Current lab members

 
 

Dr Paul Gribben

Professor at UNSW Sydney.

Paul leads the Gribben lab. He is the Director of the Centre for Marine Science and Innovation in the School of Biological, Earth and Environmental Sciences at UNSW Sydney, and Director of the Sydney Harbour Research Program at the Sydney Institute of Marine Science. His broad research interests include coastal biodiversity, the ecology of habitat-forming species, and invasion ecology. Unifying themes across this research is using fundamental marine ecology, with a strong experimental focus, to improve conservation and restoration outcomes.

For more information on current research click here.

 

Katie Erickson

Research Assistant

Katie is assisting on Paul's Linkage Project to understand microbial plant-soil interactions and feedback loops in seagrass.

 

Sebastian Vadillo

Research Associate

Seb is working with Paul and Ziggy Marzinelli on microbial communities associated with seagrass. His skills in bioinformatics and DNA extraction are highly sought after.

LUKE WALKER

PhD Candidate

Jointly supervised with Katherine Dafforn (MQ)

Thesis title: Investigating changes in plant-sediment feedbacks in seagrass meadows over environmental stress gradients.

RENSKE JONGeN

PhD Candidate

Jointly supervised with Ziggy Marzinelli (USYD).

Thesis title: Using plant-sediment feedbacks to aid seagrass restoration in the face of climate change.

Talia Stelling-Wood

Research Associate

Talia is working at the Sydney Institute of Marine Science under the supervision of Will Figueria, Katie Dafforn and Paul Gribben. Her research uses trait-based approaches to explore the relationship between macroalgae and their associated communities in south-eastern Australia, a region of rapidly changing ocean conditions.

JOSEE HART

PhD Candidate

Josee is working on Halophila and Zostera seagrass, looking at microbial plant-soil feedbacks. She is currently doing a latitudinal gradient study looking at Zostera genetics.

HANNAH WESLEY

PhD Candidate

Thesis title: Researching effects of bioturbation on sediment functioning in restored salt marsh.

LIZZY WILKINSON

Honours student

Jointly supervised with Ziggy Marzinelli (USYD) and Tim Glasby (DPI)

Thesis title: Understanding how Zostera seagrass responds to salinity through microbial changes.

CHRIStopher PINE

PhD Candidate

Jointly supervised with Will Figueira (USYD)

Thesis title: Assessing the habitat value of seagrass for juvenile fish assemblages within the estuarine coastal mosaic.

Rose fuggle

PhD Candidate

Jointly supervised with Ziggy Marzinelli and Will Figueira (USYD)

Thesis title: Linking microbial assemblages to ecosystem functions in aquatic ecosystems under environmental stress.

Passed lab members

RESEARCH associates

  • Dr Ana Bugnot, now a Research Scientist at CSIRO

PhD and M.Sc students

  • Rick Leong (PhD). Understanding the spatial-ecological relationships in remnant NSW Sydney rock oyster (Saccostrea glomerata) reefs (Jointly supervised by Will Figueira USYD, Ziggy Marzinelli USYD and Ana Bugnot USYD).

  • Giulia Ferretto (PhD). Restoring the threatened seagrass Posidonia australis (co-supervised by Adriana Verges UNSW and Alistair Poore UNSW).

  • Luke Walker (MSc). Investigating microbial community change and seagrass productivity over a temperature gradient (co-supervised by Katie Dafforn MQ, Ziggy Marzinelli USYD and Tim Glasby DPI).

  • Sebastian Vadillo Gonzalez (PhD). A multilevel assessment of sediment bioremediation with bioturbating macrofauna (Co-supervised with Prof. Emma Johnston).

  • Brendan Lanham (PhD). Effects of habitat spatial distribution on fish assemblages (Jointly supervised with A/Prof Alistair Poore). Now a Post-doc at Macquarie University.

  • Marc Uya Yrayzoz (PhD). Disturbance and the establishment of invasive species (Jointly supervised with Assoc. Prof Fabio Bulleri, U. Pisa).

  • Lois Duff (MSc). Effects of invasive oysters in different ecological setting (Co-supervisor with Assoc. Prof. Louise Firth, U. Plymouth).

  • Sofie Voermen (PhD). Spread of the native macroalga Caulerpa filiformis. Now a Post-doc at Heriot Watt University, Scotland.

  • Hannah Lloyd (MSc). Inter-continental patterns of faunal biodiversity on temperate coasts. Now Senior Project Officer Ecosystems and Threatened Species for Department of Planning, Industry and Environment, NSW.

  • Hayden Beck (PhD). Mechanisms driving the success of tropical vagrant fish in coastal New South Wales (co-supervised with Prof. David Booth).

Honours students

  • Iva Nikolaev. Understanding how biodiversity is controlled by multiple habitat-forming species.

  • Jezebel Sherborne. Impacts of predation on recruitment at NSW oyster reefs.

  • Josee Hart. Understanding the influence of neighbouring habitats on restored oyster reef communities.

  • Ruby Smith. Landscape-scale predation risk on oysters.

  • Hannah Wesley (USYD). Characterizing bioturbation activity in sediments surrounding oyster reefs.

  • Rose Fuggle (USYD). Seagrass Root Microbiome: What, Where and When.

  • Davey Dor. Does parasitism select for faster life histories in Batillaria australis through pace of life syndrome?

  • Sian Liddy. Positive and negative interactions in facilitation cascades.

  • Ben Chui. The role of predation and facilitation in estuarine ecosystems.

  • Sam Ropert: Does algal functional diversity influence biodiversity?

  • Phoebe Quessy. Does enemy release or habitat-availability determine higher abundances of an invasive crab in its non-native range?

  • Michael Simpson. Impacts of the New Zealand porcelain crab Petrolisthes elongatus in Tasmania.

  • Brendan Lanham. Associational defences: Influence of Caulerpa filiformis on herbivore foraging.

  • Jason Hendrickx. Spread and impacts of the invasive snail Zeacumantus subcarinatus on Sydney’s rocky shores.

  • Dilys Zhang (UTS). Effects of pollution on marine macrophyte interactions.

  • Sam I’Ons (UTS). Biogeographic comparison of a marine invader in Australia.

  • Matt West (UTS). The role of disturbance in the spread of marine invaders.

  • Hannah Lloyd (UTS). Biogeography of marine invertebrates.

  • Chris Mabin (UTas). Effects of climate-driven EAC strengthening on kelp morphology and reproduction.

  • Lyndle Hardstaff (UTS). Relationships between leaf flammability and leaf traits in native and exotic species of dry sclerophyll forest.

  • Pamela Morales (UTS). Are earthworms good indicators of rehabilitation in disturbed environments?

  • Michael Clements (UNSW). The effects of mat-forming invasive species on the community structure of foulers in soft-sediment habitat.

  • Loni Koukoumaftis (UoW). Invasive seaweed increases the susceptibility of an infaunal bivalve to predation.