Pauline Ross

Western Sydney University · School of Science and Health

Climate change is causing ocean warming (OW) and increasing the frequency, intensity, and duration of extreme weather events, including Marine Heat Waves (MHWs). Both OW and MHWs pose a significant threat to marine ecosystems and marine organisms, including oysters, oyster reefs and farmed oysters. We investigated the survival and growth of juvenil...

Understanding how habitat attributes (e.g., patch area and sizes, connectivity) control recruitment and how this is modified by processes operating at larger spatial scales is fundamental to understanding population sustainability and developing successful long‐term restoration strategies for marine foundation species—including for globally threate...

The COVID-19 pandemic required higher education institutions to rapidly transition to Emergency Remote Instruction (ERI) with little preparation. Discussions are now underway globally to learn the lessons of COVID-19 and to use this knowledge to shape the future of learning science in higher education. In this study, we examined the experiences of...

Oysters are a valuable and iconic seafood, deeply rooted in Australian culture. However, oysters have always been vulnerable to disease, with disease outbreaks leading to mass mortality events that regularly cost the oyster aquaculture industry millions of dollars and affect livelihoods. Notably, there is evidence that climate change is rapidly cau...

We systematically reviewed published literature, Traditional Ecological Knowledge and consulted with local scientists to synthesise all published knowledge of Gamay’s (Botany Bay, Sydney) aquatic ecosystem, identifying key knowledge gaps and future research opportunities for this urban waterway.

Biomedical science students need to learn to code. Graduates face a future where they will be better prepared for research higher degrees and the workforce if they can code. Embedding coding in a biomedical curriculum comes with challenges. First, biomedical science students often experience anxiety learning quantitative and computational thinking...

Background The term holobiont is widely accepted to describe animal hosts and their associated microorganisms. The genomes of all that the holobiont encompasses, are termed the hologenome and it has been proposed as a unit of selection in evolution. To demonstrate that natural selection acts on the hologenome, a significant portion of the associate...

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...

Climate change is expected to cause significant changes to rocky shore diversity. This study used outdoor mesocosms to test the predictions that warming and ocean acidification will alter the responses of native Trichomya hirsuta and introduced Mytilus galloprovincialis mussels, and their associated communities of infauna. Experiments consisted of...

Microbiomes can both influence and be influenced by metabolism, but this relationship remains unexplored for invertebrates. We examined the relationship between microbiome and metabolism in response to climate change using oysters as a model marine invertebrate. Oysters form economies and ecosystems across the globe, yet are vulnerable to climate c...

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...

Climate change will increase energetic demands on marine invertebrate larvae and make planktonic food more unpredictable. This study determined the impact of ocean acidification on larval energetics of the oysters Saccostrea glomerata and Crassostrea gigas. Larvae of both oysters were reared until the 9-day-old, umbonate stage under orthogonal comb...

Oyster microbiomes are integral to healthy function and can be altered by climate change conditions. Genetic variation among oysters is known to influence the response of oysters to climate change and may ameliorate any adverse effects on oyster microbiome, however, this remains unstudied. Nine full-sibling selected breeding lines of the Sydney roc...

There is a need to understand the responses of marine molluscs in this era of rapid climate change. Transgenerational plasticity that results in resilient offspring provides a mechanism for rapid acclimation of marine organisms to climate change. This study tested the hypothesis that adult parental exposure to elevated pCO2 and warming will have tr...

Climate change is expected to warm and acidify oceans and alter the phenology of phytoplankton, creating a mismatch between larvae and their food. Transgenerational plasticity (TGP) may allow marine species to acclimate to climate change; however, it is expected that this may come with elevated energetic demands. This study used the oysters, Saccos...

Transgenerational plasticity (TGP) has been identified as a critical mechanism of acclimation which may buffer marine organisms against climate change, yet whether the TGP response of marine organisms is altered depending on their habitat is unknown. Many marine organisms are found in intertidal zones where they experience episodes of emersion dail...

The wellbeing of marine organisms is connected to their microbiome. Oysters are a vital food source and provide ecological services, yet little is known about how climate change such as ocean acidification and warming will affect their microbiome. We exposed the Sydney rock oyster, Saccostrea glomerata, to orthogonal combinations of temperature (24...

Heatwaves are an increasing threat to organisms across the globe. Marine and atmospheric heatwaves are predicted to impact sessile intertidal marine organisms, especially when exposed at low tide and unable to seek refuge. The study aimed to determine whether a simulated atmospheric heatwave will alter the survival of selectively bred families of S...

Climate change is impacting ecosystems worldwide. Estuaries are diverse and important aquatic ecosystems; and yet until now we have lacked information on the response of estuaries to climate change. Here we present data from a twelve-year monitoring program, involving 6200 observations of 166 estuaries along >1100 kilometres of the Australian coast...

Securing economically and ecologically significant molluscs, as our oceans warm due to climate change, is a global priority. South eastern Australia receives warm water in a strengthening East Australia Current and so resident species are vulnerable to elevated temperature and marine heat waves. This study tested whether prior exposure to elevated...

Securing economically and ecologically significant molluscs, as our oceans warm and acidify due to climate change, is a global priority. South eastern Australia receives warm water in a strengthening East Australia Current and so resident species are vulnerable to elevated temperature and marine heat waves. This study tested whether oysters pre exp...

Although cross generation (CGP) and multigeneration (MGP) plasticity have been identified as mechanisms of acclimation to global change, the weight of evidence indicates that parental conditioning over generations is not a panacea to rescue stress sensitivity in offspring. For many species there were no benefits of parental conditioning. Even when...

There is the potential for climate change to interact with pollution in all of the Earth's oceans. In the fjords of Norway, mine tailings are released into fjords generating suspended sediment plumes that impact deep-sea ecosystems. These same deep-sea ecosystems are expected to undergo periodic warming as climate change increases the frequency of...

As the oceans acidify, marine invertebrates will experience physiological and behavioural changes that may alter how predators interact with their prey. This study assessed whether ocean acidification alters the predatory whelk Tenguella marginalba, their prey, the Pacific oyster, Crassostrea gigas, and their interactions. Oysters and whelks were e...

Whether sex determination of marine organisms can be altered by ocean acidification and warming during this century remains a significant, unanswered question. Here, we show that exposure of the protandric hermaphrodite oyster,Saccostrea glomeratato ocean acidification, but not warming, alters sex determination resulting in changes in sex ratios. A...

The endemic mulberry whelk (Tenguella marginalba) is a common predator on Australian intertidal rocky shores. The introduced Pacific oyster (Crassostrea gigas), found within the natural range of T. marginalba, is potential prey for the whelk. In experiments designed to increase our understanding of predatory behaviour by the whelk on oysters, we fo...

Understanding mechanisms of intraspecific variation in resilience to environmental drivers is key to predict species' adaptive potential. Recent studies show a higher CO2 resilience of Sydney rock oysters selectively bred for increased growth and disease resistance ('selected oysters') compared to the wild population. We tested whether the higher r...

Some populations of marine organisms appear to have inherent tolerance or the capacity for acclimation to stressful environmental conditions, including those associated with climate change. Sydney rock oysters from the B2 breeding line exhibit resilience to ocean acidification (OA) at the physiological level. To understand the molecular basis of th...

Coastal and estuarine environments are characterised by acute changes in temperature and salinity. Organisms living within these environments are adapted to withstand such changes, yet near-future ocean acidification (OA) may challenge their physiological capacity to respond. We tested the impact of CO2-induced OA on the acute thermal and salinity...

Sessile marine molluscs living in the intertidal zone experience periods of internal acidosis when exposed to air (emersion) during low tide. Relative to other marine organisms, molluscs have been identified as vulnerable to future ocean acidification; however, paradoxically it has also been shown that molluscs exposed to high CO2 environments are...

Parental effects passed from adults to their offspring have been identified as a source of rapid acclimation that may allow marine populations to persist as our surface oceans continue to decrease in pH. Little is known, however, whether parental effects are beneficial for offspring in the presence of multiple stressors. We exposed adults of the oy...

Supplement to: Parker, LM et al. (2017): Adult exposure to ocean acidification is maladaptive for larvae of the Sydney rock oyster Saccostrea glomerata in the presence of multiple stressors. Biology Letters, 13(2), 20160798, doi:10.1098/rsbl.2016.0798

Marine organisms need to adapt in order to cope with the adverse effects of ocean acidification and warming. Transgenerational exposure to CO2 stress has been shown to enhance resilience to ocean acidification in offspring from a number of species. However, the molecular basis underlying such adaptive responses is currently unknown. Here, we compar...

Ocean acidification, rising temperatures, and increased intensity of rain events are occurring due to climate change. Individually, each of these stressors has the potential to influence the growth and survival of many marine organisms, particularly during early development. Together the interactive and multiple impacts of elevated pCO2, temperatur...

Danger exists in using deficit and decline narratives that unsurprisingly have paralleled evidenced declines in research funding for Australian science. While surveys suggest a public lack of understanding of science which is all too often diagnosed and remediated as “dumbness”, Australians value science education. Scientists need to be careful whe...

Loss of habitat is considered to be one of the major threats to biodiversity. This is of concern because habitats created by bioengineering species support and enhance local biodiversity. The present study investigated the abundance and distribution of polychaetes among distinct patches of the biogenic habitats created by the tubeworm Galeolaria ca...

We are beginning to understand how the larvae of molluscs and echinoderms with complex life cycles will be affected by climate change. Early experiments using short-term exposures suggested that larvae in oceans predicted to increase in acidification and temperature will be smaller in size, take longer to develop, and have a greater incidence of ab...

Ocean acidification (OA) is predicted to have widespread implications for marine organisms, yet the capacity for species to acclimate or adapt over this century remains unknown. Recent transgenerational studies have shown that for some marine species, exposure of adults to OA can facilitate positive carryover effects to their larval and juvenile of...

Previous work suggests that larvae from Sydney rock oysters that have been selectively bred for fast growth and disease resistance are more resilient to the impacts of ocean acidification than non-selected, wild type oysters. In the current study, we used proteomics to investigate the molecular differences between oyster populations in adult Sydney...

Adult Nassarius burchardi and N. jonasii were maintained in a laboratory, allowed to spawn and their early life stages described. N. burchardi veligers hatched from bulliform, oval capsules and N. jonasii veligers hatched from circular capsules with axial ridges. The capsules are compared with those described for other Nassariidae. All eggs develop...

Ocean acidification is anticipated to decrease calcification and increase dissolution of shelled molluscs. Molluscs with thinner and weaker shells may be more susceptible to predation, but not all studies have measured negative responses of molluscs to elevated pCO2. Recent studies measuring the response of molluscs have found greater variability a...

Ocean acidification is predicted to have severe consequences for calcifying marine organisms especially molluscs. Recent studies, however, have found that molluscs in marine environments with naturally elevated or fluctuating CO2 or with an active, high metabolic rate lifestyle may have a capacity to acclimate and be resilient to exposures of eleva...

The aim of this study was to determine whether adult exposure to endocrine disrupting compounds affects offspring using trans-generational testing. Adult estuarine dwelling gastropods Nassarius burchardi and Nassarius jonasii were exposed to the synthetic estrogen 17α-ethynylestradiol (EE2) to determine the effects on the development and survival o...

Ocean acidification is anticipated to decrease calcification and increase dissolution of shelled molluscs. Molluscs with thinner and weaker shells may be more susceptible to predation, but not all studies have measured negative responses of molluscs to elevated pCO2. Recent studies measuring the response of molluscs have found greater variability a...

Ocean acidification is predicted to have severe consequences for calcifying marine organisms especially molluscs. Recent studies, however, have found that molluscs in marine environments with naturally elevated or fluctuating CO2 or with an active, high metabolic rate lifestyle may have a capacity to acclimate and be resilient to exposures of eleva...

Over the next century, elevated quantities of atmospheric CO2 are expected to penetrate into the oceans, causing a reduction in pH (-0.3/-0.4 pH unit in the surface ocean) and in the concentration of carbonate ions (so-called ocean acidification). Of growing concern are the impacts that this will have on marine and estuarine organisms and ecosystem...

Elevations in atmospheric carbon dioxide (CO2) are anticipated to acidify oceans because of fundamental changes in ocean chemistry created by CO2 absorption from the atmosphere. Over the next century, these elevated concentrations of atmospheric CO2 are expected to result in a reduction of the surface ocean waters from 8.1 to 7.7 units as well as a...

Intertidal wetlands are recognised for the provision of a range of valued ecosystem services. The two major categories of intertidal wetlands discussed in this contribution are saltmarshes and mangrove forests. Intertidal wetlands are under threat from a range of anthropogenic causes, some site-specific, others acting globally. Globally acting fact...

Contemporary changes to the doctorate mean student researchers are likely to be expected to write differently, write more and more often, and yet, despite a growing interest in doctoral education, we still know relatively little about the teaching and learning practices of students and supervisors vis-a-vis doctoral writing. This paper draws from a...

Biological diversity in Australia has been dwindling, even without the full onslaught of climate change with the anticipated decrease in numbers of species, communities and effects on associated ecosystems. This makes the impacts of climate change attractive for students undertaking research training in field biology in undergraduate and graduate z...

Elevations in atmospheric carbon dioxide (CO2) are anticipated to acidify oceans because of fundamental changes in ocean chemistry created by CO2 absorption from the atmosphere into the oceans in a process known as ocean acidification. Over the next century, elevated CO2 is expected to cause a reduction in the pH of the surface ocean from 8.1 to 7....

It is essential to predict the impact of elevated Pco2 on marine organisms and habitats to anticipate the severity and consequences of future ocean chemistry change. Despite the importance of carry-over effects in the evolutionary history of marine organisms, few studies have considered links between life-history stages when determining how marine...

Predicting the impact of warming and acidifying on oceans on the early development life history stages of invertebrates although difficult, is essential in order to anticipate the severity and consequences of future climate change. This review summarises the current literature and meta-analyses on the early life-history stages of invertebrates incl...

The current higher education climate seems to be demanding increasing levels of written output from doctoral researchers during candidature. In this context this study employed an online questionnaire, individual interviews and focus group discussions to collect information on the challenges and successes of doctora writing. It was found that feedb...

Acidifying oceans are predicted to fundamentally alter marine ecosystems. Over the next century, acute studies suggest that the impacts of climate change on marine organisms and ecosystems may be catastrophic. To date, however, little is known about whether the response of marine organisms varies within a species and whether this provides a potenti...

Academic and scientific literacy experts agree that becoming literate in an academic discipline involves coordinating language learning, and thinking in increasingly sophisticated ways to enable participation in discipline practices of knowledge construction. Despite this knowledge, understanding of writing pedagogies in tertiary science are in the...

The acidification of oceans is predicted to fundamentally alter marine ecosystems. Previous studies have found that elevated CO 2 has an effect on adult calcification, fertilisation and larval development, perhaps because of the organisms' inability to regulate acid-base status, but little is known about the mechanisms that underlie such responses....

Updated contact - john_wright1@outlook.com https://www.dpi.nsw.gov.au/content/research/areas/aquaculture/outputs/2011/1967 http://www.worldoyster.org/sympo/ios4/pdf/P-JW.pdf A measure of the synergistic impact of elevated CO 2 and temperature on the metabolic efficiency and feeding rate of the Sydney rock and Pacific oysters.

This study compared the synergistic effects of elevated pCO2 and temperature on the early life history stages of two ecologically and economically important oysters: the Sydney rock oyster, Saccostrea glomerata and the Pacific oyster, Crassostrea gigas. Gametes, embryos, larvae and spat were exposed to four pCO2 (375, 600, 750, 1,000µatm) and four...

Early last century, educators bemoaned the quality of science learning, stating that it should be a process of enquiry where students learn a way of thinking, and knowing, rather than a process of rote memorisation of science content and facts to be regurgitated in exams. Dewey, Schwab and Bruner stated that for meaningful learning to occur student...

In temperate mangrove forests in New South Wales, Australia, the limpet Patelloida mimula Iredale lives on the oyster Saccostrea commercialis Iredale and Roughley, which, along with mangrove trees, provide the only hard substrata in a habitat otherwise dominated by soft-sediment. The objective of this study was to ascertain the degree of associatio...

This study investigated the synergistic effects of ocean acidification (caused by elevations in the partial pressure of carbon dioxide pCO2) and temperature on the fertilization and embryonic development of the economically and ecologically important Sydney rock oyster, Saccostrea glomerata (Gould 1850). As pCO2 increased, fertilization significant...

Beds of the seagrass Zostera capricorni are an integral part of the estuarine landscape along the east coast of Australia, forming an important habitat for juvenile fish. Seagrass beds can vary in their size, shape and patchiness of seagrass cover as well as their distance from the estuary mouth. We tested for a correlation between these features a...

Mangrove forests and seagrass beds frequently occur as adjacent habitats in the temperate waters of southeastern Australia. At low tide when fish cannot occupy mangroves they might utilise adjacent habitats, including seagrass. We first sampled small fish from seagrass beds close to and far from mangroves in the Pittwater estuary, NSW, Australia. S...

Edge effects and bed size are 2 main landscape-scale parameters that may affect fish in seagrass. We tested their influence on the species richness per unit area and density of fish in 6 Zostera capricorni seagrass beds ranging in size from 2300 to 211200 m2, in the Pittwater estuary, NSW, Australia. The effect of edge interacted with bed size. The...

The grey mangrove tree, Avicennia marina , forms a hard substratum in an area otherwise dominated by soft‐sediment. Various intertidal organisms attach to and move about on the trees. The abundant barnacles Elminius covenus, Hexaminius popeiana and Hexaminius foliorum live on a variety of substrata in mangrove forests. Their patterns of distributio...

Trampling paths are a feature of estuarine habitats in southeastern Australia. An experimental investigation quantified the impact of trampling over a 3year period on the microhabitat features and macrofaunal assemblages in a temperate mangrove forest in New South Wales, Australia. The magnitude of the impact varied between 0 and 25 passes (represe...

Biology students in their first year at university have difficulty understanding the abstract concepts of photosynthesis. The traditional didactic lecture followed by practical exercises that show various macroscopic aspects of photosynthesis often do not help the students visualise or understand the submicroscopic (molecular-level) reactions that...

For students to progress, feedback is essential. Without feedback it is difficult for students to progress because they have little measure of their cognitive and skill development; in partnership with a facilitator or tutor it is easier. Within this partnership, however, some types of feedback are potentially more powerful than others. We argue th...