Russell Hopcroft

Russell Hopcroft serves as Professor and Chair of the Department of Oceanography at the University of Alaska Fairbanks, College of Fisheries and Ocean Sciences. His office is located in 120 O'Neill, Fairbanks, AK 99775-7220, with contact details including phone 907-474-7842 and email rrhopcroft@alaska.edu. He maintains daily office hours from 3:15–4:00 pm.

Dr. Hopcroft's research expertise spans biological oceanography, marine biology, and marine invertebrates, with core specialties in trophodynamics, midwater ecology, zooplankton, and Arctic/subarctic ecosystems. He is globally recognized as a taxonomic authority on zooplankton, particularly for Arctic biodiversity, investigating fundamental questions about planktonic community function, energy processing, and climate-driven changes.

Analysis of his 2021-2023 publications reveals dominant themes in climate impacts on northern marine systems, especially marine heatwaves in the Gulf of Alaska and Arctic. Key research areas include trophic transfer mechanisms, carbon sequestration by gelatinous zooplankton, and disruptions to energy flow in pelagic food webs during climate extremes.

Scientific awards: No specific awards are documented in the source material.

Dr. Hopcroft advises graduate students Daniel Cushing and Emily Stidham, and collaborates with research staff including Alex Poje, Jenn Questel, Caitlin Smoot, and Elizabeth Stockmar. His current research portfolio, funded by NPRB, AOOS, EVOSTC, and NSF, encompasses:

• Arctic Marine Biodiversity Observing Network (AMBON)
• ASGARD
• Gulf Watch
• Hidden Ocean III: Chukchi Borderlands
• Northern Gulf of Alaska-Long Term Ecological Research
• Copepod Diapause and Reproduction
• Copepod Lipids and Diapause
• Seward Line Long-term Observation Program

He directs the Northern Gulf of Alaska LTER program, examining ecosystem resilience since 1997 through integrated methodologies combining morphological analysis, image processing, and molecular techniques (barcoding, metagenomics, transcriptomics) with rate measurements.