Marine Science Postgraduate Research

Our research spans organismal studies, large-scale processes, and management procedures. It falls into two broad areas:

• marine organisms and ecosystem research
• coastal processes and management

Our work with marine organisms and ecosystem research includes:

• gamete maturation and fertilisation biology of marine invertebrates
• chemical/physiological ecology of marine invertebrates
• reef ecology, especially trophodynamics, the structure and dynamics of marine food webs generally

Our coastal processes and management research looks at:

• effects of fishing and marine protected areas on benthic communities
• air-sea exchange of biogases, element cycling in oceans, gaseous tracer technology

Previous students have often led on papers and projects in areas including:

Tropical coastal management

• Hicks CC, McClanahan, TRM, Cinner JE, Hills JM (2009)
• Trade offs in values assigned to ecological goods and services associated with different coral reef management strategies
• Ecology and Society 14 (1): 10

Marine ecosystem services

• Smith V, Fitzsimmons C (2011)
• Local livelihood diversification: conservation and Socio-economics of scuba diving in the Solomon Islands
• International Journal of Ecotourism 10: 179-196

North Sea marine policy

• Scarff G, Fitzsimmons C, Gray T (2014)
• The new mode of marine governance in the UK: aspirations and challenges
• Marine Policy 51: 96-102

Marine biology

• Tanzil JTI, Brown BE, Tudhope AW, Dunne RP (2009)
• Decline in skeletal growth of the coral Porites lutea from the Andaman Sea, South Thailand between 1984 and 2005
• Coral Reefs 28: 519-528

Coral reef ecology

• McWilliam JN, Hawkins AD (2013)
• A comparison of inshore marine soundscapes
• Journal of Experimental Marine Biology and Ecology 446: 166-176

Marine protected area management

• Peterson AM, Stead SM (2011)
• Rule breaking and livelihood options in marine protected areas
• Environmental Conservation 38: 342-352

Fisheries ecology and sustainability

• Hart K, Gray T, Stead SM (2013)
• Consumptive versus non-consumptive use of sea turtles? Stakeholder perceptions about sustainable use in three communities near Cahuita National Park, Costa Rica
• Marine Policy 42: 236-244