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