Dr. Bartholomew (Bart) DiFiore is a quantitative marine ecologist with expertise in coastal habitats, species interactions, and spatial and temporal modeling of complex datasets. His research has integrated field experiments, long-term ecological data, and statistical modeling to understand how species interactions and ecosystem structure shift in response to global drivers such as warming, fishing pressure, and foundation species loss. Dr. DiFiore has led research across a range of marine ecosystems, from the California kelp forests, to the coral reefs of the tropical Atlantic, and the benthic habitats of the Bering Sea. He has authored numerous peer-reviewed publications, including studies on predator-prey dynamics, metabolic scaling, and community recovery in disturbed habitats. As a postdoctoral research associate at the Gulf of Maine Research Institute, he developed trait-based indicators to inform ecosystem-based fisheries management.

With more than a decade of experience in ecological fieldwork and quantitative analysis, Dr. DiFiore brings deep expertise in Bayesian and frequentist modeling of spatiotemporal data. He has mentored undergraduate and graduate researchers, taught college-level courses in ecology, and has extensive experience in commercial fishing industries. He holds a PhD in Ecology, Evolution, and Marine Biology from the University of California, Santa Barbara, a Master of Environmental Science from the Yale School of the Environment, and degrees in Biology and English Literature from Middlebury College.