SCIENCE AT THE SHINE DOME canberra 6 - 8 may 2009
Early-career researchers
Thursday, 7 May 2009
2009 Fenner Medal
Professor Sean R Connolly
James Cook University
Sean Connolly combines mathematical and statistical modelling with fieldwork and laboratory experiments to study the dynamics of biological turnover at all scales, including population dynamics, species interactions and biodiversity, and macroevolution. He received his doctorate in 1999 from Stanford University (USA) for research on the ecology of rocky shores. In 1999 and 2000, he was a postdoctoral research fellow at the University of Arizona (USA) where he examined global dynamics of marine biodiversity in the fossil record. In 2000, he came to James Cook University in Australia to develop a research program in ecological modelling applied to coral reefs. He currently holds an Australian Professorial Fellowship from the Australian Research Council, and is program leader of Understanding and Managing Coral Reef Biodiversity in the ARC Centre of Excellence for Coral Reef Studies.
The causes and consequences of coral reef biodiversity
Understanding how biodiversity is maintained in ecological systems, why some locations have more species than others, and what difference biodiversity makes to the functioning of ecosystems, have been core research problems in ecology since the discipline’s inception. Sean’s research group uses coral reefs as a model system to shed light on these problems, using a range of theoretical and empirical tools. For instance, classical explanations for the coexistence of species invoke the concept of ‘niche differentiation’, according to which each species specialises on a particular part of the spectrum of available resources. However, for reef corals, relatively high biodiversity is sustained even where there is little evidence for this phenomenon. Sean’s research group has devised novel tests of predictions from a controversial new theory that seeks to explain biodiversity maintenance in the absence of niche differentiation. While the theory fails to explain important elements of coral reef biodiversity, it fails in ways that provide clues about processes that do maintain biodiversity on coral reefs. These mechanisms also have implications for the role that biodiversity plays in the functioning of ecosystems. For instance, herbivorous fishes play a key role on coral reefs, by consuming algae and increasing the space available for settlement and growth of coral. Decreases in herbivory below threshold levels can trigger algal blooms and collapses in the abundance of reef corals that are difficult to reverse. Biodiversity provides insurance against such declines, insurance that can be quantified by confronting ecological models with temporal data on the abundances of herbivorous fish species.
