LUKE WALKER

pHD CANDIDATE

I graduated my Master of Research in Earth and Environmental Sciences from Macquarie University in 2021 with my thesis titled: Seagrass productivity and associated bacterial communities change under increased temperatures. This project investigated the effects of a thermal discharge channel in Lake Macquarie, NSW on the productivity of seagrass meadows and on the above and belowground microbial community’s seagrass meadows. This project also aimed to infer if any of the observed changes in microbial communities between warm and ambient temperatures may account for any of the changes to seagrass productivity based on their known ecological functions.

I am now a PhD candidate supervised through Macquarie University, University of NSW and University of Sydney where I will be investigating plant-soil feedbacks (PSFs) in seagrass meadows over various environmental stress gradients. For this project I aim to understand how PSFs influence the performance of seagrass plants and investigate how these may change under various environmental stress gradients such as temperature, nutrients, salinity, and invasion. The outcomes of this project will not only add to a growing body of valuable literature but will also inform management and conservation practices in regard to how PSFs can be used to detect ecological stress and how they can be used to preserve and restore seagrasses under growing anthropogenic and natural stressors.

Contact: luke.walker3@hdr.mq.edu.au