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Head of Research at Operation Wallacea, and Research Associate in the Department of Zoology, University of Oxford

I am a tropical marine ecologist and conservationist based at Operation Wallacea, UK. My primary research focus is on coral reefs, although I am also interested in seagrass beds and mangrove forests.

Some of my main areas of interest are (i) small-scale tropical fisheries and their wide ranging impacts, (ii) the use of technology in improving the study of coral reefs, with particular focus on the use of stereo-video fish surveys and 3D modelling via structure-from-motion, (iii) managing the Caribbean lionfish invasion including the emerging role of robotics, (iv) restoring invertibrate herbivory to Caribbean coral reefs, and (v) the ecological role of biogenic volatile organic compound production by marine organisms.

Experience

  • –present
    Research Associate in the Department of Zoology at Oxford University and Head of Research at Operation Wallacea, University of Oxford

Publications

  • 2019
    Artisanal fish fences pose broad and unexpected threats to the tropical coastal seascape, Nature Communications
  • 2019
    Aggregating behaviour in invasive Caribbean lionfish is driven by habitat complexity, Scientific Reports
  • 2019
    Lack of strategic service provisioning by Pederson's cleaner shrimp (Ancylomenes pedersoni) highlights independent evolution of cleaning behaviours between ocean basins, Scientific Reports
  • 2018
    To what extent do mesophotic coral ecosystems and shallow reefs share species of conservation interest? A systematic review, Environmental Evidence
  • 2017
    Cost and time-effective framework for multi-scale measures of rugosity, fractal dimension, and vector dispersion from coral reef 3D models, PLoS ONE
  • 2017
    Large scale invasion of Western Atlantic mesophotic reefs by lionfish potentially undermines culling-based management, Biological Invasions
  • 2016
    Reef fish community biomass and trophic structure changes across shallow to upper-mesophotic reefs in the Mesoamerican Barrier Reef, Caribbean, PLoS ONE
  • 2015
    Do reef fish habituate to diver presence? Evidence from two reef sites with contrasting historical levels of SCUBA intensity in the Bay Islands, Honduras, PLoS ONE
  • 2015
    Uncovering the volatile nature of tropical coastal marine ecosystems in a changing world, Global Change Biology
  • 2015
    Using an isolated population boom to explore barriers to recovery in the keystone Caribbean coral reef herbivore Diadema antillarum, Coral Reefs
  • 2013
    Chlorophyll-normalized isoprene production in laboratory cultures of marine microalgae and implications for global models, Limnology & Oceanography
  • 2012
    Spatial and temporal variability of biogenic isoprene emissions from a temperate estuary, Global Biogeochemical Cycles
  • 2009
    Characterization of marine isoprene-degrading communities, Environmental Microbiology