eble, J.A., J. Pecore (2019). “Invasive aliens”: A collaborative citizen science activity using DNA barcoding to investigate concepts in ecology and molecular biology. American Biology Teacher 81(3): 69-174. DOI: 10.1525/abt.2019.81.3.169

Crandall, E., R. Toonen, K. Selkoe et al. (2019). A coalescent sampler successfully detects biologically meaningful population structure overlooked by F-statistics. Evolutionary Applications. https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/abs/10.1111/eva.12712

Coleman, R., J.A. Eble, J.D. DiBattista, L.A. Rocha, J.E. Randall, M.L. Berumen, B.W. Bowen (2016). Regal phylogeography: range-wide survey of the marine angelfish Pygoplites diacanthus reveals evolutionary partitions between the Red Sea, Indian Ocean, and Pacific Ocean. Molecular Phylogenetics and Evolution 100:243-253. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ympev.2016.04.005 

Selkoe, K., E. Treml, J. Wren, O. Gaggiotti, M. Donovan et al. (2016). The DNA of coral reef biodiversity: predicting and protecting genetic diversity of reef assemblages. Proceedings of the Royal Society of London Series B 283: 20160354. https://doi.org/10.1098/rspb.2016.0354

Eble, J., B. Bowen, G. Bernardi (2015). Phylogeography of Coral Reef Fishes. In: Ecology and Conservation of Fishes on Coral Reefs: The functioning of an ecosystem in a changing world, C. Mora (ed.). University of Hawaii Press, Honolulu, Hawaii, USA. ISBN: 9781107089181. https://doi.org/10.1017/CBO9781316105412.009