Armed with wellies, nets and buckets, Dr Andrew Blight took a small group of children (and their parents) onto the rocky shore of Crail for the annual Crail Festival Rock Pool Guddle. The weather was fantastic and the children were captivated by anemones, crabs, periwinkles, prawns and even the odd fish.
BLUE-coast – Essex summer field campaign
In June 2017, 5 members of the SERG lab, including Prof. Paterson, completed three days of fieldwork in the Dengie National Nature Reserve, Essex for the NERC BLUE-coast project.
CSM, Contact Cores and field spectroscopy in action on the Dengie peninsular.
Welcome to Trish Browne
Welcome to new staff member Trish Browne. Trish joins us as a Research Technician supporting the work within SERG, in particular the John Templeton Foundation and NERC BLUEcoast funded projects.
Outreach – St Leonards School Field Trip
Dr Andrew Blight gave a guest lecture to year 9 pupils from St Leonards School who were carrying out a geography field trip to learn fieldwork skills in coastal landscapes. Andy introduced some of the key principles of how the physical environment structures the biological communities on rocky, sandy and estuarine shores. He also introduced some of the research currently underway in the SERG lab and how the biological communities can in turn structure the physical habitat.
NEW POST – Research Technician
NEW POST – Research Technician to support SERG and the John Templeton Foundation funded project – niche construction and evolutionary diversity in experimental communities
An exciting opportunity is available for a motivated candidate to support the work of the Sediment Ecology Research Group (SERG) as part of a major multinational, interdisciplinary research consortium.
We are seeking a versatile and computer literate candidate with good field and laboratory skills relevant to benthic ecology. We expect to attract a motivated worker with the initiative to handle fieldwork and accepting some travel and the unsociable hours (tidal cycles) that are occasionally required. The candidate will be based in the Sediment Ecology Research Group (SERG) at the University of St Andrews under the main supervision of Dr Adam Wyness and Prof. David M. Paterson. The main purpose of the role is to support the design and running of experiments using laboratory benthic mesocosms, flume system and fieldwork. Incubation of bacteria, diatoms and handling of benthic infauna will be required but training can be given.
Two year position starting May 2017 Informal enquiries to: Prof David M. Paterson ([email protected])
Congratulations Dr Watson
Congratulations to Stephen Watson for his successfully defended thesis entitled “The Impact of Multiple Stressors on Coastal Biodiversity and Associated Ecosystem Services”.
Well done Steve!
Congratulations Dr Wyness
Congratulations to Adam Wyness for his successfully defended thesis entitled “The influence of sediment characteristics on the abundance and distribution of E. coli in estuarine sediments”.
Well done Adam!
NERC award to Prof David Paterson
Prof Dave Paterson for his NERC award “Physical and biological dynamic coastal processes and their role in coastal recovery (BLUE-coast)”, £298,973
“Putting the extended evolutionary synthesis to the test”
Kevin Laland on receiving a £5.7m three-year grant from the John Templeton Foundation for the project “Putting the extended evolutionary synthesis to the test”.
The grant, which is led by the University of St Andrews, will fund 22 linked research projects to be carried out by an international team of 50 experts at eight universities, including Cambridge, Stanford, Lund, Indiana, Southampton, Clark, and the Santa Fe Institute.
Project PIs also include David Paterson, Graeme Ruxton, Maria Dornelas and Andy Gardner, whose projects will explore a variety of evolutionary and ecological questions, focused on to what extent developmental plasticity and niche construction can account for evolutionary diversity and complexity.
Congratulations Dr Hope
Congratulations to Julie Hope for her successfully defended thesis entitled “The biological mediation of cohesive and non-cohesive sediment dynamics”.
Well done Julie!
