Research
These are some of the projects we are currently working on.
Eco-evolutionary dynamics on networks
The importance of ecological and evolutionary processes in population
persistence has been well-explored in marine and terrestrial systems,
yet few studies have considered the effects of both components
simultaneously. In this project, we are quantifying the contribution of
competition, dispersal, and directional selection on the potential for
populations to adapt and persist under increasing thermal stress.
Relevant work: McManus et al. (2021) Ecology
Adaptive capacity of coral populations
Quantifying the adaptive capacity of populations responding to
climate change is critical to promoting ecosystem resilience. However,
adaptation comprises both evolutionary (e.g. evolutionary rescue,
genetic swamping) and ecological (e.g. dispersal, competition)
components that are linked through feedback loops. This project aims to
disentangle these eco-evolutionary processes to assess the impacts of
climate change on metapopulations and metacommunities.
Relevant work:
McManus et al. (2021)
Global Change Biology
McManus et al. (2020)
Global Change Biology
Spatial management for evolving coral populations
How should we conserve evolving populations at the regional scale?
In this project, we are exploring the efficacy of different spatial
management strategies, including approaches that target “refugia”
(typically cooler sites in the network) and those that target potential
sources of warm-adapted larvae (that are generally more vulnerable to
the effects of climate change).
Social-ecological systems
Coral reefs around the world continue to be negatively impacted by anthropogenic stressors across multiple spatial scales. The effective management of these systems requires the ability to assess the impacts of potential human interventions, which in turn requires an understanding of historical ecological dynamics to serve as a baseline for comparison. One approach that can support both the reconstruction of historical dynamics and assess the impacts of future management scenariosis to develop a dynamical systems model that is parameterized and constrained by historical and contemporary data from diverse sources such as peer-reviewed literature, gray literature and historical accounts. To that end, we are working with colleagues at the He’eia NERR to develop social-ecological systems models that can assess the impacts of indigenous and contemporary fisheries managment in Hawai’i.