Research
Rapidly warming oceans and intensive fishing both reshape fish populations. My thesis asks how respiratory capacity — especially gill surface area relative to body size — connects to those pressures at global and regional scales.
Dissertation
Effects of chronic oxygen stress and ocean warming on fish
The work integrates comparative physiology, vulnerability indices, historical recreational catch records, and a global baited remote underwater video (BRUVS) database. A central conclusion is that gill surface area emerges as a key trait linking individual respiratory capacity to ecosystem-level patterns — consistent with the Gill Oxygen Limitation Theory (GOLT).
Chapter themes
Climate vulnerability and cardio-respiratory traits
Comparative analysis of teleosts and elasmobranchs tests whether physiological attributes — including standardised gill surface area and haemoglobin-related measures — relate to species’ Climate Vulnerability Index scores. Gill surface area relative to body mass is a key predictor in this framework.
Fishing, warming, and generational size decline
Long-term recreational tournament records from Western Australia (1965–2019) are combined with trait and vulnerability data. The analysis addresses which taxa declined in maximum recorded body size and how fishing vulnerability interacts with respiratory constraints — with requiem sharks (Carcharhinidae) as a prominent case.
BRUVS biomass, temperature, and predicted gill surface area
Global Marine Futures Lab surveys link individual fish lengths and sea surface temperature to predicted gill surface area and assemblage biomass — comparing ectothermic and endothermic groups and underscoring respiration in ecosystem monitoring.
University of St Andrews
Seabird surveys from the tropics to Antarctica
This project uses standardised seabird surveys from an expedition vessel to study how seabird presence and abundance change along transects from the equator to Antarctica. Effort-aware observations are combined with environmental data — wind, swell, and sea-surface temperature — to build statistical models that separate real ecological patterns from variation in observation conditions.
The work maps where and when key seabird species are most likely to occur across that latitudinal gradient, and helps improve how ship-based seabird surveys are designed and interpreted.
Led by Dr. Nora von Xylander at the University of St Andrews, with statistical analysis by me.
Arizona State University
Blood ammonia in clinical contexts
I collaborate with researchers at Arizona State University on blood ammonia in people: how it is measured, interpreted, and used when liver function and neurological outcomes are in question. Ammonia is an important biomarker, but values can shift with method, matrix effects, and sample handling.
My role is to revisit existing datasets and build statistical models that account for variability across conditions and sampling approaches — helping turn complex biochemical data into clearer, more comparable insights for clinical use.
The broader goal is more reliable, better-standardised blood ammonia assessment — supporting sounder diagnostics and patient care.
