Dan Bayley
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PhD Title
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Empirical and mechanistic approaches to understanding and projecting change in coastal marine communities |
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Research Theme
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Biodiversity and Ecology |
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Primary Supervisor
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Primary Institution
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Secondary Supervisor
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Secondary Institution
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CASE Partner
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CASE Supervisor
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Heather Koldewey |
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Abstract
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Biodiversity is currently in a state of global decline despite international efforts to halt and reverse that demise. There are multiple reasons for this including habitat destruction, over-harvesting of food stocks, pollution and climatic changes. The oceans and their associated ecosystems have been severely affected, however knowledge of exactly how the system’s physical structure, diversity and function have changed, the extent populations have declined, and how they will fair in the future needs to be improved. This study looks to empirically investigate ecological and physical differences within and between reef communities across a range of anthropogenic and environmental pressure gradients, with the aim to quantify the community effects of these pressures. This information will then be used to help better predict and model future changes in reef communities to allow focused and prioritised conservation management of vulnerable aspects of this system. Ultimately this work can feed into better management and policy decision-making of this sensitive and valuable ecosystem to help allow international conservation targets to be met. |
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Policy Impact
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Background Reading
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Publications
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None |
