Temperate Reef Research Group at Bournemouth University
We work on temperate, and sometimes tropical, reef systems, whether they are intertidal or subtidal.
Our work spans both natural and artificial reefs, and covers community compostion, collonisation, diversity, trophic ecology and behaviour of marine organisms.
Rick is a Professor of Marine Biology and Conservation. His interests are broad, and cover marine ecology, quantitative ecology, community-based conservation, nature-based solutions and fisheries and MPA management and governance. Key research projects focus on artificial reef community structure and ecosystem function in tropical and temperate regions, quantitative methods for predicting tipping points and regime shifts, the role of predatory fish as nature-based solutions to enhance carbon uptake by the oceans and economic and community approaches to maximise the benefits of marine conservation and fisheries for nature and society.
Georgia is a Senior Lecturer in Sustainability, Consumption and Impact and specialises in predator ecology and conservation. She has a decade of experience in working on sharks and is especially interested in the roles that they play in ecosystem linkage, food web dynamics and the ecology of of individual, sexual and ontogenetic variation. In the UK, she work closely with recreational anglers to collect shark (particularly porbeagle) muscle samples for stable isotope and fatty acid analyses.
Alice Hall is a post-doctoral marine biologist at Bournemouth University who specialises in marine ecology and ecological engineering. Her work focuses on building multifunctional structures which can perform their primary function and also provide suitable habitat for marine life. She has been involved in some of the largest intertidal ecological engineering projects in the UK to date and won the CIRIA Big Biodiversity Innovation award in 2019. She is currently working on an Interreg Atlantic Project which is 3D printing concrete artificial reef units for use in the Atlantic region (3DPARE). She is also a non-executive board member for Poole Harbour Commissioners.
Jess is a post-graduate marine biologist who currently works on the EU-funded Marineff project as a research assistant. The Marineff project aims to increase habitat availability on artificial coastal structures and Bournemouth University is responsible for monitoring over 100 artificial rockpools along the Dorset, Hampshire and Isle of Wight coast. Having started her PhD in early 2020, Jess's research focuses on eco-engineering, specifically the functionality and value of artificial rockpools on intertidal coastal structures and the relationship between concrete and biotic colonisation. Jess is also secretary for the Poole Harbour Study Group.
Zach visited Tianyar, North Bali in 2016 and realised its coral reef ecosystems were in urgent need of restoration. The following year, Zach co-founded the NGO North Bali Reef Conservation alongside his Environmental Science degree at Bournemouth University. North Bali Reef Conservation works with a community of fishermen and local villagers to restore and conserve coral reefs. Alongside many other projects, they have now built and deployed one of Indonesia’s largest artificial reefs, which is bringing marine biodiversity back to the area. Zach is now a PhD student researching the ecological and socioeconomic potential of artificial coral reefs.
Alice is a MRes student at BU studying Marine Ecology, specifically shallow marine ecosystems along Dorset's Coastline. My research looks at potential tipping points, alternative states and species interactions on rocky shores and subtidal reefs. Last year she graduated a BSc(Hons) in Ecology and Wildlife Conservation. She has field experience working on several remote tropical islands in the Indo-pacific heading a reptile project and as an intern on various other flora and fauna projects. Being half Canadian she has had the opportunity to work on indigenous land in a freshwater management position looking at native fish species. She is an avid surfer, certified diver, and hopes to make great contributions to world of marine research.
3D Artificial Reef Printing in the Atlantic Area (3DPARE)
Marineff - Enhancing Coastal Structures.
Community structure and function of Artificial Reefs in Bali
Jones, R., Griffin, R., Herbert, R.J.H. and Unsworth, R., 2021. Consistency Is Critical for the Effective Use of Baited Remote Video. Oceans, 2, 215-232. https://doi.org/10.3390/oceans2010013
Hall, A.E., Herbert, R.J.H. & Stafford, R. (2021). Temporal and spatial variation in adult and juvenile mobile fauna associated with natural and artificial coastal habitats. Mar Biol 168, 19. https://doi.org/10.1007/s00227-021-03823-0
Hall, A.E., Herbert, R.J.H, Britton, J.R., Boyd, I.M. and George, N.C. (2019). Shelving the coast with vertipools: Retrofitting artificial rock pools on coastal structures as mitigation for coastal squeeze. Frontiers in Marine Science, 6, 456.https://doi.org/10.3389/fmars.2019.00456
Ng, T.P.T., Rolán-Alvarez, E., Dahlén, S.S., Davies, M.S., Estévez, D., Stafford, R. and Williams, G.A. (2019). The causal relationship between sexual selection and sexual size dimorphism in marine gastropods. Animal Behaviour, 148, 53-62.https://doi.org/10.1016/j.anbehav.2018.12.005