Abstract

Abstract

Coral reefs are experiencing increasing stress as climate change warms and acidifies the oceans. This is causing mortality events in the least-suitable places, while areas at higher latitudes may become suitable for future growth of reefs and the biodiversity and ecosystem services they provide. Present-day conservation measures currently do not account for this biogeographical shift. This project looks for suitability signals in long-term historic and forecast climatological data in an effort to contextualise future conservations efforts. In the meantime, a number of side-quests will be explored, ranging from a quantitative meta-analysis of species’ responses to climatological shifts to a foray into remote sensing of shallow water habitats. This talk is an informal update of my thought processes so far, an invited sanity-check from anyone kind enough to provide it, and a search for future directions of exploration. Questions, criticisms, and suggestions highly desired!

Bio

Orlando is a second-year PhD student with the AI4ER CDT . Supervised by Oscar Branson (Earth Sciences), he is interested in the opportunities and limitations for modelling marine ecosystems – particularly coral reefs – posed by the data available today.