Oceanography Seminar Series, Tuesday, June 3rd
Dr. Megan Saunders
Senior Research Scientist
Australian Commonwealth Scientific Industrial Research Organization (CSIRO) Environment
Hobart, Tasmania, Australia
Title:
"Achieving seascape scale ecological restoration"
Abstract:
We are grappling with the challenge of how to halt and reverse ecological degradation and loss globally. Restoration interventions in marine and coastal ecosystems are typically small scale, uncoordinated, and focused on single habitat types. Identifying ways to increase coordination and scale of interventions is becoming a high priority aimed at enabling ecosystem recovery, supporting biodiversity, enhancing the delivery of ecosystem services, and meeting national targets. Seascapes are comprised of multiple habitat types in interconnected mosaics. The connections between habitats are influenced by ecological processes across habitats such as wave attenuation, water filtration, and sediment stabilization. These processes underpin cross-habitat positive interactions, also known as 鈥榚cological facilitation,鈥� and drive the spatial mosaics of habitats on coastlines. Harnessing connections among habitats to achieve seascape scale restoration can help to achieve better restoration outcomes, but is met with scientific knowledge gaps and logistical, legal, and financial barriers. This presentation will discuss the current state of knowledge, opportunities, and challenges to conducting seascape scale multi-habitat restoration, and will share lessons learned through a multi-year interdisciplinary research program based in Australia on scaling up marine and coastal restoration.
BIO:
Dr. Megan Saunders is a Senior Research Scientist at the Australian Commonwealth Scientific Industrial Research Organization (CSIRO) based in Hobart, Tasmania, Australia. She leads an externally funded research program aimed at providing interdisciplinary foundational knowledge needed to scale up marine and coastal ecological restoration nationally and internationally. She is leading the Australian National Marine Science Committee white paper on ecosystem restoration and repair which will set the R&D agenda for restoration for the next decade. She co -leads the Australasian Coastal Restoration Network (ACRN) which connects 600 professionals in ecological restoration in diverse organization types across several countries. Saunders鈥� collaborates widely across the innovation sector, including with local, state and commonwealth governments, non-governmental organizations, universities, and with local communities and Indigenous groups. Dr Saunders is originally from Vancouver and has a BSc in Marine Biology from Simon Fraser University and a PhD in Oceanography from 最新杏吧原创.
Time: June 3rd, 2025 - 11:45 AM Atlantic Time (Canada)
Come early to join us for a cup of coffee!
Location:
Riley Room, #3652
Life Science Centre, Oceanography Wing
Join Zoom Meeting:
Meeting ID: 865 9677 9809
Passcode: 961528
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