Laura Falkenberg

• Lecturer at University of South Australia

Seagrasses are important foundation species, which support coastal biodiversity and provide socioeconomic benefits. However, seagrasses are threatened by anthropogenic changes, including the elevated temperature associated with marine heatwaves (MHWs) and light limitation from eutrophication or increased sedimentation. In this experiment, we expose...

Students and early career researchers/professionals (ECRs) must increasingly acquire a variety of skills and expand their collaborative networks to become more competitive as they apply for jobs and grants. Funding for skills training and overall availability of opportunities can, however, pose a challenge to this career plan. The Association for t...

The Hong Kong Jellyfish Project is a citizen science initiative started in early 2021 to enhance our understanding of jellyfish in Hong Kong. Here, we present a dataset of jellyfish sightings collected by citizen scientists from 2021 through 2023 within local waters. Citizen scientists submitted photographs and other data (time, date, and location)...

Species interactions are influenced by changes to the environment, such as seasonal variations in temperature, and human‐driven warming including marine heatwaves (MHWs). Alteration of species interactions, particularly those involving foundation species, can shape ecosystem structure, stability and dynamics. Marine habitats, notably seagrass meado...

Tropical regions contain ecologically and socio‐economically important habitats, and are home to about 3.8 billion people, many of which directly depend on tropical coastal waters for their well‐being. At the basis of these ecosystems are biogeochemical processes. Climate change is expected to have a greater impact in the tropics compared to temper...

As humans accelerate global environmental change, extreme climatic events are increasing in frequency, duration, and intensity. In marine environments, extreme events of particular concern are marine heatwaves (MHWs). Previous reviews synthesising subsets of field-based research examining the ecological effects of these short-term warming events ha...

The Hong Kong Jellyfish Project uses photographs and videos from citizen scientists to document the occurrence of jellyfish in this region. Based on these records, we describe sightings of two previously unrecorded species of box jellyfish, Malo filipina (Bentlage & Lewis, 2012) and an unidentified species of Morbakka sp. Gershwin, 2008, in Hong Ko...

The ability of marine organisms to persist under, and recover from, periods of stressful conditions will shape their occurrence in future oceans characterized by exacerbated marine heatwaves (MHWs). Organism persistence and recovery may, in turn, be shaped by traits of the organisms themselves including, for example, body size. In the present study...

Citizen science projects are designed to encourage involvement of the public with science. Understanding demographics of participants and factors that motivate or create barriers to participation are central in ensuring citizen science is effective. Citizen science is not new to Asia, but its implementation is underrepresented in the published lite...

Marine heatwaves (MHWs) are a growing threat to marine species globally, including economically and ecologically important foundation species, such as seagrasses. Seagrasses in tropical regions may already be near their thermal maxima, and, therefore, particularly susceptible to increases in temperature, such as from MHWs. Here, we conducted a 10-d...

Introduction Reef building oysters provide vast ecological benefits and ecosystem services. A large part of their role in driving ecological processes is mediated by the microbial communities that are associated with the oysters; together forming the oyster holobiont. While changing environmental conditions are known to alter the physiological perf...

Internationalisation of curriculum can enhance graduate awareness of global issues, such as climate change, and shape behaviours in ways that facilitate sustainable development. To ensure all students can develop this perspective, internationalisation needs to be done at home using a variety of approaches. There is a growing body of research explor...

Global change has the potential to affect organisms and re-structure ecosystems where key species interactions, such as herbivory, are disrupted. The fastest ways individual herbivores – and therefore ecosystems – can respond to climate change is through shifts in behaviour. In marine habitats, environmental changes of particular concern in the fut...

Microplastics in marine ecosystems are ingested by a range of organisms. Bivalves are particularly susceptible to microplastic ingestion as they filter large volumes of water for feeding. Many investigations have focussed on commercially important species, with little research investigating other ecosystem engineering species. Here, microplastics i...

Global climate change is leading to shifts in abiotic conditions. Short-term temperature stresses induced by marine heatwaves (MHWs) can affect organisms both during and after the events. However, the recovery capacity of organisms is likely dependent on the magnitude of the initial stress event. Here, we experimentally assessed the effect of MHW m...

Background Horizontal gene transfer (HGT) enables novel gene establishment, has frequently reported in the genomes of protostomes but rarely in that of deuterostomes. As one of the closest living invertebrate relatives of vertebrates, amphioxus is considered as an important group for the evolutionary study of vertebrates and deuterostomes. Results...

Microplastics are ubiquitous in the marine environment, and their uptake by many organisms has been well documented. Concern about increasing plastic waste in ecosystems and organisms has led to the production of biodegradable alternatives. However, long breakdown times of biodegradable plastics in natural environments mean they still have the pote...

Jellyfish have wide distributions throughout the world’s oceans, with new species records emerging from increasingly broad areas as novel identification approaches are implemented, including citizen science. Here, the first accounts of Thysanostoma loriferum (Ehrenberg, 1837) and Netrostoma setouchianum (Kishinouye, 1902) in Hong Kong waters are re...

Solutions are being sought to ameliorate the impacts of anthropogenic climate change. Seagrass may be a solution to provide refugia from climate change for marine organisms. This study aimed to determine if the seagrass Zostera muelleri sub spp. capricorni benefits the Sydney rock oyster Saccostrea glomerata, and if these benefits can modify any an...

The Hong Kong oyster Magallana hongkongensis, previously known as Crassostrea hongkongensis, is a true oyster species native to the estuarine-coast of the Pearl River Delta in southern China. The species—with scientific, ecological, cultural, and nutritional importance—has been farmed for hundreds of years. However, there is only limited informatio...

Habitat-forming organisms have an important role in ameliorating stressful conditions and may be of particular relevance under a changing climate. Increasing CO2 emissions are driving a range of environmental changes, and one of the key concerns is the rapid acceleration of ocean acidification and associated reduction in pH. Such changes in seawate...

Species-level differences in responses to environmental factors may increase a community’s ability to retain key functions under environmental change. We compared the oxygen consumption rates and maintenance of critical behaviors for three co-occurring intertidal gastropod species over a temperature range of 30 °C. Each species exhibited a distinct...

The global recognition of the importance of science communication has led to a recent emphasis on outreach and broad dissemination of information as a core component of a scientist's role. Increasingly, training for academics is seen as a necessity for successful outreach activities, yet it has associated costs which may deter some from participati...

Short‐term, sublethal response variables are increasingly used to provide rapid indications of whole organism responses to future climate conditions. Accumulating evidence suggests, however, that these response variables may not consistently reflect whole organism responses which manifest over longer time scales. Here, we consider the effect of mod...

Peer‐review and subject‐matter editing is the backbone of scientific publishing. However, early‐career researchers (ECRs) are given few opportunities to participate in the editorial process beyond reviewing articles. Thus, a disconnect exists: science needs high‐quality editorial talent to conduct, oversee and improve the publishing process, yet we...

Peer-review and subject-matter editing is the backbone of scientific publishing. However, early career researchers (ECRs) are given few opportunities to participate in the editorial process beyond reviewing articles. Thus, a disconnect exists: science needs high-quality editorial talent to conduct, oversee, and improve the publishing process, yet w...

Biological fitness relies on processes acting at various levels of organization, all of which can be modified by environmental change. Application of synthesis frameworks, such as the Adverse Outcome Pathway (AOP), can enhance our understanding of the responses to stressors identified in studies at each level, as well as the links among them. Howev...

The ocean provides resources key to human health and well-being, including food, oxygen, livelihoods, blue spaces, and medicines. The global threat to these resources posed by accelerating ocean acidification is becoming increasingly evident as the world’s oceans absorb carbon dioxide emissions. While ocean acidification was initially perceived as...

Editors are often described as gatekeepers of scientific publishing, as they are responsible for maintaining journal standards, deciding what is published, and ultimately guiding discourse. Scientists who are journal editors gain career benefits, yet these are rarely described to early career researchers, much less how to prepare for such a role. A...

Ocean acidification (OA) is the decline in seawater pH and saturation levels of calcium carbonate (CaCO3) minerals that has led to concerns for calcifying organisms such as corals, oysters and mussels because of the adverse effects of OA on their biomineralisation, shells and skeletons. A range of cellular biology, geochemistry and materials scienc...

Species’ responses to climate change will reflect variability in the effects of physiological selection that future conditions impose. Here, we considered the effects of ocean acidification (increases in pCO2; 606, 925, 1250 µatm) and freshening (reductions in salinity; 33, 23, 13 PSU) on sperm motility in oysters (Crassostrea gigas) from two popul...

Understanding links between the abiotic environment and organism fitness and function is a central challenge of biology, and an issue of growing relevance due to anthropogenic environmental changes. To date, our understanding of these links has largely been based on the findings of isolated experimental studies. This command may, however, be enhanc...

Arctic Ocean Acidification: update of chemical changes

Urchin harvesting and kelp regrowth in northern Norway under ocean acidification and warming.

Conclusions, knowledge gaps and recommendations. In: AMAP Assessment 2018: Arctic Ocean Acidification

Publication is the key means by which science is disseminated, with evaluation by journal editors and peer reviewers an important component of the scientific process. Peer reviews are, however, a typically occluded genre of documents not publicly available. Consequently, relatively little is known about peer reviews, including what makes them relev...

Although the public desire for healthy environments is clear‐cut, the science and management of ecosystem health has not been as simple. Ecological systems can be dynamic and can shift abruptly from one ecosystem state to another. Such unpredictable shifts result when ecological thresholds are crossed; that is, small cumulative increases in an envi...

Hard surfaces submerged in the marine environment often become colonised by macro-organisms unless the surfaces have some form of biofouling protection. While protective paints that contain tributyltin or copper work well to prevent biofouling, release of these materials into the environment has been shown to have wider negative impacts. Consequent...

Human societies derive economic benefit from marine systems, yet these benefits may be modified as humans drive environmental change. Here, we conducted the first systematic review of literature on the potential economic effects of ocean acidification. We identified that while there is a growing literature discussing this topic, assessments of the...

Forecasting the ecological consequences of a changing climate requires a range of approaches, including the use of mesocosms in which multiple physical and chemical parameters can be manipulated and the response of interacting organisms quantified. Here, we describe the design and evaluate the performance of a facility incorporating large mesocosms...

Background: The ecological consequences of climate change will be driven by a combination of both gradual and abrupt changes in climatic conditions. Despite growing evidence that abrupt abiotic change of extreme events may profoundly alter ecological processes, it remains unclear how such events may combine with longer-term global and local disturb...

Current trends in habitat loss have been forecast to accelerate under anticipated global change, thereby focusing conservation attention on identifying the circumstances under which key species interactions retard habitat loss. Urbanised coastlines are associated with broad-scale loss of kelp canopies and their replacement by less productive mats o...

Seawater desalination is an increasingly common means to meet the demand for freshwater. Resulting wastewater discharges can, however, impact biota of the surrounding environment. Concern exists that interactive effects specific to the outputs of each desalination plant may result in unique impacts difficult to predict by studying existing plants o...

Water quality monitoring programmes have become integral components of efforts to identify the impact(s) of anthropogenic activities. In many programmes, however, it appears records are being collected at finer temporal scales than required to produce the information needed by end-users (e.g. managers). Such mismatches are of concern given that the...

Certain environmental conditions facilitate the control of primary producers by herbivores. Environmental change can, therefore, mediate the strength of consumption relative to production such that the abundance of primary producers is altered, potentially driving phase-shifts from one habitat type to another (e.g. the displacement kelp forests by...

Variation in rates of herbivory may be driven by direct effects of the abiotic environment on grazers, as well as indirect effects mediated by their food. Disentangling these direct and indirect effects is of fundamental importance for ecological forecasts of changing climate on species interactions and their influence on biogenic habitat. Whilst e...

Primary producers rarely exist under their ideal conditions, with key processes often limited by resource availability. As human activities modify environmental conditions, and therefore resource availability, some species may be released from these limitations while others are not, potentially disrupting community structure. In order to examine th...

Synergies among stressors drive unanticipated changes to alternative states, yet little has been done to assess whether alleviating one or more contributing stressors may disrupt these interactions. It would be particularly useful to understand whether the synergistic effects of global and local stressors could be alleviated, leading to slower chan...

In all ecosystems, including near shore marine environments, resource availability regulates the productivity of individuals, species, and, ultimately, communities. Where human activities enrich limiting resources in these systems, rates of primary production and accumulation of organic matter are modified, a process widely referred to as eutrophic...

Foundation species, such as kelp, exert disproportionately strong community effects and persist, in part, by dominating taxa that inhibit their regeneration. Human activities which benefit their competitors, however, may reduce stability of communities, increasing the probability of phase-shifts. We tested whether a foundation species (kelp) would...

ANOVA testing the combined effect of Kelp (present v. absent), Nutrients (ambient v. elevated) and CO2 (current v. future) on the change in percentage covers of turf-forming algae. (TIF)

Physicochemical parameters of mesocosms measured in the field (n = 9) and the laboratory (n = 3) for each treatment. Reported are means, standard errors (S.E.), maximum and minimum values. Field ammonia, phosphate and NOX were sampled weekly on six occasions, with laboratory-based mesocosms sampled on alternate days (n = 20 occasions). Total Alkali...

Results from ANOVA, testing the combined effect of Kelp (present v. absent), Nutrients (ambient v. elevated) and CO2 (current v. future) on the 9 physicochemical parameters measured in the field and effect of Nutrients (ambient v. elevated) on the 3 measured in the laboratory. Field ammonia, phosphate and NOX were sampled weekly on six occasions, w...

Nutrient concentrations within field (a, c, e) and laboratory (b, d, f) based mesocosms measured from beginning to end of the experiment. Ammonia (a, b), phosphate (c, d) and NOX (e, f ) under ambient nutrients (filled circles) and elevated nutrients (empty circles). Data presented are means across CO2 and kelp treatments. Note the different scales...

ANOVA testing the combined effect of Kelp (present v. absent), Nutrients (ambient v. elevated) and CO2 (current v. future) on the final percentage covers of turf-forming algae. (TIF)

Carbonate chemistry parameters in field-based experimental mesocosms measured weekly from beginning to end of the experiment. pH (a), TA (b), pCO2 (c), HCO3− (d) in mesocosms under current CO2 (filled circles) and future CO2 (empty circles). Total Alkalinity (TA) and pH were measured weekly on eight occasions, from which concentrations (µmol kg−1)...

ANOVA testing the combined effect of Kelp (present v. absent), Nutrients (ambient v. elevated) and CO2 (current v. future) on the final weight per area of turf-forming algae. (TIF)

A representative diurnal cycle (Oct 9–10, 2009; 0630-0630) of pH for all treatment combinations. CCO2, current CO2; FCO2, future CO2; KP, kelp present; KA, kelp absent; AN, ambient nutrients; EN, elevated nutrients. (TIF)

Accumulation of atmospheric CO2 is increasing the temperature and concentration of CO2 in near-shore marine systems. These changes are occurring concurrently with increasing alterations to local conditions, including nutrient pollution and exploitation of selected biota. While the body of evidence for the negative effects of climate change is rapid...

Climate-driven change represents the cumulative effect of global through local-scale conditions, and understanding their manifestation at local scales can empower local management. Change in the dominance of habitats is often the product of local nutrient pollution that occurs at relatively local scales (i.e. catchment scale), a critical scale of m...

Climate-driven change represents the cumulative effect of global through local-scale conditions, and understanding their manifestation at local scales can empower local management. Change in the dominance of habitats is often the product of local nutrient pollution that occurs at relatively local scales (i.e. catchment scale), a critical scale of m...