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PhD Candidate
ARC Centre of Excellence for Coral Reef Studies James Cook University
My interest in the use of behavioural thermoregulation began in 2016 at the start of my Master’s research and has continued into my work today. Behavioural thermoregulation, or the use of movement to regulate temperature, has been widely studied in many taxa; however, tropical fish species have been largely over looked. My current research interests focus on the use of movement to alleviate the negative effects of ocean warming, establishing preferred temperatures of tropical species, and what other factors may influence an individual’s thermal preference, such as the thermal variability of the fishes natural environment, habitat structure, and the effects of potential competitors and predators. As I am in the final stages of my PhD I am currently looking at opportunities to continue my research into understanding the potential for fishes to use thermoregulation to maintain their current distributions in the face of increasing seawater temperatures. Many species around the globe have begun to shift their distributions to higher latitudes and/or deeper waters as a result of ocean warming. As such, the need for understanding where these fish may go and the mechanisms that drive these movements are paramount for understanding future changes in community structures. There are many questions regarding the use of temperature and what this means for species in their environment to be asked, and my hope is to continue this work with the ultimate goal of understand how species use temperature in their environment and what this means for future ecosystem structure. Supervisors: Dr. Andrew Hoey, Professor Morgan Pratchett, Dr. Jacob Johansen. Click here for my CV. |