Agricultural and Life Sciences (IFAS)
Lamb Lab
Led by Robert Lamb · Nature Coast Biological Station
What we study
The Lamb Lab studies marine ecology in the Galapagos. Recent student projects use exclusion cages to test grazing and nutrients on seafloor algae and examine fish cleaning behavior; papers cover reef fish networks, black corals and sea stars.
What working here is like
- Fieldwork
- Marine organisms
- Coding helps
- Projects
- 2
- Papers
- 5
Current projects
Effects of the reduction in dive tourism due to the COVID-19 pandemic on cleaning behavior in Galapagos reef fishes
The lab studies how scuba divers affect cleaning stations where small fish remove parasites from larger fish. During the COVID-19 pause (March‑October 2020) they recorded over 2,000 cleaning events and found more visits by migratory pelagic fish when divers were absent.
From the Spring 2025 UF Undergraduate Research Symposium · abstract book, p. 328
Top-down vs Bottom-up Control on Competitive Dynamics Amongst Benthic Communities
The lab investigated how nutrient levels and herbivore grazing together affect sea‑floor algae diversity in the Galápagos. The student set up exclusion cages, measured algae cover, and found grazing lowers species richness when nutrients are low but raises it when nutrients are high.
From the Spring 2025 UF Undergraduate Research Symposium · abstract book, p. 245
Summaries are written by AI in plain language from public symposium abstracts and may be imperfect.
Recent papers, explained
- Discovery of populations of the critically endangered coral Rhizopsammia wellingtoni in the Galápagos mesophotic zone
2025 · Conservation Science and Practice
Finds living coral populations in deep Galápagos waters, reversing earlier extinction fears.
- Distribution and ecology of shallow-water black corals across a depth gradient on Galápagos rocky reefs
2024 · Coral Reefs
Studies black coral distribution and growth across shallow Galápagos reef depths.
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- Distribution and feeding ecology of sea stars in the Galápagos rocky subtidal zone
2022 · Journal of Experimental Marine Biology and Ecology
Examines sea star diets and habitats in Galápagos subtidal zones.
- Endemic species dominate reef fish interaction networks on two isolated oceanic islands
2021 · Coral Reefs
- Effects of trout aquaculture on water chemistry of tropical montane streams in Ecuador
2021 · River Research and Applications
Measures how trout farms impact water chemistry in Ecuadorian streams.
Plain-language summaries are AI-written and reviewed by us; check the paper for details.
How to reach out
Robert Lamb hasn't set up this page yet. You can also look them up in the UF directory (search “Robert Lamb”).