I am a marine ecologist with research interests in understanding both anthropogenic and natural disturbance-community interactions and the ecological consequences of altered diversity and environmental change. A key component of my research is the investigation of natural ice scour gradients in Antarctica, used as a natural lab to develop and test ecological concepts. I am currently SPITFIRE DTP NERC funded PhD at the British Antarctic Survey and University of Southampton.

My research has focused on the shallow Antarctic marine benthos across that persist across one of the worlds largest disturbance gradients, iceberg scour on the seafloor, through this environment we examine ecological concepts at the heart of disturbance ecology (the study of perturbation in natural systems). This projects aims to: (1) Accurately assess the spatial and temporal components of the ice scour, influence the benthic biodiversity in the shallows, with a particular focus on the roles of recruitment and reinvasion by pioneering species. (2) Examine this previously data poor depth ranges (40-100m), to describe the macro and megabenthic structure and test the environmental gradients that drive these ecological patterns. (3) Test the vulnerability and stability of the benthic assemblage to future environment change and ecosystem functioning through functional diversity and redundancy analysis. (4) Report the anthropogenic impact of the large-scale Biscoe wharf construction on the benthic macro and mega benthos assemblage contrasting this with previous natural ice scour disturbance.

Research interests

• Marine benthic ecology
• Antarctic benthic biodiversity and structure
• Disturbance Ecology
• Conservation and effects of climate change on marine communities