Karen McLeod is Director of Science for COMPASS (Communication Partnership for Science and the Sea) at Oregon State University. She holds a B.A. in Biology from Franklin and Marshall College, an M.S. in Zoology from the University of South Florida, and a PhD. from Oregon State University. For her dissertation research, she examined the effects of the spatial arrangement of reefs on the predator-prey dynamics of coral-reef fishes. Currently, her research interests include the conceptual underpinnings of management in marine systems, bridging the gap between these concepts and the practice of marine EBM, integrating marine ecology with fisheries biology, and comprehensive spatial management through ocean zoning. An experimental field biologist by training, she has worked in the greater Caribbean, Florida Keys, and French Polynesia.