(he/him)
I completed an Integrated Masters in Marine Biology (MMarBiol) at the University of St Andrews with a focus on crustacea. My placement dissertation was on the mediation of temperature and benthic metabolism in estuaries by burrowing crabs with NIWA in New Zealand, and my masters project was on what hatcheries are doing for the European lobster and how early benthic phase recruits behave. I now continue my benthic specialism with a wider scope of the entire rocky shore with this PhD.
Rocky shore biodiversity: Separating the effects of anthropogenic impacts from natural variation and climate change impacts
PI and Institution:
Andrew Blight, University of St Andrews
PhD aim:
Disentangle natural cycling, climate and anthropogenic impacts on the rocky shore in Orkney.
PhD objectives:
- Establish baselines for species diversity and change over the past 50 years in Orkney.
- Monitor the impact of new developments on rocky shore communities.
- Apply biological trait analysis to identify change in ecosystem functioning.
Contact details:
Email: [email protected]
LinkedIn: Thomas Baxter
Conference presentations and posters:
European lobster (Homarus gammarus) hatchery impacts and early benthic phase behaviour at the Marine Alliance for Science and Technology Scotland Annual Science Meeting 2024 (best student poster).
Consequences of heat spikes on the burrowing crab Austrohelice crassa and the communities they engineer at the 10th International Crustacean Congress, New Zealand Marine Science Society 2023 and the Marine Alliance for Science and Technology Scotland Annual Science Meeting 2023.