Antony Knights1, Charlotte Clubley2, Molly James3, David Bilton4, Laura Bachmaier4, Thomas Wright4, Louise Firth1
1University College Cork, Ireland - 2Aarhus University, Denmark - 3Plymouth Marine Laboratory, UK - 4University of Plymouth, UK
Global change is driving marked change in the distribution of species across space. Predicting how biogeographic changes might influence the resilience and persistence of populations and communities over time is a key but often unanswered question for ecologists and conservationists. This is especially true for ecologically connectivity; a concept that features heavily in numerous local to global environmental policies targeting biodiversity conservation to marine protection, but which typically remains unquantified and/or intangible to environmental managers and policy makers. Here, using examples of natural and assisted dispersal associated with marine environmental change, I explore what novel tools can be used to quantify connectivity and assess change in the functioning of ecological networks, and discuss how we might translate empirical science into meaning policy change that results in evidence-led conservation actions and spatial planning initiatives that improves protections and outcomes for nature.
Biography
Dr Antony Knights is an Associate Professor of Marine Environmental Sustainability. He is a benthic ecologist with interest in understanding how dispersal shapes population and community structure and functioning from both a theoretical and applied perspective. His work is being used to underpin environmental policy and management of invasive species and anthropogenic impacts on marine ecosystems.