Natasha A. Hardy

University of Alberta | UAlberta · Department of Biological Sciences

Trait-based approaches are increasingly recognized as a tool for understanding ecosystem re-assembly and function under intensifying global change. Here we synthesize trait-based research globally (n = 865 studies) to examine the contexts in which traits may be used for global change prediction. We find that exponential growth in the field over the...

Pre-print available to read here: https://www.authorea.com/users/346990/articles/472799-trait-based-approaches-to-global-change-ecology-from-description-to-prediction

The accepted geographic range of a species is related to both opportunity and effort in sampling that range. In deepwater ecosystems where human access is limited, the geographic ranges of many marine species are likely to be underestimated. A chance recording from baited cameras deployed on deep uncharted reef revealed an eastern blue devil fish (...

Top predator populations, once intensively hunted, are rebounding in size and geographic distribution. The cessation of sealing along coastal Australia and subsequent recovery of Australian Arctocephalus pusillus doriferus and long-nosed A. forsteri fur seals represents a unique opportunity to investigate trophic linkages at a frontier of predator...

Offshore islands are often preferentially selected for marine sanctuaries (no take areas) over inshore reefs on populated coasts because they support relatively unique marine communities and critical habitat for protected marine wildlife and are often less accessible to people. To evaluate whether marine sanctuaries around an offshore island with a...

Coral reefs face a crisis due to local and global anthropogenic stressors. A large proportion of the ~50% coral loss on the Great Barrier Reef has been attributed to outbreaks of the crown-of-thorns-seastar (COTS). A widely assumed cause of primary COTS outbreaks is increased larval survivorship due to higher food availability, linked with anthropo...

Outbreaks of crown-of-thorns starfish (COTS), Acanthaster planci, contribute to major declines of coral reef ecosystems throughout the Indo-Pacific. As the oceans warm and decrease in pH due to increased anthropogenic CO2 production, coral reefs are also susceptible to bleaching, disease and reduced calcification. The impacts of ocean acidification...

The impacts of ocean change stressors – warming and acidification – on marine invertebrate development has emerged as a significant impact of global change. We investigated the response of early development to the larval stage in sympatric, congeneric sea urchins, Heliocidaris tuberculata and H. erythrogramma with contrasting modes of development t...

The thermal envelope of development to the larval stage of two echinoids from eastern Australia was characterized to determine whether they fill their potential latitudinal ranges as indicated by tolerance limits. The tropical sand dollar, Arachnoides placenta, a species that is not known to have shifted its range, was investigated in Townsville, n...

Outbreaks of crown-of-thorns starfish (COTS), Acanthaster planci, contribute to major declines of coral reef ecosystems throughout the Indo-Pacific. As the oceans warm and decrease in pH due to increased anthropogenic CO2 production, coral reefs are also susceptible to bleaching, disease and reduced calcification. The impacts of ocean acidification...

To understand the role of sea temperature on the population biology of the crown-of-thorns sea star Acanthaster planci, the thermal window for embryonic and larval development was investigated. In two experiments, the response of embryos and larvae across 12 temperatures from 19.4 to 36.5 °C was quantified as the percentage of individuals reaching...