Macroscope Lab

Research interests

I’m a marine ecologist particularly interested in dissecting the role of ecosystem engineers in ecosystem dynamics.

With my research, I explore patterns of ecological niche construction in coral reef ecosystems. My aims are to assess the capacity of corals, as bioengineers, to modify environmental states (such as temperature, light and flows) and evaluate how this can affect their fitness, in accordance with Niche Construction Theory. I mainly use long-term observations of coral reefs in Lizard Island (Australia) to study the relationships across coral recruitment, biodiversity and environmental niches in natural reef systems.

Occasionally, I look at ecological patterns at the macroscale with data from the BioTIME database.