LEC Reefs

Density dependent habitat selection in response to habitat loss in a coral reef fish Habitat loss triggers a social chain reaction: adult reef fish crowd onto remaining coral, then spill over onto dead coral—and juveniles follow. This study reveals a novel, socially driven ‘bandwagon...

PAPER hints at ecological traps for damselfish settlement - dead corals chosen for settlement if an adult is present, could cascade to bad ends! besjournals.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/... Led by @lisabe.bsky.social @lec-reefs.bsky.social @animalecology.bsky.social

Site-level variation in field of view is associated with altered anti-predator responses in farming damselfish The structure of a habitat affects how animals respond to predators. By recording the anti-predator behaviour of reef fish at sites with different levels o

Field of view affects damselfish anti-predator responses BUT other metrics of structural complexity do not. Implications for how we measure structure & predict its effects academic.oup.com/beheco/advan...
@jamesboon.bsky.social is on fire today! @lec-reefs.bsky.social @envisiondtp.bsky.social

Deeper Caribbean reef fish communities show greater taxonomic and functional change in dominance structure over a nine-year period - Coral Reefs Fish communities at greater depths on a reef are thought to be less affected by disturbances that more strongly impact shallower areas. As a result, these deeper communities might be expected to show ...

New PAPER shows greater depths NOT correlated with more stable communities on Caribbean reefs, contrary to expectations. Led by @jamesboon.bsky.social link.springer.com/article/10.1... @lec-reefs.bsky.social @envisiondtp.bsky.social @opwallscience.bsky.social

Familiarity mediated by body size predicts intraspecific aggression in farming damselfishes - Behavioral Ecology and Sociobiology Abstract Aggressive territoriality can have significant benefits for resource acquisition yet is a costly behaviour. Selection should therefore favour mechanisms that allow individuals to modify their...

Third paper from my PhD at @lancasteruni.bsky.social out now. Territorial farming damselfish are more aggressive to smaller neighbours than strangers @envisiondtp.bsky.social #fishinbottles #angrydamsels #nastyneighbours

link.springer.com/article/10.1...

Familiarity mediated by body size predicts intraspecific aggression in farming damselfishes - Behavioral Ecology and Sociobiology Abstract Aggressive territoriality can have significant benefits for resource acquisition yet is a costly behaviour. Selection should therefore favour mechanisms that allow individuals to modify their...

PAPER: Territorial damselfish are more aggressive to neighbours if their neighbour is larger, but this weakens If they don't know each other link.springer.com/article/10.1...
Led by my awesome former PhD student @sheppardcat.bsky.social @lec-reefs.bsky.social @envisiondtp.bsky.social #FishInBottles

This essay reflects on my experience traveling for research across West Africa. “As a West African seeking to move freely within my own region, I was subjected to extortion, while non-Africans enjoyed the very freedom that should inherently be ours”. @ecowas.bsky.social
rpublc.com/august-septe...

Composite image of the Proceedings B journal title, the manuscript title and the author list, alongside an image of a red-footed booby flying amongst palm trees. Some text reads: "Winds shape the behavioural decisions of red-footed boobies, impacting their foraging commutes and feeding behaviour".

"Commuting in crosswinds and foraging in fast winds: the foraging ecology of a flying fish specialist" 💨🐦🐟

New @iomarinescience.bsky.social research out now in @royalsocietypublishing.org: doi.org/10.1098/rspb...

📸 @robinfreeman.bsky.social

🧪🌍🪶

Using lightweight bird-borne cameras, scientists have captured unique footage of Indian Ocean seabirds speeding just above the waves to catch flying fish.

Dr Ruth Dunn (@ruthedunn.bsky.social) of @lec-reefs.bsky.social is lead author of the study.

📰: https://tinyurl.com/yezeyxu2

Great Barrier Grief: scientists face mental health battle Tim Lamont was surveying the coral reefs off Lizard Island in Far North Queensland as part of his PhD in coral reef ecology when he first felt his mood start

Important article on dealing with grief & anxiety in environmental science, with lots of input from Tim Lamont @lec-reefs.bsky.social cosmosmagazine.com/people/socia... includes tips on coping with climate distress

How did farmed salmon take over? We explored how big industry and retail shape consumer perceptions, putting UK salmon top of the Big 5

So what? Market-making helps #salmon to expand, raising environmental impacts and squeezing out other #seafood from UK diets 🦑

doi.org/10.1088/1748...

The beauty of coral reefs is key to their survival – so we came up with a way to measure it Researchers found that photos of restored reefs were rated just as beautiful as those of healthy reefs.

How can beauty be measured? Find out how a team of marine scientists have devised a way to measure the beauty of coral reefs in order to aid restoration and sustainable tourism practices in this new article, co-authored by Dr Tim Lamont of @lec-reefs.bsky.social for @uk.theconversation.com 👇

Thrilled to be part of this new paper led by Mayukh Dey & Nature Conservation Foundation, summarizing 25 yrs of 🪸 reef resilience monitoring in Lakshadweep 🏝️ 🇮🇳

We find distinct recovery archetypes shaped by atoll location & coral assemblages

onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/...

@sharkconservationfund @canbiocanarias @saveourseasfoundation @oceantrackingnetwork @wwfnederland @nercscience @deutsche_elasmobrancier_ges

#Angelsharks may be more vulnerable to #ClimateChange than we thought!

Out today in @globalchangebio.bsky.social:
doi.org/10.1111/gcb....

@lancasteruni.bsky.social @zslofficial.bsky.social @ulpgc.es @qmul.bsky.social @leibniz-gemeinschaft.de @lec-reefs.bsky.social

📸 @nuno_vasco_rodrigues

Seychelles study shows seabird nutrients boost marine ecosystems around rat-free islands - Lancaster University A newly published study shows that nutrients from seabird droppings boost the growth of algae in coral reefs in the Seychelles – helping to feed and sustain populations of herbivorous fish that feed o...

The study was published in @plosbiology.org - you can find out more by following the link below

Follow @lec-reefs.bsky.social to stay updated on our researchers’ work

www.lancaster.ac.uk/news/seychel...

Left: White-tailed tropicbird (Phaethon lepturus) flying near an island in the inner Seychelles. Seabirds provide key nutrient inputs to islands and nearby coral reefs, where they boost primary and secondary productivity. Right: Example herbivore exclusion cage used to measure algal turf productivity across a gradient of seabird nutrient inputs on coral reefs. Image credit: Casey Benkwitt.

Cross-ecosystem nutrient fluxes can influence recipient food webs. @cbenkwitt.bsky.social &co's study of #NutrientSubsidies shows that dynamic metrics better revealed flow & effects of #seabird derived nutrients through #CoralReef food chains @lec-reefs.bsky.social @plosbiology.org 🧪 plos.io/44RFyJk

Great first six weeks on Utila completing my divemaster and the first two weeks of my PhD fieldwork, officially half way through! @opwall.bsky.social @envisiondtp.bsky.social @lancasteruni.bsky.social

Last week, I had the opportunity to attend my first international conference, MARE,at the University of Amsterdam!I had an incredible time attending lots of insightful talks as well as getting the opportunity to pitch the first chapter of my PhD, and presenting a poster about my research! #Mare2025

Our Bright Spots 2.0 workshop team
@christinahicks.bsky.social @evamaire.bsky.social @crisruanocha.bsky.social @jzamborainmason.bsky.social @nickajgraham.bsky.social @bessruff.bsky.social

Big thanks to the @lec-reefs.bsky.social crew for hosting the Thriving Oceans team in Lancaster. Workshops in castles and walks in the woods made for an amazing collaboration.

New paper 📢 Coral reef depth zonation patterns are not 'universal' and may be disrupted by local human impacts.

We show evidence of spatially dependent effects of depth on benthic community structure across the Pacific Ocean.

🌊🧵⬇️

We've had a blast at the Indo-Pacific Fish Conference in Taipei. Thanks to the organisers for a fantastic week! 🐟🐠🦈

Ft. talks from
@cbenkwitt.bsky.social
@lljeannot.bsky.social
@ruchakarkarey.bsky.social
@james-robinson.bsky.social

What animals do at scale: a new lens on behaviour and conservation - Lancaster University As environmental changes speed up, it's becoming more important to understand how animals behave on a large scale. A new approach called macrobehaviour combines the study of animal behaviour with big-...

Nice little overview of my research direction these days www.lancaster.ac.uk/sci-tech/abo... @lec-reefs.bsky.social @lancasteruninews.bsky.social

Herculean collation of >12K megafauna tracks, >100 species, reveals 75% overlap of critical habitats with shipping, fishing, pollution or warming. Protection targets not enough to safeguard megafauna.

New paper in @science.org, led by @anammsequeira.bsky.social 👇

📸silvana-palacios,daniel-torobekov

🪸 Announcing RCUK 2025! 🪸

📅 Saturday December 6th 2025
(With workshops Friday 5th @ 1 pm)

📍 Bangor University’s main campus
Main Arts Lecture Theatre & Prichard-Jones Hall

Call for abstracts opens in July – further details over the coming months.

More info: www.reefconservationuk.org
#RCUK2025

Rucha and Ruth on the research vessel after a day of SCUBA diving and carrying SCUBA tanks backwards and forwards (hence some damp patches on their clothes)

Javier, Laura-Li, Ruth, and Casey in the sea in their snorkelling kit during their last day of fieldwork.

Out now in Coral Reefs: 'Active and passive pathways of nutrient transfer in coral reef ecosystems'

doi.org/10.1007/s003... 🐚

Thank you to my co-authors and field friends from @lec-reefs.bsky.social and beyond for all their help bringing this piece of work together 🌊

Lionfish (Pterois volitans) Show Social Attraction to Conspecifics When Selecting Shelters Group formation in animals can arise from two primary mechanisms: individuals aggregating over resources, or individuals socially benefiting from interacting with conspecifics. Distinguishing between...

🚨 Our new paper is out now in Ethology. Here we show that #lionfish show social attraction to conspecifics when selecting shelters. doi.org/10.1111/eth....

We are starting May with a fascinating talk from @jenniferappoo.bsky.social on the impacts of seabird-derived nutrients on mangrove ecosystems! Follow this link and set a reminder now! www.youtube.com/live/muPejoo... 🌏🪶 #WomenInSTEM #Seabirds #AcademicSky

Very much looking forward to talking about everything fishy and nutritious in Oxford on Wednesday. Many thanks for the invitation @petescarbs.bsky.social

Marine Degradation and Market Dependency in Ghana: Food Sovereignty as a Critique of Capital in Aquatic Food Systems Small-scale fisheries constitute a vital source of food for millions of people, despite facing increasing marginalisation. Food sovereignty is a global social movement that calls attention to the mar...

🐟 My PhD's 2nd chapter is now published! Here I show how industrial overfishing in Ghanaian waters exacerbates inequalities in the post-harvest sector, impacting fish processing and trading livelihoods, as well as Ghanaian aquatic food systems more broadly. 🐟

onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10....

Great week with the @fieldstudiesc.bsky.social team at Dale Fort supporting their Marine Science Camp. Students spent time learning about seabirds, rockpools, plankton and even let me ramble on about coral reefs. Thank you @thembauk.bsky.social for giving me this opportunity. Anemones are so cool!