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Co-founder of the Living Seawalls project | Sydney Institute of Marine Sciences, Macquarie UniversityKeynote Theme: Urban EcologyKatie Dafforn is an environmental scientist recognised for her contributions to understanding and managing urban impacts in marine systems. She completed her PhD in 2010 and was formerly the Co-Director of the Applied Marine and Estuarine Ecology Lab at the University of New South Wales. She joined Macquarie University in 2018 and is the co-founder of the Living Seawalls project at the Sydney Institute of Marine Sciences. Through this work she has been engaged in the ecological design of marine foreshores and her experimental work has contributed to several urban renewal projects. The findings have provided policy tools for building foreshore infrastructure more sustainably.
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Presentation: Eco-solutions for an urban ocean
The urbanisation of our oceans is occurring at a rapid pace. Apart from the physical footprint of built structures, now estimated at > 32,000 km2, urban activities can introduce other kinds of stressors such as stormwater, wastewater and industrial contaminants. It is important to understand ecological responses to these stressors so that we can develop relevant and targeted ecological solutions. Examples include the Living Seawalls project that uses biomimicry to return habitat and lift to coastal cities and the use of bioturbators for bioremediation of contaminants. As the evidence base grows about the benefits of such approaches, the focus now needs to be on scaling up for meaningful ecological enhancements.
Presentation Slides – Katherine Dafforn
