Research Associate
Department of Biological Sciences
University of Southern California

PhD. in population dynamics and fisheries ecology from Imperial College, London (UK).
MSc. in fisheries biology and management from University College of North Wales, Bangor (UK)
BSc. in biological oceanography from the University of Southampton (UK).

Research

Prior to joining the Kiefer Lab, Vardis has held research posts at the Ministry of Agriculture Food and Fisheries laboratory (CEFAS) in Lowestoft (UK) and the Food and Agricultural Organization of the United Nations (Rome, Italy). He has been involved in a wide range of projects, from the study and management of commercially harvested bivalve stocks to the development of information systems and use of GIS tools in coastal area management and fisheries oceanography applications. His research interests focus on the issue of scale in ecology, the analysis of spatial-temporal pattern formation and dynamics in ecological systems, and understanding the implications of spatial heterogeneity for population level dynamics and ecological assessment procedures. Vardis has assisted in the development of the Gulf of Maine Bio-geographic Information System (GMBIS), and is involved in NOAA funded research project with NEFSC, Woods Hole on examining environmental influences on cod and haddock recruitment variability in the Gulf of Maine. He is also currently participating in a FAO/UN sponsored project that aims to establish an information system facilitating integrated management of the Nile Delta coastal zone (Egypt). Relevant technical skills include relational databases, GIS, programming, spatial data analysis and population modeling.

Contacts

University of Southern California
Alan Hancock Foundation
3616 Trousdale Pkwy.
Los Angeles, CA 90089-0371
Main: (213) 740-1810
Email: tsontos@usc.edu