Tory Chase

Visiting Assistant Professor of Environmental Studies and Sciences

Office: CIS 210K
Phone: 518-580-8105
Email: torychase@skidmore.edu

Professional Profiles

ResearchGate | Google Scholar | Twitter| LinkedIn | ARC CoE Coral Reefs

EDUCATION

• Ph.D MARINE BIOLOGY (2019), James Cook University and ARC Centre of Excellence for Coral Reef Studies, Townsville, Australia
• MASc MARINE BIOLOGY (2012), James Cook University and ARC Centre of Excellence for Coral Reef Studies, Townsville, Australia
• BS BIOLOGY (2010), Elon University, NC
• BA SCIENCE EDUCATION COMPREHENSIVE BIOLOGY (2010), Elon University, NC

SUMMARY OF ACADEMIC PROGRAM

• Postdoctoral Teaching Scholar, Geography and the Environment, Villanova University (2020-2023)
• 12+ years of formal teaching experience (Instructor of Record, Science Education BA, and High School Science teacher)
• Publications in top scholarly scientific journals, including Nature, Current Biology, and PLoS One
• Total citations: 1117; international research and teaching awards/grants
• Research Scientist, DEIJ Postgraduate Representative, and Science Communication Fellowship experience

COURSES AT SKIDMORE

• ES 105 Field Studies in Environmental Science
• HF 200 Humans, the Earth, and the Ocean
• ES 252 Marine Ecology and Conservation
• ES 374 Research Capstone: Design and Methods
• ES 375 Research Capstone: Data Collection, Analysis, and Communication
• ES 271 Independent Study

BIOGRAPHY

Tory Chase grew up in New England, hiking and skiing on snowy mountains. He completed his undergraduate degrees of BS General Biology and BA Science Education at Elon University, worked at zoos, aquariums, and museums, and taught high school science. He completed his MASc and PhD at James Cook University, Australia, focusing on coral reef ecology and anthropogenic stressors, such as coral bleaching and excess sediments, impacting ecosystem functioning. As a Postdoctoral Teaching Scholar at Villanova University (2020-2023), Dr. Chase demonstrated marked dedicated to enhancing DEIJ and science communication in academia with his International Coral Reef Society Science Communication Fellowship (2021), mentoring diverse students, and work with local stakeholders. At the university level, he has instructed (as course coordinator and instructor of record) environmental science, marine ecology, conservation, climate change, and science communication courses, while engaging in reef sediment and marine debris research with undergraduate students and international collaborators. At Skidmore College, Tory hopes to “bring the ocean” into his classrooms and his current collaborative research projects involve cost-to-coral reef investgations at Caribbean restoration sites, spatial and temporal fish-coral interactions, quantifying marine sediment dynamics, and contaminants on inshore marine environments.

TEACHING AREAS AND PHILOSOPHY

• Environmental Science
• Marine Biology
• Coral Reef Ecology
• Tropical Marine Conservation
• Science Education and Communication
• Climate Change

RESEARCH INTERESTS

• Reef restoration as an ecological tool for recovery and resilience
• Associations between corals and fishes and how these interactions operate under certain environmental stressors
• Small-scale processes of symbiosis, coral ecophysiology, fish functions and behaviours
• Large-scale community processes that include abiotic factors on reefs
• Connections between land-based processes and pollutants, sediments, and coastal marine communities

PUBLICATIONS

Peer-Reviewed Publications | ORCID: 0000-0002-2044-136X | Current and complete list: Google Scholar Profile

• McWilliam M, Bridge TCL, Chase TJ, Hoogenboom MO, Madin JS (2022) Physiological variability drives reefs community responses to ocean warming. Ecology Letters 25:2513-2524 doi:10.1111/ele.14114
• Tebbett SB, Bellwood DR, Johnson ER, Chase TJ(2022) Occurrence and accumulation of heavy metals in algae turf particulates and sediments on coral reefs. Marine Pollution Bulletin 184:114113 doi:10.1016/j.marpolbul.2022.114113
• Torres-Pulliza D, Dornelas MA, Pizzarro O, Bewley M, Blowes SA, Boutros N, Brambilla V, Chase TJ, Frank G, Friedman A, Hoogenboom MO, Williams S, Zawada KJA, Madin JS (2020) A geometric basis for the relationship between surface habitat complexity and biodiversity. Nature Ecology & Evolution 4:1495-1501 doi:10.1038/s41559-020-1281-8
• Hein MY, Birtles AB, Chase TJ, Haskin E, Couture F, Willis R, Ripple K, Terry L, Beeden R, Willis BL, Marshall N, Gardiner N (2020) Characterizing the effectiveness of coral restoration programs: comparing the fish response to restoration in four reef regions. Restoration Ecology 28: 1158-1171 doi:10.1111/rec.13177
• Chase TJ, Pratchett MS, McWilliam MJ, Hein MY, Tebbett SB, and Hoogenboom MO (2020) Fishes alleviate the impacts of sediments on host corals. Royal Society Open Science 7:192047 doi:10.1098/rsos.192074
• Tebbett SB, Chase TJ, Bellwood DR (2020) Farming damselfishes shape algal turf sediment dynamics on coral reefs. Marine Environmental Research 160:104988 doi:10.1016/j.marenvres.2020.104988
• Chase TJ, Pratchett MS, Hoogenboom MO (2020) Behavioral trade-offs and habitat associations of coral-dwelling damselfishes (family Pomacentridae). Marine Ecology Progress Series 633:141-156 doi:10.3354/meps13167
• Chase TJ (2019) Effects of coral-dwelling damselfishes’ abundances and diversity on host coral dynamics. PhD Thesis, James Cook University, Townsville, Australia
• Chase TJ, Hoogenboom MO (2019) Differential occupation of available coral hosts by coral-dwelling damselfish (Pomacentridae) on Australia’s Great Barrier Reef. Diversity 11:219 doi:10.3390/d11110219
• Hughes TP, Kerry JT, Baird AH, Connolly SR, Chase TJ, Dietzel A, Hill T, Hoey AS, Hoogenboom MO, Kerswell A, Madin JS, Meog A, Paley A, Pratchett MS, Torta G, Woods RM (2019) Global warming impairs stock-recruitment dynamics of corals. Nature 563:387-390. doi: 10.1038/s41586-019-1081-y
• Chase TJ, Pratchett MS, Frank GE, Hoogenboom MO (2018) Coral-dwelling fish moderate bleaching susceptibility of coral hosts. PLOS ONE 13:e0208545 doi: 10.1371/journal/pone.0208545
• McWilliam M, Chase TJ, Hoogenboom MO (2018) Neighbour diversity regulates the productivity of coral assemblages. Current Biology 28:3634-3639. doi:10.1016/j.cub.2018/09/025
• Chase TJ*, Nowicki JP*, Coker DJ (2018) Diurnal foraging of a wild coral reef fish, Parapercis australis, in relation to late-summer temperatures. Journal of Fish Biology 93(1):158-163 doi: 1111/jfb.13644 *Indicates co-first authorship
• Dornelas M, Antao LH, Moyes F, Bates AE, Magurran, AE and BioTIME consortium (including Chase TJ) (2018) Bio-Time: A data base of biodiversity time series for the Anthropocene. Global Ecology and Biogeography 7:760-786. doi:10.1111/geb.12729
• Hoogenboom MO, Frank GE, Chase TJ, Jurriaans S, Álvarez-Noriega M, Peterson K, Critchell K, Berry KLE, Nicolet KJ, Paley SA (2017) Environmental drivers of among-species variation in bleaching severity of Acropora corals during an extreme thermal anomaly. Frontiers in Marine Science 4(375) doi:10.3389/fmars.2017.00376
• Hoogenboom MO, Frank GE, Blowes SA, Chase TJ, Zawada KJA, and Dornelas M (2015) Disparity between projected geographic ranges of rare species: a case study of Echinomorpha nishihirai (Scleractinia) Marine Biodiversity Records 8; e147. doi:10.1017/S1755267215001141
• Spady BL, Watson SA, Chase TJ, and Munday PL (2014) Projected near-future CO2 levels increase activity and alter defensive behaviors in a tropical squid Idiosepius pygmaeus. Biology Open 3:1063-1070 doi:1063-1070 DIO: 10.1232/bio.20149894
• Chase TJ, Pratchett MS, Walker SPW, and Hoogenboom MO (2014) Local environmental conditions determine whether fish symbionts enhance or suppress coral growth. Oecologia 176:1009-1022. doi:1009-1022 DOI: 10.1007/s00442-014-3065-9

RECENT PRESENTATIONS

(*student mentee)

• Chase TJ, Johnson ER, Bellwood DR, Tebbett SB (2024) Spatial comparison of coral reef sediments: contaminants and land-use perspectives (Oral Presentation) 52nd Benthic Ecology Meeting Conference, Charleston, SC April 10-14, 2024
• Ocalvey M*, TJ Chase (2024) Turf-algae sediment composition and contamination on Puerto Rico coral reefs (Poster) 52nd Benthic Ecology Meeting Conference, Charleston, SC April 10-14, 2024
• Kelley FE*, Chase TJ (2023) Comparison of sediment, turf algae, and herbivory dynamics at two Caribbean coral reefs (Poster) 51^st Annual Benthic Ecology Meeting, Miami, Florida, April 26-29, 2023
• Chase TJ, Hein MYS, Hoogenboom MO (2022) Temporal damselfish occupation patterns of corals: suburb rentals, retention, and recolonization. (Poster) 15^thInternational Coral Reef Symposium, Bremen, Germany, July 2-9, 2022
• Moczulski MM*, Goldsmith ST, Rodrigues LJ, Cleary NE, Gandy M, Chase TJ (2021) Eighty years of heavy metal contamination in sediments and land use/land change in the Guánica watershed, Puerto Rico. (Poster) Geological Society of America (GSA) Connects 2021 Portland, Oregon 10-13, October, 2021
• Chase TJ, Pratchett MS, McWilliam MJ, Hein MY, Tebbett SB, and Hoogenboom (2021) Damselfishes mediate sediment stress on corals and improve host colony physiology (Oral Presentation) 14^th International Coral Reef Symposium, Virtual, Session Theme 10H, July 19-23, 2021
• Chase TJ, Pratchett MS, Hoogenboom MO (2018) Calculating the strength of coral-damselfish interactions (Poster), North Queensland Festival of Life Sciences, James Cook University, Townsville, October 29-30, 2018
• Chase TJ, Pratchett MS, Hoogenboom MO (2018) Spatial prevalence of coral-fish interactions and the benefits of aggregative fish for coral populations (Oral Presentation) Australian Marine Science Association (AMSA) Canyons to Coast Conference, Adelaide, July 1-5, 2018
• Chase TJ, Pratchett MS, Hoogenboom MO (2018) Species-specific behaviors dictate intensity of fish-coral interactions (Poster) Australian Marine Science Association (AMSA) 2018 Canyons to Coast Conference, Adelaide, July 1-5, 2018 (*Diversity Journal Award for Coral Reef Research)