The aim of my research is to provide solutions to coral reef management problems. Through research, I have studied a number of applied problems including the impact of losing mangroves on Caribbean reef fish populations and coral reef resilience. My work also provided the first evidence that protecting parrotfishes in Caribbean marine reserves can lead to a dramatic reduction in seaweed and a concomitant rise in the recruitment and recovery of corals.
I have worked with policy-makers in Belize and Bonaire to develop fisheries regulations that ban parrotfish exploitation. This was a great experience for me because before the regulations were ratified, it provided the opportunity to share with fishermen the science and economics of parrotfish exploitation. I also currently work with the Bahamas National Trust on the design of marine reserve networks, funded, in large part by a Pew Fellowship in Marine Conservation.
I have chaired an interdisciplinary Remote Sensing Working Group of The World Bank since 2001. I sit on the editorial boards of Phil Transactions B, Ecology Letters, and Marine Ecology Progress Series and I was the Ecology Editor of Coral Reefs for the last 4 years. Presently, I am an Australia Research Council (ARC) Laureate Fellow at the University of Queensland.
Pew Fellow in Marine Conservation2011 Rosenstiel Award for Outstanding contributions to marine science 2010 Marsh Award for marine conservation