Ciarán McLaverty

Honeycomb Reef - built by Honeycomb Reef worms (Sabellaria alveolata) along the intertidal zone. Once the tide comes in they emerge from their burrows to feed on plankton that drifts by.
County Clare, Ireland.

Plans to create Marine Protected Area around Sark Marine habitats around Sark could be getting extra safeguards through a new protection order.

Plans to protect 'treasure trove' of marine life

The waters around Sark host a range of habitats including eelgrass beds, reefs, seabirds, and marine mammals. The proposed MPA would strengthen measures on trawling within inshore waters.

www.bbc.co.uk/news/article...

🌊New paper🐚 Seabed status varied strongly across Europe: the Black, Baltic, and Aegean–Levantine Seas generally showed high seabed community status, while the Western, Central, Ionian and Adriatic Mediterranean were most severely impacted by bottom trawling.
onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/...

Opportunities for Master of Science by Research (MScRes) study at the School of Ocean Sciences at Bangor University 1 Introduction 2 MScRes in Ocean Sciences 3 Benthic Ecology 3 Impact of future sea bottom heatwaves on benthic organisms 3 Reproduction in shallow water Antarctic marine invertebrates 4 Investigating reproductive trait variability in Arctic benthic marine invertebrates 4 Reproduction in an Antarctic ascidian 5 Marine underwater monitoring in the 21st century 5 Quantifying the role of natural and anthropogenic light and sound on temperate marine ecosystems 6 Oceanography 7 How do met-ocean conditions influence rogue wave probabilities? 7 High latitude tidal energy resource 7 HOOFBEATS (HOtspots OF BEnthic productivity Arising from Tidal modulation of light in the Shallow sub-tidal zone): the return of the ‘optical depth of the bed’. 8 Impacts of climate change on estuary water quality 9 Marine Ecology 10 What Determines Seafloor Recovery? Identifying Drivers of Benthic Community Regeneration 10 Ecology of intraspecific trait variation: Role of body size in modulating density-dependent survival in a marine barnacle 11 Seagrass–Infauna Interactions: Biodiversity Effects on Ecosystem Function and Restoration Success 12

Opportunities for Master of Science by Research (MScRes) study at the @sosbangor.bsky.social at Bangor University.

Get in touch and I can send you the full descriptions.

📢New paper!

🐟📚Using fish stomach contents spanning over a century, we reveal long-term diet shifts (from larger bivalves to smaller opportunistic prey) in demersal fish species in the western North Sea.

🔗 Open access in Fish & Fisheries: onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/epdf/10....

Biodiversity Consequences of Replacing Animal Protein From Capture Fisheries With Animal Protein From Agriculture Replacing animal protein sourced from marine capture fisheries with animal protein from agriculture will likely increase the threats to biodiversity given current human diets. Approximately half th...

Here’s what would happen if we replaced all the protein humans get from fishing with land-based farming for meat.

www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10....

🧪🦑🌎🐠

Case-dependent impacts of offshore wind farms on ecosystems: A systematic review and meta-analysis The need for diversification of energy sources is driving the expansion of offshore wind farms, which is, in turn, amplifying their impact on marine e…

📢 Paper Alert
Impacts of #offshore #wind on ecosystems and marine biodiversity 🌊⚡ 🌬️

Our latest publication from the #SamSkag project is out. It is a systematic review and meta-analysis (2003–2024) on the ecological impacts of offshore wind farms.

www.sciencedirect.com/science/arti...

Benefits and impacts of use of light in UK fisheries and their wider effect on the marine environment Applications are invited for three 3.5 year PhD studentships: Benefits and impacts of use of light in UK fisheries and their wider effect on the marine...

PhD opportunity! "Benefits & impacts of use of light in UK #fisheries & their wider effect on the marine environment" (aka #scallopdiscos!) Supervision by me @thembauk.bsky.social Tom Davies @plymbiomarsci.bsky.social Tim Smyth @pml.ac.uk @fishtekmarine.bsky.social www.plymouth.ac.uk/study/resear...

Webinar alert!
Join us for a project introduction, some early findings & find out how you can get involved.

When: Fri 5th Dec, 10am (GMT)
Where: Online (Teams)
Schedule: 20-30 minute presentation + Q&A

Interested? DM for a link to join!

🦑 🧵 A fascinating find at the Ythan Estuary! Last night a friend contacted me with videos of large cephalopod appendages found here in Newburgh, today I went to go and take a closer look.

#cephalopod #marinelife #marinebiology #beachfinds #ythanestuary #scotland #scicomm
🌊 🤿

... just look at these 👀 Just a handful of the incredible new #PhD opportunities at the lab.

Visit our website to see them all, and apply!
🔗 pml.ac.uk/Working-with...

#PhDs #PhDopportunities #hiring #Plymouth #PhDlife

What can we learn from a stranded whale? 🐋🧪

This female fin whale stranded in Cornwall and sadly didn't survive. Since then, she has been buried in a @cornwall.exeter.ac.uk research field, until now...

@exetermarine.bsky.social @uniexecec.bsky.social

Learn more: news.exeter.ac.uk/environment-...

New study warning of the decline in taxonomic skills and what it means for conservation and management.

"Taxonomy is a foundation of marine science, and it is in trouble"

authors.elsevier.com/a/1lsTbEs4JV...

Oceans Past XI: Abstract and Funding Award Submission The Oceans Past Initiative connects scholars and practitioners interested in documenting and understanding changes in marine systems and human-ocean interactions in past decades, centuries and millenn...

Dear OPI community! We’re thrilled to announce that the Call for Abstracts and ECR Funding Award submissions are now open for the OPI XI Conference, hosted by the University of Victoria on beautiful Vancouver Island, Canada 🇨🇦, 15–19 June 2026!

tinyurl.com/3cjhzf4h

#marineecology #conference

📣Opportunity to join the Convex Seascape Survey as Postdoctoral Research Associate 🧪

▶️Collate and map data on seabed disturbing impacts from offshore industry. Analyses will aim to estimate effects of disturbance on organic carbon stored within seabed sediments.

jobs.exeter.ac.uk/hrpr_webrecr...

One of the largest Irish animals is at imminent risk of further decline — new report The flapper skate is critically endangered and are top predators and their absence, like taking wolves from a forest, can lead to impacts cascading through the ecosystem. It is hard to imagine that a ...

New research from Queens University shows the critically endangered flapper skate continues its slide to extinction. The lead author, Patrick Collins, told me that it's not too late but decisive action is needed.

www.irishexaminer.com/lifestyle/ou...

Fresh off the press! Our perspective in @natrevbiodiv.nature.com discusses the wealth of information on biodiversity contained in historical sources, and its integration for long-term ecological knowledge and biodiversity conservation. A thread on the paper and what led to it:
rdcu.be/eEcIt

The #ConvexSeascapeSurvey is in Canada! A collaboration between @ulaval.ca @exetermarine.bsky.social and @unisouthampton.bsky.social is investigating the role of animals that live in mud on the #seafloor in helping bury #BlueCarbon and keep our #climate healthy.

Caviar-producing sturgeon found in Irish waters for first time in 40 years Fishermen off Valencia Island have astonished marine experts by catching a fish long thought extinct in Irish waters.

This verified report of two sturgeon in Irish waters is pretty incredible considering the species is critically endangered & considered functionally extinct in Ireland due to no evidence of breeding. share.google/jyn5MHKpQHjT...

Sustainable seafood guide🐟 🦑🦞🐚: 1883 edition

"Crack on - herring🐟 stocks cannot be impacted by human activity"

(They collapsed in the ~mid 20th century)

Thankfully, we now have robust science-based management @icesmarine.bsky.social

@projectfishistory.bsky.social @oceanspast.bsky.social

We're meeting today to kick off our new NERC-funded project on the 'Impacts of bottom trawling on seabed carbon storage'. It's a consortium project to establish how the disturbance associated with bottom trawling modifies C storage, cycling and air/sea CO2 fluxes.
gtr.ukri.org/projects?ref...

Global tracking of marine megafauna space use reveals how to achieve conservation targets The recent Kunming-Montreal Global Biodiversity Framework (GBF) sets ambitious goals but no clear pathway for how zero loss of important biodiversity areas and halting human-induced extinction of thre...

NEW in @science.org Global tracking #MarineMegafauna shows <8% of areas used overlap w/ existing MPAs, while >75% of important areas overlapped by threats like #fishing #shipping & ocean warming - 30x30 goal will be insufficient for their conservation www.megamove.org @thembauk.bsky.social

For West Cork locals and lovers: A mussel farm, which would bottom-dredge a massive 23 hectares within the precious Kinsale harbour, has been granted a licence. Meeting this Sunday to organise appeals.

Great talk by @ciaranmc.bsky.social at #OOSC about his ongoing Convex Seascape Survey work on mapping the expansion of trawling and associated sediment disturbance 🌊🌊 @exetermarine.bsky.social @ruththurstan.bsky.social @profcallum.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

The One Ocean Science Congress (#OOSC) begins in just two days! If you are unable to attend in person but would like to follow some of the discussions, all plenary sessions will be live-streamed.
On day 1: Opening session, 3 June 09:00-10:00 CEST: youtube.com/live/XOSGl7P...

#ScienceForTheOcean 🌊

What is an ecologically or biologically significant area? - npj Ocean Sustainability npj Ocean Sustainability - What is an ecologically or biologically significant area?

What is an ecologically or biologically significant area?

How do we prioritise one seagrass bed over another, or a seagrass bed over a seamount?

www.nature.com/articles/s44...

My first paper is out! 🥳🐠🐟

Mapping the Ocean Floor with Ancient Tides - Eos A new study uses a paleotidal model to trace the formation of carbon-rich mud deposits over thousands of years.

Cool new study from Sophie Ward on the Convex Seascape Survey Project - the team used a paleotidal model to trace the formation of carbon-rich seabed sediment deposits over thousands of years.

eos.org/research-spo...