Research interests:

• Interactions between the landscape structure and trophic dynamics of marine and estuarine systems
• The design and efficacy of marine protected areas in ensuring the trophic value of coastal and marine habitats
• The use of chemical tracer techniques (e.g. stable isotopes of carbon, nitrogen and sulphur, and fatty acid analysis) as a tool for clarifying trophic structure
• The relationship between the structure and function of habitats at both the community and landscape level
• The relative importance of estuarine habitats as ‘nursery areas' for commercial fish species
• The significance of pulse events in otherwise steady state environments

Research projects:

Trophic effects of harvesting key fisheries species from rocky reef habitats

Project synopsis

The direct impacts of fishing are well documented but there is growing concern for the indirect effects of fishing on the function of marine habitats. Understanding the impact of the selective harvesting of biomass on the trophic function of marine habitats is integral to ensuring the sustainability of fisheries, and preserving the biodiversity and structural integrity of marine systems. This project uses chemical tracer and modelling techniques to examine the indirect effects of fishing key predators and herbivores on the trophic function of rocky reefs. It examines the interaction between trophic dynamics and landscape characteristics of rocky reefs providing information on the spatial scale of food web processes valuable in the assessment of marine habitats for inclusion into marine protected areas .

Publications

Guest MA , Connolly RM (In press) Movement of carbon among estuarine habitats: the influence of saltmarsh patch size. Marine Ecology Progress Series

Connolly RM, Gorman D, Guest MA (2005) Movement of carbon among estuarine habitats and its assimilation by invertebrates. Oecologia 144: 684-691

Guest MA , Connolly RM and Loneragan NR (2004) Carbon movement and assimilation by invertebrates in estuarine habitat at a scale of metres. Marine Ecology Progress Series 278:27-34 .

Guest MA , and Connolly RM (2004) Fine-scale movement and assimilation of carbon in saltmarsh and mangrove habitat by resident animals. Aquatic Ecology 38: 599-609 .

Connolly, RM, Guest MA , Melville AJ and Oakes JM (2004) Sulfur stable isotopes separate producers in marine food web analysis. Oecologia 138 : 161-167.

Guest, MA , Connolly RM and Loneragan NR (2004) Within and among-site variability in d 13 C and d 15 N for three estuarine producers Sporobolus virginicus , Zostera capricorni , and epiphytes of Z. capricorni . Aquatic Botany , 79: 87-94.

Guest, MA , Connolly, RM and Loneragan, NR (2003) Seine nets and beam trawls compared by day and night for sampling fish and crustaceans in shallow seagrass habitat. Fisheries Research 64: 185-196.