My words in Science!

I submitted a small piece to science for an Early Career Perspectives: Research Resolutions article.   Here is the text of my submitted piece with my research resolution for 2018: My research resolution for ecology would be to ensure that those who have the chance to research biodiversity are as diverse as the communities we …

Shelf Sea Biogeochemistry Research Program Special Issue!

My first postdoctoral position was as a Research Fellow at the University of Southampton on the UK Natural Environmental Research Council funded research program on Shelf Sea Biogeochemistry. I worked on Work Package 2: Biogeochemistry, macronutrient and carbon cycling in the benthic layer (BMCC). My work looked at how macrofaunal bioturbation and bioirrigation affects carbon and nutrient …

Method Development During My PhD

During my PhD I developed a method we called 'Cryo-Defaunation' which involved submerging sediment cores taken from the mudflat in liquid nitrogen to kill the majority of the organisms living in the sediment. This allowed me to re-add different species biomasses to the cores to test how each species and different species combinations to investigate …

Effects of elevated CO2 and temperature on an intertidal meiobenthic community and harpacticoid copepod community

TLDR: We exposed UK benthic rocky shore communities to elevated temperature and low pH hypercapnia which resulted in changes in community abundance and diversity of the meiofauna (as well as the macrofauna - published in Hale et al 2011). Copepod and copepodite abundance declined at low pH and high temperature. Nematode abundance increased at low pH and …

First PhD Paper: Characterizations of how species mediate ecosystem properties require more comprehensive functional effect descriptors

The importance of individual species in mediating ecosystem process and functioning is generally accepted, but categorical descriptors that summarize species-specific contributions to ecosystems tend to reference a limited number of biological traits and underestimate the importance of how organisms interact with their environment. Here, we show how three functionally contrasting sediment-dwelling marine invertebrates affect fluid …

My MSc Project: Predicted levels of future ocean acidification and temperature rise could alter community structure and biodiversity in marine benthic communities

TLDR: We exposed UK benthic rocky shore communities to elevated temperature and low pH hypercapnia which resulted in changes in community abundance and diversity. Calcifying species were most vulnerable, Nematodes and Annelids were least vulnerable.  Indirect effects, such as reduction in predation and competition, in multispecies assemblages will have a large effect in communities, as …

First Publication: The first record of Periclimenes platalea Holthuis, 1951 (Decapoda, Pontoniinae) in the western Atlantic.

TLDR: We describe a new location for a small Pontoniinae shrimp with taxonomic drawings of the distinguishing characteristics. R. Hale, S. De Grave (2007). The first record of Periclimenes platalea Holthuis, 1951 (Decapoda, Pontoniinae) in the western Atlantic. Crustaceana - International Journal of Crustacean Research, 80 (8), 1019-1021. Available here