Barbara Block

About

Barbara Block is the Charles and Elizabeth Prothro Professor of Marine Sciences, a Professor of Oceans, and a Senior Fellow at the Woods Institute for the Environment at Stanford University. She is affiliated with the Department of Biology, where her research focuses on integrative and organismal biology, specifically thermal physiology, open ocean predators, ecological physiology, and tuna biology. Her work involves understanding the physiological adaptations and ecological roles of marine species, contributing to the broader knowledge of marine biology and oceanic ecosystems. She holds a B.A. in Zoology from the University of Vermont (1980) and a Ph.D. in Zoology from Duke University (1986).

Research topics

• Computer Science
• Biology
• Geography
• Artificial Intelligence
• Ecology
• Cartography
• Environmental science
• Geodesy
• Geology
• Oceanography

Selected publications

• Diving into the vertical dimension of elasmobranch movement ecology

  Science Advances · 2022 · 84 citations

  Knowledge of the three-dimensional movement patterns of elasmobranchs is vital to understand their ecological roles and exposure to anthropogenic pressures. To date, comparative studies among species at global scales have mostly focused on horizontal movements. Our study addresses the knowledge gap of vertical movements by compiling the first global synthesis of vertical habitat use by elasmobranchs from data obtained by deployment of 989 biotelemetry tags on 38 elasmobranch species. Elasmobranc…

  PublisherOA PDFDOI

• Global tracking of marine megafauna space use reveals how to achieve conservation targets

  Science · 2025-06-05 · 34 citations

  articleOpen access

  The recent Kunming-Montreal Global Biodiversity Framework (GBF) sets ambitious goals but no clear pathway for how zero loss of important biodiversity areas and halting human-induced extinction of threatened species will be achieved. We assembled a multi-taxa tracking dataset (11 million geopositions from 15,845 tracked individuals across 121 species) to provide a global assessment of space use of highly mobile marine megafauna, showing that 63% of the area that they cover is used 80% of the time…

  PublisherOA PDFDOI

• Atlantic bluefin tuna tagged off Norway show extensive annual migrations, high site-fidelity and dynamic behaviour in the Atlantic Ocean and Mediterranean Sea

  Proceedings of the Royal Society B Biological Sciences · 2024-10-01 · 15 citations

  articleOpen access

  ) is a highly migratory species. To investigate the migrations and vertical behaviours of ABFT migrating to Nordic waters, we deployed pop-up satellite archival transmitting tags on 25 ABFT off Norway (curved fork length: 228-292 cm). We obtained 16 full-year migrations, which differed between individuals, and physically recovered 13 tags, which provided 4699 days of archival depth and temperature data. ABFT occupied waters from the Arctic Circle to as far south as Cabo Verde, Africa, and occupi…

  PublisherDOI

• On the tracks of white sharks in the Mediterranean Sea

  Frontiers in Marine Science · 2024-10-22 · 12 citations

  articleOpen access

  White sharks ( Carcharodon carcharias ) are among the most widespread, charismatic, and studied predators in the ocean. However, their conservation status is concerning in many ocean sectors, most notably the Mediterranean Sea, which hosts one of the least known and most endangered populations globally. Though they were historically abundant and widely distributed in the region, Mediterranean white sharks have declined to dangerously low abundance levels, impacted by centuries of coastal and, mo…

  PublisherOA PDFDOI

• Improving Ocean Management Using Insights from Space

  Annual Review of Marine Science · 2024-08-19 · 9 citations

  reviewOpen access

  Advancements in space-based ocean observation and computational data processing techniques have demonstrated transformative value for managing living resources, biodiversity, and ecosystems of the ocean. We synthesize advancements in leveraging satellite-derived insights to better understand and manage fishing, an emerging revolution of marine industrialization, ocean hazards, sea surface dynamics, benthic ecosystems, wildlife via electronic tracking, and direct observations of ocean megafauna.…

  PublisherDOI

Recent grants

• NIH Grant R29AR040246

  NIH · $528k · 1996

Frequent coauthors

• Taylor K. Chapple

  205 shared

• Robert J. Schallert

  Pacific University

  204 shared

• Aaron B. Carlisle

  University of Delaware

  163 shared

• Francesco Ferretti

  Virginia Tech

  143 shared

• David J. Curnick

  105 shared

• David Tickler

  100 shared

• David Jacoby

  98 shared

• Salvador J. Jorgensen

  88 shared

Labs

• Block LabPI

Education

• Ph.D., Marine Biology

  Stanford University

  1980

• M.S., Marine Biology

  University of California, Santa Barbara

  1976

• B.S., Marine Biology

  University of California, Santa Barbara

  1974

Similar researchers at Stanford University

• Liqun Luoh-150
• Gretchen C. Dailyh-126
• Marcus Feldmanh-110