Seascape Ecology and Conservation
The Oxford Seascape Ecology Lab is proud to be part of the long-term island restoration project “Implications of nutrient flow and feedbacks across the seabird-island-reef system”, supported by the Bertarelli Foundation. This interdisciplinary project - led by Principal Investigator Professor Nick Graham of Lancaster University across teams from the University of Oxford, Lancaster University and the University of Exeter - aims to study the cross-ecosystem nutrient subsidies transported by seabirds.
Our seascape ecology informed research approach aims to evaluate the feedbacks between seabird-derived nutrient subsidies across islands and reefs, and begin to understand how these may influence ecosystem resilience to climate change. In collaboration with Professor Yadvinder Malhi’s Ecosystems Lab, our aims for the Oxford component of this collaborative project are to:
Investigate how seabird nutrient input onto islands influences terrestrial ecosystem ecology, including plant productivity, invertebrate abundance, and native ecosystem woodland regeneration.
Use cutting-edge geospatial tools and field data to determine the spatial and temporal patterns of nutrient subsidies exported from islands across coral reef seascapes.
Assess the extent to which nutrient subsidies propagate through food webs, and influence coral reef recovery dynamics, applying a seascape ecology framework to inform the subsequent design and evaluation of restoration efforts.
Read more about our recent field expedition and view our StoryMap.