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Staff Profile

Dr Chancey MacDonald

NERC Independent Fellow

Research

I am currently working under a 5-year NERC Independent Research Fellowship. Through the fellowship, I am Investigating coral reef dynamics across three global biodiversity gradients—Latitude, Longitude, and Depth— to examine the drivers and consequences of biodiversity assembly and redistribution across three dimensions in one of the world’s most diverse, valuable, and vulnerable ecosystems. Working from the scale of atoms to ecosystems, my research aims to uncover mechanisms shaping the ecological and evolutionary trajectories of coral reef fish, incorporating unprecedented scales of knowledge from across the entire coral reef depth gradient, 0 – 120 meters.

As severe and persistent warming forces rapid ecosystem change, reef fish from tropical shallow-waters may mitigate climate-related pressures by shifting poleward, or to deeper depths. Understanding the ecological dynamics controlling potential shifts towards cooler ranges, and effects on the functioning of ecological networks and ecosystem services is critical to understanding coral reef futures. However, studies of coral reef macro-ecological dynamics are typically focused on shallow water assemblages (<20m), ignoring steep depth-related transitions in community structure.

Technological developments have recently facilitated unprecedented access to deeper reefs. My recent research is at the forefront of demonstrating strong depth-modifications of previously established ecological patterns and processes, and depth-related interactions with other macro-gradients, such as longitudinal distance from biodiversity centres. Yet, large gaps remain in understanding the spatial scales, and evolutionary and life-history traits of communities that these modified processes act on, and the consequences of these modifications on the redistribution of biodiversity in future coral reefs.

Leveraging a new multi-gradient reef fish abundance dataset spanning from tropical to subtropical reefs across the Atlantic and Pacific oceans, advanced technical diving and quantitative analysis capabilities, and elemental and molecular research techniques, I am identifying controls on community assembly, changes in energy and productivity pathways, and the structure of ecological networks along interacting biodiversity gradients related to longitude, latitude, and depth.

Combining understandings across multiple scales and the full spatial extent of coral reefs will provide a groundbreaking framework with which to assess the shape, robustness, connectivity, and consequences of future reassembly of coral reef biodiversity.

Publications

  • Articles

    • Versteeg M, MacDonald C, Bennett-Smith M, Buston P, Rueger T. Individual clown anemonefish shrink to survive heat stress and social conflict. Science Advances 2025. In Press.
    • Rueger T, MacDonald C, Harrison HB, Gardiner NM, Jones GP, Mills SC. Strength of sexual selection and sex roles vary between social groups in a coral reef cardinalfish. The American Naturalist 2024, 204(3), 289–303.
    • Pinheiro HT, MacDonald C, Santos RG, Ali R, Bobat A, Cresswell BJ, Francini-Filho R, Freitas R, Galbraith GF, Musembi P, Phelps TA, Quimbayo JP, Quiros TEAL, Shepherd B, Stefanoudis PV, Talma S, Teixeira JB, Woodall LC, Rocha LA. Plastic pollution on the world’s coral reefs. Nature 2023, 619, 311-316.
    • Pinheiro HT, MacDonald C, Quimbayo JP, Shepherd B, Phelps TA, Loss AC, Teixeira JB, Rocha LA. Assembly rules of coral reef fish communities along the depth gradient. Current Biology 2023, 23(8), 1421-1430.e4.
    • MacDonald C, Pinheiro HT, Shepherd B, Phelps TAY, Rocha LA. Disturbance and distribution gradients influence resource availability and feeding behaviours in corallivore fishes following a warm-water anomaly. Scientific Reports 2021, 11, 23656.
    • Shiratsuchi, S, MacDonald, C, Srinivasan, M, Jones, GP. Sexual dimorphism in the horn size of a pair-forming coral reef butterflyfish. PLOS One 2020.
    • Cooper AM, MacDonald C, Roberts TE, Bridge TCL. Variability in the functional composition of coral reef fish communities on submerged and emergent reefs in the central Great Barrier Reef, Australia. PLOS One 2019, 14(5), e0216785.
    • Harrison HB, Álvarez-Noriega M, Baird AH, Heron SF, MacDonald C, Hughes TP. Back-to-back coral bleaching events on isolated atolls in the Coral Sea. Coral Reefs 2019, 38, 713–719.
    • MacDonald C, Bridge TCL, McMahon KW, Jones GP. Alternative functional strategies and altered carbon pathways facilitate broad depth ranges in coral-obligate reef fishes. Functional Ecology 2019, 33(10), 1962-1972.
    • MacDonald C, Bridge TCL, Jones GP. Marginal sinks or potential refuges? Costs and benefits for coral-obligate reef fishes at deep range margins. Proceedings of the Royal Society B 2018, 285(1890).
    • Perry CT, Alvarez-Filip L, Graham NAJ, Mumby PJ, Wilson SK, Kench PS, Manzello DP, Morgan KM, Slangen ABA, Thomson DP, Januchowski-Hartley F, Smithers SG, Steneck RS, Carlton R, Edinger EN, Enochs IC, Estrada-Saldívar N, Haywood MDE, Kolodziej G, Murphy GN, Pérez-Cervantes E, Suchley A, Valentino L, Boenish R, Wilson M, Macdonald C. Loss of coral reef growth capacity to track future increases in sea level. Nature 2018, 558, 396–400.
    • MacDonald C, Tauati MI, Jones GP. Depth patterns in microhabitat versatility and selectivity in coral reef damselfishes. Marine Biology 2018, 165(138).
    • Steneck, RS, Mumby, PJ, MacDonald, C, Rasher, DB, Stoyle, G. Attenuating effects of ecosystem management on coral reefs. Science Advances 2018, 4(5).
    • MacDonald C, Bridge TCL, Jones GP. Depth, bay position and habitat structure as determinants of coral reef fish distributions: Are deep reefs a potential refuge?. Marine Ecology Progress Series 2016, 561, 217-231.