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Professor | University of Victoria, Impact Chair | Ocean Ecosystem Change and Conservation, Pew Marine FellowAmanda holds the Impact Chair in Ocean Ecosystem Change and Conservation at the University of Victoria, and is a Pew Marine Fellow. She held previous faculty positions at the University of Southampton in the UK (2013-2017), and Memorial University of Newfoundland (2018-2021) where she was a Canada Research Chair in Marine Ecophysiology. Her research spans several disciplines from physiology and community ecology, taking a global perspective. This perspective is informed from field work in Antarctica, Canada, New Zealand, Australia and the UK, ranging from the intertidal zone to the deep sea hydrothermal vents. Amanda enjoys participating in collaborative multi-national, multi-dimensional working groups and projects. She brings this perspective to highlight challenges and ways forwards to better predict and mitigate marine biodiversity change.
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Presentation: Temperate reef biodiversity change: grand challenges and glimmers of hope
Determining the vulnerability of species in an era of global change remains a priority in order to make accurate predictions, prioritize future research, and advise conservation and management practices. The identification of mechanisms enabling species to cope with temperature change underpins our capacity to predict biotic responses to climate variability and develop reliable ecological indicators for accurate and meaningful tracking of threats. However, the spotlight of conservation effort remains focused on tropical systems. In this talk I share some challenges and significant advances underway in temperate reef systems. First, while conservation efforts tends to focus on tropical systems and lead to data gaps in temperate systems, remarkable examples of teamwork provide case studies rapidly filling these gaps. Second, while climate-change related biodiversity threats are increasingly emerging in temperate reefs systems, conservation efforts may be also be more likely to succeed where human population density is lower. Third, tools for predicting resilience in reef communities are being incorporated into management plans as ecologists answer the challenge of setting their work in applied contexts. Fourth, conservation plans developed in collaboration with Indigenous Peoples and communities offer inspiring success stories for oceans with healthier futures.
Presentation Slides – Amanda Bates
