Dr. John E. Reynolds, III

Title: Senior Scientist; Program Manager — Manatee Research Program

Phone: 941-388-4441, ext. 472
Email: 
Website: http://isurus.mote.org/research/cmmstr/mer/temppage.html

Following receipt of his Ph.D., John Reynolds was employed at Eckerd College, St. Petersburg, Fla., from 1980-2001, where he served as Professor of Marine Science and Biology and Chairman of the Natural Sciences Collegium; he was integral in establishing the college’s renowned marine science major and was the only faculty member to receive all three of the College’s awards for faculty excellence for teaching, leadership and scholarship.  

In 1989, Reynolds became a member of the Committee of Scientific Advisors on Marine Mammals for the U.S. Marine Mammal Commission, the federal agency with oversight for all research and management of marine mammals in the United States. In 1990, he became Chairman of the Committee of Scientific Advisors, and in 1991, he was appointed by President George H. W. Bush to serve as Chairman of the Marine Mammal Commission. He led that agency through mid-2010 under four different administrations and, in 2010, the Commission was given a distinguished service award by the international Society for Conservation Biology. Reynolds has also been honored by Inuit elders, who have given him the Eskimo name "Emuqtannee," for his work with Alaska Natives and Alaska conservation issues.

In 2001, Reynolds began working for Mote Marine Laboratory in Sarasota, Fla., where he serves as Senior Scientist and Director of the Center for Marine Mammal and Sea Turtle Research. He has worked especially closely with Dr. Dana Wetzel, Manager of the Aquatic Toxicology Program, on projects located around the world. Together, they have created a multi-faceted environmental biomarker program at Mote Marine Laboratory. Ultimately, this program is likely to involve scientists from every research center at the organization.


The same year he joined Mote, Reynolds became co-Chair of the IUCN Sirenian Specialist Group and served in that role through 2008.  Reynolds was elected to serve as President of the international Society for Marine Mammalogy from 2006-2008 and he concurrently served on the Board of the International Federation of Mammalogists.  Recently he has worked closely with the United Nations Environment Programme to develop and implement a Caribbean-wide Marine Mammal Action Plan and he co-authored and is co-chair of an international implementation team for a revised Caribbean-wide Manatee Action Plan. 

Reynolds is a member of Phi Beta Kappa; has received awards for his teaching, leadership, and scholarship; has been nominated for international awards for his accomplishments in conservation and science and has approximately 275 publications including 15 books or edited volumes. He has been awarded well over $11 million to support his research and program development.

Education

Ph.D. in Biological Oceanography,  University of Miami, Rosenstiel School of Marine and Atmospheric Science.

MS in Biological Oceanography, University of Miami, Rosenstiel School of Marine and Atmospheric Science.

BA in Biology, Cum Laude, with Dept. Honors,  Western Maryland (now McDaniel) College

       

Awards
  • Awarded Robert A. Staub Distinguished Teacher Award, Eckerd College (1986)
  • Nominated for National Professor of the Year Award, a national award conferred annually by the Council for Advancement and Support of Education (1987, 1989, 1995)
  • Appointed by President George H.W. Bush to be Chairman of the Marine Mammal Commission. (1991)
  • Awarded John M. Bevan Teaching Excellence and Campus Leadership Award, Eckerd College. (1998)
  • Selected as one of four speakers by the Coastal America Partnership Program to provide presentations to celebrate the International Year of the Ocean in the U.S.
  • Nomination of his book, The Bottlenose Dolphin: Biology and Conservation for the Phi Beta Kappa Award in Science (2001)
  • Awarded Lloyd W. Chapin Excellence in Scholarship Award (first to receive this award), Eckerd College
  • Elected to Phi Beta Kappa as alumnus of McDaniel College, Westminster, MD. (2003)
  • Presented the Alumni Award for Professional Achievement, presented by the  Board of Trustees of McDaniel College, Westminster, MD (2004)
  • Nominated for the Tyler Prize for International Environmental Achievement (2007, 2010)
  • Accepted on behalf of Marine Mammal Commission a distinguished service award for conservation achievement from the international Society for Conservation Biology (2010)
Publications
Selected books and papers out of approximately 275 total publications.

Bradley, W.G., and J.E. Reynolds, III.  2002.  Isolation, cloning, sequencing and expression  of marine mammal interleukin-2.  Pp. 300-312.  IN: C.J. Pfeiffer (editor).  Cell and Molecular Biology  of Marine Mammals, Krieger Publishing Company, Melbourne, FL.

Craig, B.A., and J.E. Reynolds, III.  2004.   Determination of manatee population trends along the Atlantic coast of Florida using a Bayesian approach with temperature-adjusted aerial survey data.  Marine Mammal Science 20(3):386-400.

Edwards, H.H., K.H. Pollock, B.B. Ackerman, J.E. Reynolds, III, and J.A. Powell.  2007. Estimation  of detection probability in manatee aerial surveys at a winter aggregation site.  Journal of Wildlife Management 71(6):2052-2060.

Hines, E., J.E. Reynolds, III, A. A. Mignucci-Giannoni,, L. V. Aragones, and M. Marmontel (eds.).  In press;  2012.  International Strategies for Manatee and Dugong Conservation. University Press of Florida, Gainesville.

Marsh, H., P. Arnold, M. Freeman, D. Haynes, A. Read, J. Reynolds, and T. Kasuya. 2003. Strategies  for conserving marine mammals.  Pp. 1-19.  IN: N. Gales, M. Hindell and R. Kirkwood (eds.), Marine Mammals: Fisheries, Tourism, and Management Issues. CSIRO Publishing, Australia: 446pp.

Marsh, H., T.J. O’Shea, and J.E. Reynolds, III.  In press;  2011.  Ecology and Conservation of Sirenia: Dugongs and Manatees. Cambridge University Press.

Reynolds, J.E. III, and S.A. Rommel (eds.) 1999.  Biology of Marine Mammals.  Smithsonian Institution Press, Washington, D.C. 

Reynolds, J.E. III, D.L. Wetzel, and T. M. O’Hara.  2006.  Omega-3 fatty acids and omega-6 fatty acids in blubber of bowhead whales (Balaena mysticetus): health implications for subsistence-level cultures.   Arctic 59(2):155-164.

Reynolds, J.E. III, W.F. Perrin, R.R. Reeves, T.J. Ragen, and S. Montgomery (eds.).  2005.  Marine Mammal Research: Beyond Crisis Management.  Johns Hopkins University Press, Baltimore, MD.

Reynolds, J.E. III, H. Marsh, and T.J. Ragen.  2009.  Conservation of Marine Mammals.  Journal of Endangered Species Research 7(1):23-28.

Schipper, J. et al.  2008.  The biogeography of diversity, threat, and knowledge in the world’s terrestrial and aquatic mammals.  Science 322:225.

Twiss, J.R., Jr., R.J. Hofman, and J.E. Reynolds, III.  2008.  Marine Mammal Conservation.  IN:  L.L. Rockwood, R.E. Stewart, and T. Dietz, eds.  Foundations of Environmental Sustainability: The Co-Evolution of Science and Policy.  Oxford University Press, London. 

UNEP. 2010.  Regional Management Plan for the West Indian Manatee (Trichechus manatus) compiled by Ester Quintana-Rizzo and John Reynolds III.  CEP Technical Report No. 48. UNEP Caribbean Environment Programme, Kingston, Jamaica.

Wetzel, D.L., and J.E. Reynolds, III.   2004.   Definitive identification of fatty acid constituents in marine mammal tissues.  Canadian Journal of Fisheries and Aquatic Sciences 61(4):554-560.

Department: Directorate of Marine Biology & Conservation


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