Conservation and leadership in Southern Ocean ecosystems
CONSEC explores how climate change and human activity are transforming the Southern Ocean, guiding global science and conservation.
Jennifer Freer
Marine Ecosystems Modeller
I am an ecological modeller working within the Ecosystems Team at the British Antarctic Survey. I am interested in how environmental change influences the biogeography of species at ecological and evolutionary timescales. I typically approach this subject using species distribution models (SDMs) which allow me to characterise and predict species-environment relationships under past, present and future conditions. I combine SDMs with techniques including phylogenetic analyses, field sampling and climate modelling.
My research has focused on several important polar species including lanternfish, copepod crustaceans, and Antarctic Krill. For example, work carried out during my PhD allowed the first predictions of how climate change will impact the distribution of Southern Ocean lanternfish, revealing which species are likely to lose or gain habitat by the end of the century. During a post-doctoral position for the Changing Arctic Ocean DIAPOD project, our models predicted that Calanus finmarchicus, a vital species in the Subarctic food web, has expended its range north in the last 30 years most likely due to the effects of reduced summer sea-ice. Most recently, I have worked with BAS and Norwegian colleagues to develop a model to predict the abundance of krill around the South Orkney Island Archipelago. This model will contribute to a risk assessment of the krill fishery as part of a new management strategy endorsed by the Commission of Antarctic Marine Living Resources.
I am also a passionate science communicator and was involved in developing the podcast If Oceans Could Speak together with colleagues from the EU4Ocean Coalition for Ocean Literacy.
Research interests
- Understanding the physical and biological drivers of species distributions
- Predicting species responses to climate change
- The ecology and evolution of mesopelagic fishes
- marine species distribution model / ecological niche model methodologies
- Carbon sequestration by high latitude zooplankton
- Conservation and management of marine living resources
Publications from NERC Open Research Archive
Pre-2019
Freer, J.J. (2018) Ecological Niches and Geographic Distributions of Lanternfishes, University of Bristol, PhD thesis.
Freer, J.J., Partridge, J.C., Tarling, G.A., Collins, M.A., and Genner, M.J. (2018). Predicting ecological responses in a changing ocean: The effects of future climate uncertainty, Marine Biology, 165:7. doi: 10.1007/s00227-017-3239-1
Shechonge, A., Ngatunga, B.P., Bradbeer, S.J., Day, J.J., Freer, J.J., Ford, A.G.P., Kihedu, J., Richmond, T., Mzighani, S., Smith, A.M., Sweke, E.A., Tamatamah, R., Tyers, A.M., Turner, G.F., and Genner, M.J. (2018) Widespread colonisation of Tanzanian catchments by introduced Oreochromis tilapia fishes: the legacy from decades of deliberate introduction. Hydrobiologia, 832:235-253. doi:10.1007/s10750-018-3597-9
Bach, L.L., Freer, J.J., Kamenos, N.A. (2018). Photosynthetic acclimatization of tropical coralline algae to increased thermal variation, Frontiers in Marine Science, 4:212. doi: 10.3389/fmars.2017.00212
Genner, M.J., Freer, J.J., and Rutterford, L. (2017) Future of the Sea: biological responses to ocean warming, for the Government Office of Science: Foresight Future of the Sea Evidence Report. https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/future-of-the-sea-biological-responses-to-ocean-warming
Freer, J.J., Mable, B.K., Clucus, G., Rogers, A.D., Polito, M., Dunn, M., Naveen, R., Levy, H.L., Hart, T. (2015) Limited genetic differentiation among chinstrap penguin (Pygoscelis antarctica) colonies in the Scotia Arc and Western Antarctic Peninsula, Polar Biology, 38:1493–1502. doi: 10.1007/s00300-015-1711-2
Stowasser, G., Fielding, S., & Tarling, G. (2026). The taxonomic composition, abundance and wet weight of macrozooplankton and micronekton captured by an RMT8 net during surveys of the Western Core Box (South Georgia), 2009-2019 (Version 1.0) [Data set]. NERC EDS UK Polar Data Centre. https://doi.org/10.5285/967411bd-0a07-49fd-ad52-2bec65781ce7
Tarling, G., Mayor, D., Atherden, F., Jenkins, H., Castellani, C., Belcher, A., Freer, J., Grigor, J., Stowasser, G., Hunter, A., Conway, D., & Pond, D. (2026). Epi- and mesopelagic mesozooplankton depth-discrete distribution and abundance between Greenland and Svalbard (2018 and 2019) (Version 1.0) [Data set]. NERC EDS UK Polar Data Centre. https://doi.org/10.5285/69eb8320-9d2b-4cc1-818a-83d14c15c491
Freer, J., Warwick-Evans, V., Skaret, G., Krafft, B., Fielding, S., & Trathan, P. (2025). Modelled spatial predictions of the distribution and density of Antarctic krill in the South Scotia Sea between 2011-2020 (Version 1.0) [Data set]. NERC EDS UK Polar Data Centre. https://doi.org/10.5285/4fd0a1bf-da1a-4021-82eb-2fc513910e32
Linse, K., Ford, D., Blackbird, S., Brix, S., Freer, J., Jeffreys, R., Schmidt, L., & Mayor, D. (2025). Benthic, epibenthic and pelagic marine invertebrate specimens collected during PS136 in the Arctic Fram Strait in 2023 and their individual lipid profiles and bulk isotopes (Version 1.0) [Data set]. NERC EDS UK Polar Data Centre. https://doi.org/10.5285/e115d087-e3e4-4794-b4e0-18262b8e6400
Freer, J., & Tarling, G. (2023). Processing and analysis of Arctic Calanus occurrence records from OBIS and GBIF databases (Version 1.0) [Data set]. NERC EDS UK Polar Data Centre. https://doi.org/10.5285/a5cbfbe1-6fa6-44cf-96fe-db92c32b69d0
Grigor, J., Freer, J., Cohen, J., Tarling, G., & Last, K. (2022). Morphometric, swimming activity and raw oxygen air saturation data from experiments on CV Calanus finmarchicus in the Fram Strait, Arctic Ocean, in August 2019 (Version 1.0) [Data set]. NERC EDS UK Polar Data Centre. https://doi.org/10.5285/eefba4cd-c7a3-4e24-b2c8-5221fcfdde0b
Freer, J., Daase, M., & Tarling, G. (2021). Range-wide occurrence records of the subarctic copepod Calanus finmarchicus and associated environmental predictor variables (Version 1.0) [Data set]. NERC EDS UK Polar Data Centre. https://doi.org/10.5285/fc660bc3-09ab-4c1a-9d2a-4026951872c8
Freer, J. (2020). Occurrence records of ten Southern Ocean myctophid species with associated sea surface and depth-specific environmental conditions (Version 1.0) [Data set]. UK Polar Data Centre, Natural Environment Research Council, UK Research & Innovation. https://doi.org/10.5285/8e59f849-5b93-438e-a5e0-3c65636f9053
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