Jonathan Heath, postgraduate researcher, CDT SuMMeR: Cohort 2

I completed a four-year integrated MSci course at the University of Exeter. My undergraduate dissertation was focused on investigating any competition between invasive slipper limpets and native oysters, an important fishery species in Falmouth. My masters project was focused on revealing any change in phytoplankton abundance in the Eastern Mediterranean and Red Seas using 19^th century historical data and modern satellite estimations.

I am interested in community changes and disturbance effects primarily in benthic species. Previously this has focused on potential impacts of invasive species in locally important fisheries and comparisons to other similar European regions. I am very interested in investigating how understudied anthropogenic pressures associated with shipping and other activities may impact the marine benthos. My experience is primarily desk based using data collected by fisheries or natural resource management companies such as Cornwall IFCA.

My PhD project is primarily focused on determining the impact of merchant vessel anchoring on soft sediment benthic ecosystems. This is an underrepresented area of study, with little work done on anchoring impacts, and the work that has been done focused on coral reef and seagrass habitats. Knowledge of the impacts on soft sediment ecosystems is crucial for effective management, particularly in areas with busy ports and lots of ships anchoring.

I will use the remote sensing, ship-based tracking system, AIS or automatic identification system, to determine when and where merchant vessels are at anchor, along with developing a relationship between ship size and anchor size to quantify anchor intensity. This information will then be used to sample sites along a gradient of anchoring intensity to describe the impact that anchoring has on abundance and community structure of soft sediment ecosystems.

Using the knowledge of this relationship between anchoring intensity and ecosystem impact, a larger scale regional assessment will be performed using remote sensing estimations of anchoring to predict anchoring impacts at a wider scale, the knowledge of which is important for assessments of seabed integrity.

Through my undergraduate dissertation working with Cornwall IFCA I developed an understanding of the importance of working with associate partners to complete research, and this was an aspect of the CDT SuMMeR program I was really excited to be involved with. Working with both a governmental partner and an NGO partner means I will get a lot more experience with many different stakeholder interests, as well as a wider range of expertise for support and training than if the project was solely undertaken within an academic department.