Marine Biodiversity and Ecosystem Functioning
Frameworks, methodologies, and integration
Edited by Martin Solan, Rebecca J. Aspden, and David M. Paterson
Author Information
Martin Solan is a marine benthic ecologist with broad interests in understanding biodiversity-environment interactions and the ecosystem consequences of altered diversity and environmental change. A key component of his research has been the development of in situ marine technology for the observation of organism-sediment relations, enabling changes in invertebrate behaviour to be related to environmental conditions at the temporal and spatial scales at which these key benthic processes occur. These techniques are instrumental in understanding the contribution of past and present benthic communities to ecosystem functioning and informed subsequent design of complex manipulative laboratory and field experiments in benthic systems to understand the ecological consequences of species loss. In establishing this area of research, he has been influential in modifying approaches originally developed in terrestrial grassland systems for marine benthic environments.
Beccy Aspden is currently a post doctoral research assistant at the University of St. Andrews, Scotland. She graduated from the University Plymouth in 2000 with a BSc in Marine Biology and Coastal Ecology. During August 2000 she carried out an internship at the Alfred Wegner Institute in Sylt, Germany, studying the effects of a tube building polychaete reef on the sediment and faunal diversities within and surrounding it. During the next 12 months she worked for a marine and freshwater consultancy agency (Unicomarine Ltd), during which she undertook the identification of invertebrate fauna found within samples taken for various contracts. These contracts included port development and dredging, coastal protection, fishery studies, and habitat surveys. Dr Aspden joined the Sediment Ecology Research Group (University St Andrews) in 2001 to complete her Ph.D.
David Paterson is Head of the School of Biology at the University of St. Andrews and Director of the Sediment Ecology Research Group. He obtained his Ph.D. from the University of Bath in 1984 and was a Royal Society Research Fellow at the University of Bristol until moving to St Andrews. Professor Paterson has over 100 peer reviewed publications in the field of coastal ecology and dynamics and has interests in biodiversity, the ecology and dynamics of coastal depositional systems, ecosystem function and biofilm ecology.
Contributors:
Rebecca J. Aspden, University of St Andrews, UK
Lisandro Benedetti-Cecchi, University of Pisa, Italy
Matthew E. S. Bracken, Northeastern University, USA
John F. Bruno, University of North Carolina, USA
Matthew E. Clapham, University of California, USA
Tasman P. Crowe, University College Dublin, Ireland
Roberto Danovaro, Polytechnic University of Marche, Italy
Emma C. Defew, University of St Andrews, UK
Stephen Q. Dornbos, University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee, USA
J. Emmett Duffy, Virginia Institute of Marine Science, USA
Nick Dulvy, Simon Fraser University, Canada
Anton Edwards, University of St Andrews, UK
Mark C. Emmerson, Queens University Belfast, UK
Margaret L. Fraiser, University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee, USA
Alan M. Friedlander, University of Hawaii, USA
Jasmin A. Godbold, University of Southampton, UK
Caroline Hattam, Plymouth Marine Laboratory, UK
Alison R. Holt, University of Sheffield, UK
Julia Jabour, University of Tasmania, Australia
Marc Laflamme, Yale University, USA
Andrew M. Lohrer, National Institute of Water and Atmospheric Research, New Zealand
Elena Maggi, University of Pisa, Italy
Anne E. Magurran, University of St Andrews, UK
Stephen Mangi, Plymouth Marine Laboratory, UK
Scot Mathieson, Scottish Environmental Protection Agency, UK
Shahid Naeem, Columbia University, USA
Nessa E. O'Connor, Queen's University Belfast, UK
Ruth Parker, Cefas Lowestoft Laboratory, UK
David M. Paterson, University of St Andrews, UK
David Raffaelli, University of York, UK
Finlay Scott, Cefas Lowestoft Laboratory, UK
Martin Solan, University of Southampton, UK
Paul J. Somerfield, Plymouth Marine Laboratory, UK
John J. Stachowicz, University of California at Davis, USA
Simon F. Thrush, National Institute of Water and Atmospheric Research, New Zealand
Stephen Widdicombe, Plymouth Marine Laboratory, UK
