Staff Profile - School of Natural and Environmental Sciences

Professor Pip Moore

Professor of Marine Science

Email: pip.moore@ncl.ac.uk
Personal Website: https://mooremarineecologylab.com
Address: Twitter: @Pippa_J_Moore

Climate Change Ecology

My research in this area focuses on the impacts of climate warming (gradual warming and marine heatwaves) and ocean acidification on the structure and functioning of shallow water marine communities. I have used a range of approaches including long-term datasets, mesocosm experiments, space-for-time manipulations and modelling approaches to demonstrate physiological impacts leading to changes in species distributions, phenology and demography, alterations to predator-prey and competitive interactions and population level genetic responses.

Ecological Engineering

Coastlines around the globe are hardening (ocean sprawl) in order to protect valuable coastal infrastructure from increased storminess and sea-level rise. At the same time, our coastlines and seas are increasingly becoming a focus for the generation of renewable energy (off-shore wind, wave and tidal generation). These hard-engineered structures have been shown to be poor surrogates for natural rocky reefs supporting depauperate communities due to their reduced habitat complexity. Ecological engineering aims to make these hard-engineered structures better for nature by increasing habitat complexity at a range of spatial scales (micro to macro scales). My research in this area has designed cost-effective interventions for increasing biodiversity on coastal structures as well as developing novel low carbon alternatives to concrete.

Kelp Forest Ecology

Kelp forests are some of the most productive habitats on Earth providing food and habitat that supports diverse marine communities and provides goods and services to human society worth £billions per year. They have also recently been identified as a potentially highly important blue carbon donor habitat contributing to the mitigation of climate change. At the same time, and like many marine vegetated habitats, kelp forests are under threat from a range of anthropogenic stressors. For the last seven years I have been investigating the structure and functioning of UK kelp forests from the microbiome to kelp forest food-webs. Using a space-for-time gradient, spanning 2.5°C, we are also determining how future warming may impact the physiology and ecology of kelp and their associated communities. More recently, we been working with collaborators in Chile and Peru to better understand the structure and function of kelp forests in these countries in order to provide ecosystem-based management of the kelp fishery.