Marine Research Interests

My research interests can be split into three overlapping themes:

Habitat connectivity

I am particularly interested in the relationships that adjacent habitats have with each other, and how this impacts upon their economically important faunal groups. These issues have enormous importance for conservation and fisheries management.

This research can be split into the following areas:

1) The effect of environmental cycles and influences on faunal habitat connectivity

2) Local-scale faunal connectivity between tropical ecosystems (reefs, seagrass and mangrove)  

3) Movement of organic matter between habitats

4) Seagrass over-exploitation and its impact6s upon coral reef habitats

5) Temperate salt marsh fish connectivity

Susceptibility of benthic primary producers to the impacts of dredging

The use and development of water quality thresholds for the modelling and environmental monitoring of the impacts of dredging  for the use of reactive management is a key process in reducing the impact of coastal development. Within diverse coral assemblages data is insufficient to support the use of thresholds based upon accurate assessment of thresholds of mortality and sub-lethal stress. This research seeks to develop tools to monitor and model the underwater light environment as a water quality threshold.

Marine Protected Areas (MPA) and seagrass fisheries management

The design, function and management of MPAs remain important issues as these have enormous impacts upon the biological success and ultimately upon the compliance to management regulations by local stakeholders. I am using ecological and socio-economic tools to investigate the effects of small MPAs.

This research can be split into the following areas:

1) Impact of small MPAs on apex predatory fish

2) Economic benefits of MPA management

3) Bio-economic modelling of MPA spillover

4) Fisheries exploitation of seagrass habitats

5) The development of seagrass monitoring tools and techniques

Seagrass ecology and ecosystem functioning

Seagrass ecosystem services have been recently highlighted for the economic value they provide in terms of nutrient cycling, however they also provide other vital services such as biological life support, nursery refugia, sea defence, water treatment and are important in the cycling of important global gases. For the long-term development of management plans pertinent to the survival of seagrass as a habitat it is vital that those processes important to the proliferation of these habitat are more fully understood.

My seagrass research can be split into the following areas:

1) Seagrass herbivory

2) Faunal/floral seagrass habitat relations

3) Seagrass primary production