Explore research activities in the Biodiversity Assessment and Tool Development theme related to marine ecosystems. Names shown indicate authors or co-authors involved from the Centre of Conservation and Restoration Science.
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Taxonomic & Functional Biodiversity Assessment
To assess biodiversity, taxonomic diversity, the “fingerprint” (who you are), and functional diversity, “the footprint” (what you do), are measured. Understanding the significance of the presence of a species, population, community, and the consequence of their loss is fundamental for the science and application of conservation and restoration.
Projects
Holdfast: communities and blue carbon
First Recordings of the Soundscape of Pristine European Flat Oyster Reefs
West of Scotland Herring Hunt (WOSHH)
Marine Soundscapes and eDNA for Assessing Biodiversity and Functioning of Re-establishing European Flat Oyster Reefs, Ostrea edulis
Quantifying Antimicobial Resistance in the River Almond Catchment Area
The effects of parasites on food web structure and dynamics: new ways to improve accuracy and ecological realism
Scotland-India Antimicrobial Resistance in the Environment Network (SIAMREN)
Wester Ross Herring Spawning Ecology
Do microbial mats explain sediment stability in seagrass meadows?
Microlanding - Symbiont transmission in early life stages of mangrove crabs
As Good as (G)Old? Comparing Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services of Restored and Natural Mangrove Forests in the Wallacea Region
The hidden links in trophic food webs: where do the parasites fit?
The juvenile fish fauna of a Kenyan mangrove forest: exploring new tools to understand growth and condition
Phd studentship (Earthwatch), Determints Of Habitat Use By Fish In Mangroves In Kenya
Publications
Where to fish in the forest? Tree characteristics and contiguous seagrass features predict mangrove forest quality for fishes and crustaceans
Bioturbation Intensity Modifies the Sediment Microbiome and Biochemistry and Supports Plant Growth in an Arid Mangrove System (2022), Microbiology Spectrum; (Fusi, Diele)
Fluctuating Habitats: Ecological Relevance of Environmental Variability and Predictability on Species, Communities, and Ecosystems (2022), Frontiers in Ecology and Evolution; (Fusi)
Morphological characteristics and abundance of prokaryotes associated with gills in mangrove brachyuran crabs living along a tidal gradient (2022), PLOS ONE; (Fusi)
The Right Place at the Right Time: Seasonal Variation of Bacterial Communities in Arid Avicennia marina Soils in the Red Sea Ii Specific to Its Position in the Intertidal (2022), Frontiers in Ecology and Evolution; (Fusi)
Composition and structure of the mangrove fish and crustacean communities of Vanga Bay, Kenya (2022), Western Indian Ocean Journal of Marine Science; (Huxham, Rueckert)
Population and seascape genomics of a critically endangered benthic elasmobranch, the blue skate Dipturus batis (2022), Evolutionary Applications; (Frost)
Coinfection patterns of two marine apicomplexans are not associated with genetic diversity of their polychaete host (2022), Journal of Eukaryotic Microbiology; (Rueckert)
The Importance of Larval Stages for Considering Crab Microbiomes as a Paradigm for the Evolution of Terrestrialization (2021), Frontiers in Microbiology; (Wale, Fusi, Diele)
Ecology of the facultative phytotelmic crab Platychirarma buettikoferi (De Man, 1883) (Decapoda, Brachyura, Sesarmidae) (2021), Crustaceana; (Fusi)
A functional analysis reveals extremely low redundancy in global mangrove invertebrate fauna (2021), Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences; (Diele)
Parasites, pathogens, and other symbionts of copepods (2021), Trends in Parasitology; (Rueckert)
The sediment carbon stocks of intertidal seagrass meadows in Scotland (2021), Estuarine, Coastal and Shelf Science; (Diele, Huxham)
Distribution and thermal niche of the common skate species complex in the north-east Atlantic (2020), Marine Ecology Progress Series; (Frost)
Missing the full story: First estimates of carbon deposition rates for the European flat oyster, Ostrea edulis (2020), Aquatic Conservation: Marine and Freshwater Ecosystems; (Diele)
Introducing the Mangrove Microbiome Initiative: Identifying Microbial Research Priorities and Approaches To Better Understand, Protect, and Rehabilitate Mangrove Ecosystems (2020), mSystems; (Fusi)
High Temperature and Crab Density Reduce Atmospheric Nitrogen Fixation in Red Sea Mangrove Sediments (2020), Estuarine, Coastal and Shelf Science; (Fusi)
Response of a marine benthic invertebrate community and biotic indices to organic enrichment from sewage disposal (2019), Journal of the Marine Biological Association of the United Kingdom; (Briers)
A horizon scan of priorities for coastal marine microbiome research (2019), Nature Ecology & Evolution; (Fusi)
Evolution: Parallel Paths to Parasitism in the Apicomplexa (2019), Current Biology; (Rueckert)
Environmental latitudinal gradients and host specificity shape Symbiodiniaceae distribution in Red Sea Porites corals (2019), Journal of Biogeography; (Fusi)
The symbiotic spectrum: where do the gregarines fit? (2019), Trends in Parasitology; (Rueckert)
Phenomics and Genomics Reveal Adaptation of Virgibacillus dokdonensis Strain 21D to Its Origin of Isolation, the Seawater-Brine Interface of the Mediterranean Sea Deep Hypersaline Anoxic Basin Discovery (2019), Frontiers in Microbiology; (Fusi)
Seagrass removal leads to rapid changes in fauna and loss of carbon. (2019), Frontiers in Ecology and Evolution; (Huxham)
Fiddler crab bioturbation determines consistent changes in bacterial communities across contrasting environmental conditions (2019), Scientific Reports; (Fusi)
High denitrification and anaerobic ammonium oxidation contributes to net nitrogen loss in a seagrass ecosystem in the central Red Sea (2018), Biogeosciences; (Fusi)
Rhizosheath microbial community assembly of sympatric desert speargrasses is independent of the plant host (2018), Microbiome; (Fusi)
The thin(ning) green line? Investigating changes in Kenya's seagrass coverage (2018), Biology Letters; (Huxham, Briers)
Morphology and molecular systematic of marine gregarines (Apicomplexa) from Southwestern Atlantic spionid polychaetes (2018), Journal of Invertebrate Pathology; (Rueckert)
Carbon in the coastal seascape: how interactions between mangrove forests, seagrass meadows and tidal marshes influence carbon storage (2018), Current Forestry Reports; (Huxham, Dencer-Brown)
Foraging plasticity of breeding Northern Rockhopper Penguins, Eudyptes moseleyi, in response to changing energy requirements (2018), Polar Biology; (Fusi)
Global phenological insensitivity to shifting ocean temperatures among seabirds (2018), Nature Climate Change; (Lewis)
The influence of aquaculture unit proximity on the pattern of Lepeophtheirus salmonis infection of anadromous Salmo trutta populations on the isle of Skye, Scotland (2018), Journal of Fish Biology; (Dodd)
Interference competition as a key determinant for spatial distribution of mangrove crabs (2018), BMC Ecology; (Fusi)
Sediment Temperature Impact on Population Structure and Dynamics of the Crab Austruca iranica Pretzmann, 1971 (Crustacea: Ocypodidae) in Subtropical Mangroves of the Persian Gulf (2018), Wetlands; (Diele)
Animal Behaviour & Evolution
Animal Behaviour includes how animals move, interact with other organisms/species, and with their environment. Behaviour can be inherited as well as learned, and often increases an organism’s survival and reproduction. Behavioural adaptations can improve species’ resilience to changing environments.
Projects
Publications
Enzyme adaptation to habitat thermal legacy shapes the thermal plasticity of marine microbiomes (2023), Nature Communications; (Fusi)
Disturbance of primary producer communities disrupts the thermal limits of the associated aquatic fauna (2023), Science of The Total Environment; (Fusi)
A comment on 'The adaptive value of gluttony: predators mediate the life history trade-offs of satiation threshold' by Pruitt & Krauel (2010) (2021), Journal of Evolutionary Biology; (Holman)
Sexual selection can partly explain low frequencies of Segregation Distorter alleles (2021), Proceedings of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences; (Holman)
No evidence for fitness signatures consistent with increasing trophic mismatch over 30-years in a population of European shag Phalacrocorax aristotelis (2021), Journal of Animal Ecology; (Lewis)
Combined effects of temperature and hypoxia shape female brooding behaviors and the early ontogeny of the Chilean kelp crab Taliepus dentatus (2020), Marine Ecology Progress Series; (Fusi)
Meta-analytic evidence that sexual selection improves population fitness (2019), Nature Communications; (Holman)
Evolution of female choice under intralocus sexual conflict and genotype-by-environment interactions (2018), Philosophical Transactions B: Biological Sciences; (Holman)
Citizen Science
Citizen science is an approach that enables public participation and collaboration in scientific research and improves data coverage and knowledge sharing.
Projects
West of Scotland Herring Hunt (WOSHH)
Optimizing Citizen-Science Tools for Mangrove Crab Fisheries Magement in Brazil
Local Roots and Global Branches: Protecting Blue Carbon Ecosystems under Community-based Management
Improving Science-Informed Crab Fisheries Management in Brazil
Production of final version smartphone application and data queries for citizen science research in Brazil to improve mangrove crab fisheries management
Publications
Passive Acoustic Monitoring
Monitoring ecosystems through recording and analysing their sounds is a non-destructive way to gather information about the environment and the species which are present. Many species, from songbirds to fish and crabs, make sound and often use it for communication and finding a good place to live. Acoustic monitoring facilitates information gathering over large spatial and time scales, helping to assess changes in the biological and physical environment.
Projects
First Recordings of the Soundscape of Pristine European Flat Oyster Reefs
Marine Soundscapes and eDNA for Assessing Biodiversity and Functioning of Re-establishing European Flat Oyster Reefs, Ostrea edulis
Continuous Monitoring of Marine Soundscapes: Assessing Anthropogenic Noise Near Breeding Seabird Colonies
Publications
Marine invertebrate anthropogenic noise research -Trends in methods and future directions (2021), Marine Pollution Bulletin; (Wale, Briers, Diele)
From DNA to ecological performance: Effects of anthropogenic noise on a reef-building mussel (2019), Science of The Total Environment; (Wale, Briers, Diele)
Remote Sensing
Remote sensing allows the collection of data form a distance, e.g. using drones or satellites. It is a powerful surveying tool, for example, to assess habitat change.
Projects
Publications
The Graphene Field Effect Transistor Modeling Based on an Optimized Ambipolar Virtual Source Model for DNA Detection (2021), Applied Sciences; (La Spada)
Towards the Development of Rapid and Low-Cost Pathogen Detection Systems Using Microfluidic Technology and Optical Image Processing (2020), Applied Sciences; (Kerrouche)
Smart Technologies
‘Smart’ in smart technologies stands for ‘Self-Monitoring Analysis and Reporting Technology’. For example, a smart robot is an artificial intelligence system that learns from its surrounding and ‘evolves’ through learning and knowledge. Smart robots can help monitor the environment and animal behaviour.
Projects
Red light from blue carbon: Assessing photosynthetic activity of submerged primary producers
Subjective orientation in VR audio
Towards Guided Self-Organisation in Artificial Complex Systems: A Swarm Robotics Case Study
Designing a smart system for pathogens detection in bathing waters
Development of an Early Warning System for Pathogen Detection in Aquaculture Facilities
Autonomous Robot Evolution: Cradle to Grave
Publications
A Quality-Diversity Approach to Evolving a Repertoire of Diverse Behaviour-Trees in Robot Swarms (2023), ; (Hart)
Augmenting Novelty Search with a Surrogate Model to Engineer Meta-Diversity in Ensembles of Classifiers (2022), Applications of Evolutionary Computation: EvoApplications; (Hart)
Lifelong Learning Machines: Towards Developing Optimisation Systems That Continually Learn (2022), ; (Hart)
Artificial evolution of robot bodies and control: on the interaction between evolution, individual and cultural learning (2022), Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences; (Hart, Le Goff)
Morpho-evolution with learning using a controller archive as an inheritance mechanism (2022), IEEE Transactions on Cognitive and Developmental Systems; (Le Goff, Hart)
Towards Autonomous Robot Evolution (2021), ; (Hart)
Evolution of Diverse, Manufacturable Robot Body Plans (2020), ; (Hart, Le Goff)
Bootstrapping artificial evolution to design robots for autonomous fabrication (2020), Robotics; (Le Goff, Hart)
On Pros and Cons of Evolving Topologies with Novelty Search (2020), ; (Hart, Le Goff)
Sample and time efficient policy learning with CMA-ES and Bayesian Optimisation (2020), ; (Hart, Le Goff)
Comparing encodings for performance and phenotypic exploration in evolving modular robots (2019), ; (Hart)
The ARE Robot Fabricator: How to (Re)produce Robots that Can Evolve in the Real World (2019), ; (Hart)
Evolution of a Functionally Diverse Swarm via a Novel Decentralised Quality-Diversity Algorithm (2018), ; (Hart)
Environmental Informatics
Environmental informatics is the field of research and system development focusing on the collection, processing, management and sharing of environmental data and information (using e.g., artificial intelligence, machine learning, big data, statistical codes etc).
Projects
Publications
Semi-Supervised Domain Adaptation for Holistic Counting under Label Gap (2021), Journal of Imaging; (Giuffrida)
A Neural Approach to Generation of Constructive Heuristics (2021), ; (Hart)
On the challenges of jointly optimising robot morphology and control using a hierarchical optimisation scheme (2021), ; (Le Goff, Hart)
Using novelty search to explicitly create diversity in ensembles of classifiers (2021), ; (Hart)
Same data, different conclusions: Radical dispersion in empirical results when independent analysts operationalize and test the same hypothesis (2021), Organizational Behavior and Human Decision Processes; (Briers)
From theory to practice in pattern-oriented modelling: identifying and using empirical patterns in predictive models (2021), Biological Reviews; (White)
WILDA: Wide Learning of Diverse Architectures for Classification of Large Datasets (2021), ; (Hart)
Understanding Deep Neural Networks For Regression In Leaf Counting (2020), ; (Giuffrida)
Algorithm selection using deep learning without feature extraction (2019), ; (Hart)
An Illumination Algorithm Approach to Solving the Micro-Depot Routing Problem (2019), ; (Hart)
A novel similarity-based mutant vector generation strategy for differential evolution (2018), Proceedings of the Genetic and Evolutionary Computation Conference; (Hart)