Oceans of Biodiversity
Research Group
Connectivity and marine conservation planning
Hundreds of papers talk about the importance of connectivity in marine conservation planning. Almost all of these papers treat MPA as islands in a sea of nothingness. Some express disappointment that it is not more explicitly considered in planning Marine Protected...
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There is a biodiversity crisis; exaggerating it is unhelpful and counterproductive
Conservationists do not need to exaggerate the crisis facing the world’s biodiversity (Costello 2019). Almost 30,000, out of 100,000 species assessed, are threatened with extinction (IUCN Red List 2019). This is far too many and a crisis. Helpfully, we know what...
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Why Marine Reserves will work for Ireland
How to enrich Ireland’s marine life and resources A version of this article was published in The Irish Times on 20th June 2019 Minister Creed’s exclusion of large fishing trawlers from Ireland’s coastal seas is great news for the conservation of marine life, coastal...
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MPA resources on the web
Marine Reserves on Facebook International Bill Ballantine’s website on no-take marine reserves marine-reserves.org.nz MPA News http://depts.washington.edu/mpanews/ Global MPA database http://www.protectedplanet.net MPA Atlas http://www.mpatlas.org/ IUCN marine...
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Bill Ballantine, father of Marine Reserves
When I began work at the University of Auckland I inherited Bill's post-graduate diploma and MSc course on Marine Reserves. We became close friends and spent a lot of time talking about reserves and other topics. Here are some links to articles about him and radio...
read moreWho profits $$$ from our scientific publications?
We should think carefully about where we publish. Not only should we ask ourselves if the journal is appropriate (right audience) and well-respected (who else publishes there and who is on the Editorial Board), but who profits from our work. Apparently, the big...
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Why Protected Areas provide resilience to environmental stress and climate change
The purpose of marine reserves is to have some places where nature can flourish without human impacts. The recovery of life with release from fishing pressure is not surprising and has been repeatedly demonstrated. The benefits to people vary with the local situation,...
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Not too late to save ocean life: here’s how
History tells us that, as human populations expanded from Africa, there was a coincidental extinction of large animals in Europe, the Americas, Asia, Australia and New Zealand. People then could not have known that their hunting was causing global-scale extinction of...
read moreDoing time-efficient peer-reviews of scientific papers
One needs to be time-efficient in doing peer review. If one followed the lengthy guidelines provided by some journals to do peer-review it could take days. I suggest it should not take more than the time to read the paper twice and write up one's comments, so perhaps...
read moreTips for writing a thesis
The best tip is to start writing now, as soon as you start the research. Do not wait until after you have some data. The thesis is the only thing examined for a PhD, and sometimes for an MSc. It does not matter how much lab and field work you did. Nor how many...
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Choosing a MSc or PhD supervisor
In an ideal world, you find your passion and get a scholarship to study it with a leading expert in the field. I had friends who did unexciting PhDs and then switched to their passion, and never looked back. A PhD is foremost, training in science. Keeping this in...
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A glossary of terminology used in marine biology, ecology, and geology
This glossary was developed as a collaboration between the scientists of the GEOHAB (Marine Geological and Biological Habitat Mapping) and WoRMS (World Register of Marine Species) communities. It was published online on WoRMS from 2010 and comments by users led to...
read moreAddressing harassment, racism, bullying and discrimination
Recent terrorist events in New Zealand and around the world have prompted reflection on how such hate and discrimination arises in a society, whether considered racism or other forms of harassment and bullying. The latter anti-social behaviours may underlie and lead...
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Tips for preparing for a PhD viva voce or defence
The process for examining and approving a PhD varies a lot between countries. In continental Europe, science theses are a set of papers copied into a single volume with appropriate introductory and synthesis chapters. Some universities have internal and external...
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Tips on ‘Species Distribution Modelling’ using MaxEnt
By Dinusha Jayathilake, University of Auckland What is Species Distribution Modeling (SDM)? SDM is a numerical tool to predict the potential distribution of a given species or a set of species by combining the occurrence records and environmental variables layers...
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Dealing with stress
A recurring ‘issue’ amongst under-graduate, post-graduate students and post-docs is dealing with stress. Perhaps the most useful short course I ever did was in stress management. I wish I had done it years earlier. This post is not about the good stress; the stress...
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The ocean floor is less well mapped than the surface of other planets’
I have often read and heard it stated that the seabed is less well mapped than the surface of other planets. However, I had not noticed papers that provided evidence for this or cited primary sources. I thank Peter Harris and David Sandwell for providing links to the...
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Photos from early years of the Ocean Biogeographic Information System
Recently, I was asked what photographs there were from the early years of the Ocean Biogeographic Information System (OBIS), when it was set up as part of the Census of Marine Life. Please sent me any additional photographs if you have them to add. Please feel free to...
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The “SSV Robert C. Seamans” returns to Auckland!
Am amazing opportunity for students is to spend a Semester at sea, doing research and learning about the ocean, sailing, navigation, Pacific cultures, maritime history, marine biology, oceanography and more. One such programme has visited New Zealand for a few years...
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