PLEASE NOTE: Application deadline date 08 Jan 2024. Applications are no longer being accepted for this project
Project Overview
Marine heatwaves are emerging as pervasive stressors in coastal ecosystems globally. This project will examine the impacts of extreme warming events across a range of marine species, communities and habitats to better understand the resilience of coastal ecosystems that are faced with MHW intensification.
Project Description
Climatic extremes are becoming increasingly common due to anthropogenic global warming. Marine heatwaves (MHWs) - periods of unusually warm water - have intensified over the past century, impacting oceanic and coastal ecosystems with significant ecological and socioeconomic consequences. Given that MHWs will continue to intensify in coming decades, it is vital to improve our understanding of how these events impact species, communities and ecosystems. This project will address this pressing knowledge gap by collating existing datasets on the structure of communities and ecosystems from a variety of regions (e.g. NE Atlantic, NE Pacific) and interrogating them within a coherent MHW framework. Specifically, biological time-series data will be analysed to examine how major MHW events drive ecosystem shifts, and how different properties of both the physical event (e.g. timing, duration) and the ecosystem (e.g. thermal range of key species, habitat type, complexity) may mediate responses and resilience to MHWs. The project will examine ecological responses across both pelagic and benthic ecosystems, such as changes in abundance/distribution, phenology and mass mortalities. Furthermore, manipulation experiments that simulate MHWs and measure responses of key species will be conducted to complement the broadscale time-series analysis. The project will link with existing MHW research and the student will have the opportunity to engage with an international, multi-disciplinary working group (http://www.marineheatwaves.org/). Ultimately, the work will improve our understanding of the resilience and recovery capacity of coastal ecosystems faced with MHW intensification, which is needed to inform approaches to adaptation, management and conservation in the coming decades.
The INSPIRE DTP programme provides comprehensive personal and professional development training alongside extensive opportunities for students to expand their multi-disciplinary outlook through interactions with a wide network of academic, research and industrial/policy partners. The student will be registered at the University of Southampton and hosted at the Marine Biological Association (Plymouth).
Specific training will include: (i) quantitative skills in marine ecology, (ii) lab-based experimental approaches, (iii) competence with univariate and multivariate data analysis techniques, and (iv) an understanding of the thermal biology and ecology of a range of marine organisms.
Professional development, including training in core verbal (preparing and giving effective conference talks and poster presentations) and written communication (paper/thesis/report writing) skills will be also provided. MBA students are also actively encouraged to participate in training in science communication and public engagement. The MBA offers a vibrant postgraduate research environment with a range of professional development opportunities.
Smith, K., M. T. Burrows, A. J. Hobday, N. King, P. J. Moore, A. Sen Gupta, M. S. Thomsen, T. Wernberg, and D. A. Smale. 2023. Biological impacts of marine heatwaves. Annual Review of Marine Science 15:119-145.
Smale, D. A., T. Wernberg, E. C. J. Oliver, M. Thomsen, B. P. Harvey, S. C. Straub, M. T. Burrows, L. V. Alexander, J. A. Benthuysen, M. G. Donat, M. Feng, A. J. Hobday, N. J. Holbrook, S. E. Perkins-Kirkpatrick, H. A. Scannell, A. Sen Gupta, B. L. Payne, and P. J. Moore. 2019. Marine heatwaves threaten global biodiversity and the provision of ecosystem services. Nature Climate Change 9:306–312.
Wernberg, T., S. Bennett, R. C. Babcock, T. de Bettignies, K. Cure, M. Depczynski, F. Dufois, J. Fromont, C. J. Fulton, R. K. Hovey, E. S. Harvey, T. H. Holmes, G. A. Kendrick, B. Radford, J. Santana-Garcon, B. J. Saunders, D. A. Smale, M. S. Thomsen, C. A. Tuckett, F. Tuya, M. A. Vanderklift, and S. K. Wilson. 2016. Climate driven regime shift of a temperate marine ecosystem. Science 353:169-172.
