PhD project title: Extinction proneness and functionality in marine benthic ecosystems.

Background

I graduated from the University of Plymouth, England in July 2005 with a B.Sc. (Hons) degree in Marine Biology and Oceanography. My final year project was an assessment of the lethal and sublethal toxicity of antifouling ‘booster biocides’ to marine fauna. Specifically I determined whether exposure to the algaecide Irgarol 1051 conferred any negative response in sub-cellular biomarkers typically used as indicators of organism health in the bivalve Mytilus edulis. This project was supervised by Professor Tamara Galloway (now at the school of Biosciences, University of Exeter) with additional support being provided by Dr Jo Hagger (University of Plymouth). In September 2006 I embarked on a one year NERC funded M.Sc. in Marine Environmental Protection at Bangor University where I am now studying for a PhD. My M.Sc. project evaluated the role of natural disturbance events in moderating biodiversity-ecosystem function relationships in subtidal benthic communities. Additional work during the interlude between my postgraduate and undergraduate careers include a voluntary position at Devon Wildlife Trust where I was involved the Lyme Bay Mapping and Management Project (see www.devonwildlifetrust.org), and an 8 month contract at the National Museum of Wales, Cardiff as a Marine Curatorial Assistant conducting laboratory based benthic sorting and preliminary identification work on the HabMap project (see www.habmap.org).

Currently I am undertaking a PhD under the supervision of Dr Jan Hiddink (Bangor University), Dr Stewart Jenkins (Bangor University) and Professor Steve Hawkins (Head of the College of Natural Sciences, Bangor University). My PhD aims to delineate the relationship between extinction proneness and functional importance in marine communities by taking an applied ecosystem based approach in a variety of coastal habitats.

This is a NERC funded project which CASE partnered by the Marine Biological Association of the United Kingdom.

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