TESTING BIODIVERSITY HYPOTHESES IN THE MARINE ENVIRONMENT BY LINKING IN-SITU BIODIVERSITY OBSERVATIONS OF MARINE PREDATORS TO GRIDDED ENVIRONMENTAL DATA FIELDS CREATES TWO DISTINCT KINDS OF SCALING PROBLEMS. THE FIRST PROBLEM IS THAT THE TEMPORAL AND SPATIAL GRAIN SIZE OF GRIDDED ENVIRONMENTAL PREDICTORS DOES NOT MATCH THE TIME OR SPACE SCALE OF IN-SITU BIODIVERSITY OBSERVATIONS (E.G. ANIMAL LOCATION). THEREFORE ASSUMPTIONS NEED TO BE MADE ABOUT HOW DISCRETE BIODIVERSITY OBSERVATIONS TAKEN AT THE SCALES OF METERS AND SECONDS ARE REPRESENTED BY COARSER SATELLITE DATA OR MODEL OUTPUT OFTEN TAKEN AT THE SCALES OF KILOMETERS AND DAYS. THE SECOND PROBLEM IS THAT BIODIVERSITY ITSELF SCALES ALONG WITH ORGANISMAL SIZE METABOLIC TROPHIC AND TAXONOMIC LEVELS. THERE ARE NOW MANY OBSERVATIONS ON MARINE PELAGIC PREDATORS THAT SHOW THEIR MOVEMENT ACROSS LARGE OCEAN BASINS. THESE DATABASES COVER ORGANISMS REPRESENTING A VARIETY OF SIZES PHYSIOLOGIES AND TROPHIC LEVELS ACROSS DIVERSE TAXA. THEREFORE THESE ANIMAL TRACKING DATA IN THE CONTEXT OF GRIDDED ENVIRONMENTAL DATA FIELDS FROM BOTH SATELLITES AND MODELS REPRESENT A UNIQUE OPPORTUNITY TO UNDERSTAND THE IMPACT OF OBSERVATIONAL GRAIN SIZE ON ORGANISMAL LOCATION PREDICTIONS AND THE EFFECT BIOLOGICAL SCALING HAS ON THESE PREDICTIONS. THIS ANALYSIS WILL MAKE USE OF THE EXTRAORDINARY DATASET FROM THE TAGGING OF PACIFIC PREDATORS (TOPP) PROGRAM FUNDED BY THE CENSUS OF MARINE LIFE. TOPP WAS ONE OF THE LARGEST DEDICATED ELECTRONIC TAGGING STUDIES EVER CONDUCTED. IT DEPLOYED OVER 4 000 ELECTRONIC TAGS ON 23 PELAGIC SPECIES RESULTING IN ALMOST 275 000 ANIMAL TRACKING DAYS OF DATA IN THE NORTH PACIFIC. THIS EFFORT PROVIDED AN UNPRECEDENTED VIEW OF HOW MOBILE PELAGIC SPECIES USE OPEN OCEAN HABITATS YIELDING NEW INSIGHT INTO OCEANIC ECOSYSTEMS AND SPECIFICALLY HABITAT USE MIGRATORY CORRIDORS HOT SPOTS AND BEHAVIORS OF THESE SPECIES. TAGGED ANIMALS INCLUDED REPRESENTATIVES FROM EVERY GROUP OF MARINE VERTEBRATES AND INCLUDED SPECIES THAT RANGED GREATLY IN SIZE (RANGING FROM FISH TO BLUE WHALES) PHYSIOLOGY (ENDOTHERMS AND ECTOTHERMS) AS WELL AS TROPHIC LEVEL (RANGING FROM SECONDARY CONSUMERS TO APEX PREDATORS). THIS UNIQUELY RICH AND COMPREHENSIVE DATASET WILL BE USED TO TEST BOTH GRAIN SIZE AND BIOLOGICAL SCALING HYPOTHESES IN THE MARINE ENVIRONMENT IN CONJUNCTION WITH ENVIRONMENTAL DATA DRAWN FROM SATELLITE OBSERVATIONS OF SEA SURFACE TEMPERATURE AND CHLOROPHYLL-A AS WELL AS FROM THE DATA ASSIMILATING REANALYSIS OF THE HYBRID-COORDINATE OCEAN MODEL (HYCOM).