New paper out on the use of Virtual Reality to increase ocean literacy in higher education 🤿🌊
Not everyone has the chance to see & interact with reefs, but immersive tools like these can allow for a more personal connection with the ocean & ultimately foster a deeper sense of agency and empathy!
This international women’s day we celebrate the inspiring women that are part of, and work alongside our group.
The UN’s theme for #IWD is “Rights. Justice. Action. For ALL Women and Girls”- learn more here: www.unwomen.org/en/get-invol...
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🚨 Two funded PhDs (one int'l, one UK) - study coral restoration & corporate sustainability with us in Lancaster! Enquiries welcome, January 30, please share widely! 🚨
🪸🐠 Coral restoration (int'l): www.findaphd.com/phds/project...
🌴📊 Corporate sustainability (UK): www.findaphd.com/phds/project...
Seabirds can help support #CoralReef biodiversity and resilience.
Nutrient inputs from seabirds affect the feeding strategies and physical traits of reef fishes, enriching reef waters with nitrogen and phosphorus.
@lljeannot.bsky.social
royalsocietypublishing.org/doi/10.1098/rspb.2025.05...
Schematic diagram of the influence of seabirds on temperate and tropical near-shore marine systems. Temperatre systems: - Nutrient enrichment and predation on herbivorous invertebrates can lead to increased algal production - Phytoplankton communities change, featuring more large-celled species - Intertidal organisms incorporate seabird-enriched material by grazing on detritus and biofilm in tidepools - Macroalgae biodiversity and primary production are boosted Tropical systems: - Mangrove leaf nutritional quality increases - Corals recover faster after bleaching events - Fish biomass increases across different trophic groups - Pelagic and benthic consumers' foraging behaviour shifts - Parrotfish grazing and bioerosion rates increase - Fish grow larger
New in @natrevbiodiv.nature.com: our review of the influence of #seabirds, via their nutrient transfer, on islands & adjacent marine ecosystems 🐦🏝️🪸
We highlight knowledge gaps & future directions ✨
"The circular seabird economy is critical for oceans, islands and people": doi.org/10.1038/s443...
Seabirds act as powerful connectors between marine and terrestrial ecosystems - and protecting them can help tackle the crises of climate change, failing ocean health, and biodiversity loss, according to a new study published in Nature Reviews Biodiversity 🐦
It's apparently #WorldOctopusDay, so here's a tiny little fellow we unfortunately captured in our last fieldtrip in Chagos while looking for small fishes and other invertebrates. Hope all other three-hearted creatures have a better fate than his!
🗞️ New Ocean Science Roundup is live!
Head to our website to read all the latest studies on ocean and climate.
Looking for more? Check out past summaries of scientific reports on a broad range of ocean topics. #OneOceanOnePlanet www.oceanprotect.org/2025/08/06/m...
Composite image of the Proceedings B journal title, the manuscript title and the author list, alongside an image of a red-footed booby flying amongst palm trees. Some text reads: "Winds shape the behavioural decisions of red-footed boobies, impacting their foraging commutes and feeding behaviour".
"Commuting in crosswinds and foraging in fast winds: the foraging ecology of a flying fish specialist" 💨🐦🐟
New @iomarinescience.bsky.social research out now in @royalsocietypublishing.org: doi.org/10.1098/rspb...
📸 @robinfreeman.bsky.social
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Nice little thread on some of our recent red-footed booby work 💨👇
Photos of a reef manta ray, red-footed booby, and a hawsbill turtles with biologging devices attached to them. The journal logo is also featured, alongside the article title and author list. Some text reads: "Tracking data reveal that very large marine protected areas offer protection for mobile marine megafauna including benthic foragers (turtles), pelagic planktivores (manta ray), and oceanic predators (seabirds)".
New research led by @alicetrevail.bsky.social combines tracking data to show the value of large marine protected areas in encompassing diverse megafauna movements 🐢
doi.org/10.1111/1365...
@jappliedecology.bsky.social @iomarinescience.bsky.social @exetermarine.bsky.social @zslofficial.bsky.social
Heard of "Darwin's paradox"? It refers to Charles Darwin's observation that coral reefs are wildly productive despite occurring in nutrient-poor tropical oceans. Reefs are, so the story goes, oases in marine deserts 🏝️...
Turns out that 2/3 of these assertions are very wrong...
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@sharkconservationfund @canbiocanarias @saveourseasfoundation @oceantrackingnetwork @wwfnederland @nercscience @deutsche_elasmobrancier_ges
#Angelsharks may be more vulnerable to #ClimateChange than we thought!
Out today in @globalchangebio.bsky.social:
doi.org/10.1111/gcb....
@lancasteruni.bsky.social @zslofficial.bsky.social @ulpgc.es @qmul.bsky.social @leibniz-gemeinschaft.de @lec-reefs.bsky.social
📸 @nuno_vasco_rodrigues
Thrilled to be part of this new paper led by Mayukh Dey & Nature Conservation Foundation, summarizing 25 yrs of 🪸 reef resilience monitoring in Lakshadweep 🏝️ 🇮🇳
We find distinct recovery archetypes shaped by atoll location & coral assemblages
onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/...
New paper out in Proceedings B! 🔊
Seabirds' impacts on reefs extends even to some of its tiniest inhabitants - cryptobenthic reef fishes 🐠
Near colonies, these fishes assimilate seabird nutrients (💩), grow larger 📈 & more at: royalsocietypublishing.org/doi/10.1098/...
@royalsocietypublishing.org
New paper 📢 Coral reef depth zonation patterns are not 'universal' and may be disrupted by local human impacts.
We show evidence of spatially dependent effects of depth on benthic community structure across the Pacific Ocean.
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We've had a blast at the Indo-Pacific Fish Conference in Taipei. Thanks to the organisers for a fantastic week! 🐟🐠🦈
Ft. talks from
@cbenkwitt.bsky.social
@lljeannot.bsky.social
@ruchakarkarey.bsky.social
@james-robinson.bsky.social
Eeek! Here my new paper where we predicted the distribution of #mesophotic #coral ecosystems in the Chagos Archipelago, using #Maxent onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/.... I can now say that MY ENTIRE PHD IS PUBLISHED! @plymbiomarsci.bsky.social @plymuni.bsky.social @iomarinescience.bsky.social
🦑🧪 Three days left to apply for the postdoctoral position in my lab. We're looking for a population geneticist/ecologist/evolutionary biologist who is interested in studying tiny fishes in the Indo-Pacific! Come join us! 🤗
fishandfunctions.com/s/Postdoc_Ad...
🚨Our paper now out and Open Access in Conservation Biology🚨
🦈Urgent conservation action needed for WIO’s large-bodied fish. Sharks, giant groupers & green humphead parrotfishes face alarming declines in the WIO due to overfishing & climate change. 🦈
@sosbangor.bsky.social
t.co/wJiMuTmZih
Great Barrier Reef fish reveal that large-scale macroecological patterns have changed significantly 🐟🐠
We found that changes in latitudinal diversity gradient & rising species turnover were strongly correlated with shifts in coral composition
Out now in Nature Comms www.nature.com/articles/s41...
Marine heatwaves are getting hotter and more frequent. This incredible underwater time-series from Seychelles has taught us how coral reefs can respond to bleaching - including regime shifts, boom-bust cycles, and now, a regime reversal from algae -> coral.
Out now in Ecology Letters! 🦑 🧪 🌊 🌍
Diagram showing links between seabirds and various coral-reef monitoring outcomes.
Check out our new paper!
We compare indicators for monitoring the impacts of island restoration on coral reefs. Massive thanks to our huge list of collaborators, which enabled us to look at seabirds, nutrients, microbes, algae, corals, and fish! 🐦🦠🌱🪸🐠
www.sciencedirect.com/science/arti...
Feather stable isotopes & dive data reveal links between habitat use & foraging behaviour across 3 populations of red-throated diver during their moult 🪶🌊
Out now in Ecology & Evolution: dx.doi.org/10.1002/ece3...
A bit late but excited to share our new paper exploring how seabird nutrient inputs influence mangrove food webs! 🐦🌿 @entropie-marinelab.bsky.social @lec-reefs.bsky.social @iomarinescience.bsky.social
Open access: esajournals.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10....
📢New Paper Alert📢 (and first chapter of my PhD!)
We show that scale matters when quantifying motile cryptofauna on tropical coral reefs 🦀
Paper in MEPS: www.int-res.com/abstracts/me...
You can keep up with the whole LEC REEFS gang via our starter pack! 🐟🪸🎣🏝️
go.bsky.app/3m4FFzH
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🚨Excited that the first chapter from my PhD is now out in Marine Biology. Here we show that #lionfish do not show any directional preferences for ambient #soundscapes during diurnal hours.
🔗link.springer.com/article/10.100…
🧵A thread to find out more:
Had a blast at #RCUK2024!! Always a pleasure talking about seabirds and small fishes (and inverts this time too! 🦐)
So amazing to be part of a group as vibrant and supportive as @lec-reefs.bsky.social 🐠🌊
Grateful to be invited to share insights on slow, immersive science and place-based ecology at #RCUK2024
Thrilled to see the audience captivated by Manini Bansal’s portrayal of #spawningaggregations and life in #Lakshadweep, showcasing the deep ties between community & reefs.
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