Coral reefs and climate change

Programme

Degree – MRes, MPhil, PhD

Coral reefs throughout the world are under severe challenges from a variety of anthropogenic and environmental factors including overfishing, destructive fishing practices, coral bleaching, ocean acidification, sea-level rise, algal blooms, agricultural run-off, coastal and resort development, marine pollution, increasing coral diseases, invasive species, and hurricane/cyclone damage.

These MPhil, MRes and PhD programmes explore current and pressing questions on the ecological and social importance of coral reefs and their associated ecosystems, including seagrass beds and mangroves.

Research will also study the influence of anthropogenic and other factors on coral reefs and on the communities they serve. There is no geographical limit to this research.

Typical techniques employed can be found in the following publications:

• Crabbe, M.J.C. (2010) Coral Ecosystem Resilience, Conservation and Management on the Reefs of Jamaica in The Face of Anthropogenic Activities and Climate Change. Diversity 2, 881-896.
• Crabbe, M.J.C. (2010) Computational Biology approaches to plant metabolism and photosynthesis: applications for corals in times of climate change and environmental stress. Journal of Integrative Plant Biology. 52, 698-703.
• Crabbe, M.J.C. (2010) Topography and spatial arrangement of reef-building corals on the fringing reefs of North Jamaica may influence their response to disturbance from bleaching. Marine Environmental Research. 69, 158-162.
• Crabbe, M.J.C., Martinez, E., Garcia, C., Chub, J., Castro, L. and Guy, J. (2010) Is capacity building important in policy development for sustainability? A case study using action plans for sustainable Marine Protected Areas in Belize. Society and Natural Resources. 23, 181-190.
• Luo R, Wei H, Ye L, Wang K, Chen F, Luo L, Liu L, Li Y, Crabbe MJC, Li Y, Zhong Y. (2009) Photosynthetic metabolism of C3 plants shows highly cooperative regulation under changing environmental conditions: a systems biological analysis. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences USA. 106, 847-852.
• Crabbe, M.J.C. (2009) Scleractinian coral population size structures and growth rates indicate coral resilience on the fringing reefs of North Jamaica. Marine Environmental Research. 67, 189-198.
• Crabbe, M.J.C. (2008) Climate change, global warming and coral reefs: Modelling the effects of temperature. Computational Biology and Chemistry 32, 311-314.
• Crabbe, M.J.C. and Smith, D.J. (2005) Sediment impacts on growth rates of Acropora and Porites corals from fringing reefs of Sulawesi, Indonesia. Coral Reefs. 24, 437-441.
• Crabbe, M.J.C., Mendes, J.M. and Warner, G.F. (2002) Lack of recruitment of non-branching corals in Discovery Bay is linked to severe storms. Bulletin of Marine Science 70, 939-945.

For more details please contact Professor MJC Crabbe: james.crabbe AT beds.ac.uk