Ruth Thurstan

Our latest newsletter is here 🐟

This month we're celebrating two decades of OPI, with special features & reflections from Prof. Cristina Brito and Prof. Daniel Pauly, plus lots more!

Keep up to date with current research in the field by joining our mailing list 👉 info@oceanspast.org.

Call for Oceans Past XI abstracts is OPEN, come join us in Canada next June! Funding available on a competitive basis for early career researchers @icesmarine.bsky.social @oceanspast.bsky.social

First time I see the concept of shifting #baselines in a natural history #museum! Effective exhibit in the Naturhistorisk museum at the University of #Oslo.

Just out! 10-yr labour of love exploring how Plymouth’s coastline transformed over centuries by land reclamation & how changes are often forgotten.
Shout out to incredible crack team: historians, geologists, remote sensors, archaeologists, artists, ecologists🧠🌍🎨 www.taylorfrancis.com/books/edit/1...

Atlantic Bluefin tuna are back in UK waters, but we still don’t exactly know what they are eating.
Support crucial marine research to help uncover the secrets of their diet and secure their future.
To find out more: www.crowdfunder.co.uk/p/atlantic-b...
🦑🧪🌍🐟🎣🦤🌊

We are pleased to invite you to the Oceans Past XI Conference!

Taking place between 15-19 June 2026 at the University of Victoria, Vancouver Island, Canada (www.uvic.ca)

Abstract submissions open early Autumn 2025; stay tuned for updates!

More info: oceanspast.org/conferences/...

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Shifting seas: understanding deep-time human impacts on marine ecosystems | Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences Humans have interacted with, and impacted, marine ecosystems for millennia. During this time, the oceans have experienced ecosystem degradation through harvesting, habitat change, pollution, the introduction of invasive species and climate change. Despite ...

🐚 Out today “Shifting Seas – Understanding Deep-Time Human Impacts on Marine Ecosystems.” 🌊

A theme issue asking how, when, and where humans have impacted oceans over millennia.

🔗 doi.org/10.1098/rstb.2024.0026

🧶 below on how it came to life!...

Shifting seas: understanding deep-time human impacts on marine ecosystems | Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences Humans have interacted with, and impacted, marine ecosystems for millennia. During this time, the oceans have experienced ecosystem degradation through harvesting, habitat change, pollution, the introduction of invasive species and climate change. Despite ...

🔗 doi.org/10.1098/rstb.2024.0026

What a 19th-century atlas teaches me about marine ecosystems Historical maps and records from across Europe show just how much oyster beds and other marine habitats have changed over the centuries.

The importance of #History in understanding the marine environment and environmental change theconversation.com/what-a-19th-... #heritage #marine #fishing #ecosystems #conservation @ruththurstan.bsky.social

What a 19th-century atlas teaches me about marine ecosystems Historical maps and records from across Europe show just how much oyster beds and other marine habitats have changed over the centuries.

theconversation.com/what-a-19th-...

Nice article on marine historical ecology by @ruththurstan.bsky.social

Thank you Alec!

New #OA paper on SEASCAPE CONNECTIVITY: Evidence, knowledge gaps and implications for temperate coastal ecosystem restoration practice and policy. Check it out! nature.com/articles/s44...

My co-chair François Houllier and I are delighted with this resounding success, after 2 years of preparation and many hurdles to overcome.

The recommendations will be presented to Heads of State and Governments tomorrow, the day before #UNOC starts.

#OOSC #ScienceForTheOcean

Happy World #Ocean Day all! After spending an inspiring week at the One Ocean Congress in Nice, I am remembering one of my favourite ocean encounters, which occurred in my home waters of the U.K., in #Cornwall. Showing that British seas host big critters too! #OOSC #shark @exetermarine.bsky.social

@bluemarinef.bsky.social

Fantastic talk by @ciaranmc.bsky.social on the big stage at #OOSC! Showcasing his ongoing Convex Seascape Survey research mapping historical trawling expansion and associated seabed disturbance @exetermarine.bsky.social @profcallum.bsky.social

Title slide of talk ‘Opportunities and risks to climate mitigation using seabed carbon stores: insights from the Convex Seascape Survey’ by Prof Callum Roberts

Fantastic to see work from the Convex Seascape Survey team presented at the UN One Ocean Science Congress #OOSC by @profcallum.bsky.social! Great progress being made in our understanding of continental shelf blue carbon stores @exetermarine.bsky.social @bluemarinef.bsky.social

Very helpful to have live streams, thank you!

Made it to beautiful Nice for the #UN One #Ocean Science Congress. I’ll be at the poster session over the next three evenings so please come have a chat! You can find me at Poster 310 #historicalecology #oyster #seabed #convex @profcallum.bsky.social @exetermarine.bsky.social

New paper out this week 📣

Authors detail 120 years of the UK's reach for seafood, revealing a rapid growth of dependence on global fisheries. By the 21st century, imports tripled 20th-century levels, with seafood travelling over 30% farther. 🐟

🔗 Link to read: link.springer.com/article/10.1...

Multiple PhD opportunities available jointly with @exeter.ac.uk and University of Queensland (QUEX Institute) - For more details and how to apply see tinyurl.com/bwzntmfr. Deadline 15 May

New international PhD scholarship jointly at universities of Queensland and Exeter (UK) on coral reef MPAs. Natural and social science.
Feel free to reach out. tinyurl.com/bwzntmfr

Primroses in front of a penryn campus building

Tremough Manor House at the centre of penryn campus

View of the Italian garden on penryn campus

Magnolia bloom

The @exeter.ac.uk #Cornwall campus is looking beautiful this #spring! Lovely to see a few of my colleagues @uniexecec.bsky.social who were also out and about appreciating the sunshine and spring blooms 😁

Interested in Marine Megafauna, Fishers ecological knowledge or Data Deficient IUCN red list species?

Please check out this piece documenting the exploitation history of the largest reef fish in the eastern Pacific Ocean (Pacific Goliath Groupers) in Panama

doi.org/10.1002/aqc....

fish swimming over a reef. on top of the image in white text reads 'data from SEACHANGE project used to sculpt new species and historical data provides valuable information on lost ecosystems'

Artists use @exeter.ac.uk SEACHANGE project’s environmental DNA data to create speculative sculptures of new species, and new historical data provides valuable information on lost European flat oyster ecosystems! 🐚🐟

Read the full news article - cordis.europa.eu/article/id/4...

🦑🌐🧪🌍🦤🌊

Happy International Day of Women and Girls in Science!
We are so proud to have many incredible women working across disciplines as part of Exeter Marine. 🩵

🦑🦤🌎🌐🧪🤿🌊
#WomeninSTEM #PhDSky #AcademicSky

You asked, we listened.

UK-based early/mid level marine roles, hand-picked for our community.

Screenshot your favourite or save this post for later!

🦑🌊🌐🌍🐟🦤

Thank you Dan!

Work funded by @seachange-erc.bsky.social, Convex Seascape Survey and Flotilla Foundation @zslscience.bsky.social, among others

Records reveal the vast historical extent of European oyster reef ecosystems - Nature Sustainability Native oyster reef ecosystems were decimated by human activities, with little known of their past extent. This study evaluates historical records to show that oyster reefs were once a dominant feature...

Article written by myself and Dr Philine zu Ermgassen www.linkedin.com/in/philine-z... and based on the published articles
www.nature.com/articles/s41... and conbio.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/...
with @alecbmmoore.bsky.social @profcallum.bsky.social (and maybe others on Bsky I've missed!)