Author Archives: Abigail McQuatters-Gollop
The State of UK Marine Nature
The UK is an island nation and our cultural identity is tightly linked to the sea. As well as being home to a bounty of wildlife, ranging from intricate intertidal invertebrates to bustling seabird colonies, our marine ecosystems provide a … Continue reading
Posted in Marine Conservation, Plankton
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Plankton on the move
The distribution of organisms globally is governed by the range of environmental conditions each organism can tolerate. For example, temperature is a key variable structuring the distribution of life on earth. Whereas some organisms have wide temperature tolerance, so can … Continue reading
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Why do we need a global plankton diversity monitoring programme?
When most people think of biodiversity they think of iconic habitats like rainforests and coral reefs. Much of the ocean’s biodiversity, however, is too small to see without a microscope. Plankton are one of the most diverse groups of organisms … Continue reading
Posted in Marine Conservation, Plankton, Policy
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Communicating science to policy: Parliamentary POSTnotes
The transfer of science from academia into policy is a challenge that is lamented at science and policy workshops, conferences, and meetings. In the UK we are actually improving this knowledge transfer process through joint science-policy working groups, co-production of … Continue reading
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Putting the science in science-policy
Achieving Good Environmental Status most definitely requires science-policy collaboration. At the OSPAR level, for marine biodiversity, this collaboration happens through ICG-COBAM (the Intersessional Correspondence Group on Coordinated Biodiversity Assessment and Monitoring). Our delivery of the 2017 Intermediate Assessment, the first … Continue reading
Posted in Marine Conservation, MSFD, OSPAR, Uncategorized
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Funded PhD research studentship!
Come do a PhD with the Plankton team at University of Plymouth! Applications are invited for a three and a half years PhD studentship. The studentship will start on 1 October 2019. Director of Studies: Professor Philip (Chris) Reid Second Supervisor: Dr … Continue reading
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Senior Policy Fellow: I’m now a (part-time) civil servant (advisor)!
In fall of 2018 Defra (UK Department for Environment, Food, and Rural Affairs) advertised for a Senior Policy Fellow – Marine to work with Prof Ian Boyd (Chief Scientific Advisor) and his team to develop a systems approach to thinking … Continue reading
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Brexit and Ecology
Originally posted on Ecology for the Masses:
The last three years have seen some serious political upheaval in the European region, Brexit being perhaps the pinnacle of that. It’s an issue on which everyone has an opinion and which no…
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Influencing the future of UK fisheries – providing evidence as a witness in Parliament
The UK practices evidence-based environmental policy making, where scientific data and research play a key role in informing decisions about how we manage the environment. Much of the UK’s scientific knowledge, however, lies outside of Parliament and Government. Parliamentary Inquiries … Continue reading
Posted in Brexit, Fisheries, Knowledge Exchange, Marine Conservation, Uncategorized
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How can we use marine biodiversity indicators for marine conservation policy and management?
Indicators are effective tools for summarising and communicating key aspects of ecosystem state and have a long record of use in marine pollution and fisheries management. The application of biodiversity indicators to assess the status of species, habitats, and functional … Continue reading
Posted in Knowledge Exchange, Marine Conservation
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