Samantha Jane Howlett

Lancaster University | LU · Lancaster Environment Centre

Scleractinian corals are engineers on coral reefs that provide both structural complexity as habitat and sustenance for other reef-associated organisms via the release of organic and inorganic matter. However, coral reefs are facing multiple pressures from climate change and other stressors, which can result in mass coral bleaching and mortality ev...

Herbivory is a key process on coral reefs, which, through grazing of algae, can help sustain coral‐dominated states on frequently disturbed reefs and reverse macroalgal regime shifts on degraded ones. Our understanding of herbivory on reefs is largely founded on feeding observations at small spatial scales, yet the biomass and structure of herbivor...

Browsing by large herbivores can have significant impacts on various ecosystems, and the industries associated with them. However, little is done to explain animal-plant interactions on the basis of browsing frequency. Our study indicates that assessment of summer browsing at the end of the growing season can give a clearer understanding of these i...

Background In Europe, the life-cycle of Echinococcus multilocularis is predominantly sylvatic, involving red foxes (Vulpes vulpes) as the main definitive hosts and rodents such as muskrats and arvicolids as intermediate hosts. The parasite is the etiological agent of human alveolar echinococcosis, a malignant zoonotic disease caused by the accident...

Marine protected areas can be designated for a number of reasons, but exactly how they provide benefits is only recently being understood. We assessed the effect of protection on the size and distribution of six common species of grouper in a coral reef ecosystem. Data on live coral cover, coral genus diversity, and coral colony structure type were...

The Eurasian lynx is managed as a game species in Latvia. A variety of demographic parameters were used to assess the current status of the Latvian lynx population and recruitment after annual harvest. Population age–gender structure and female prenatal fecundity were determined in 530 legally hunted animals over a 9-year period. Average prenatal f...

Evaluating potential effects of conservation and management actions in marine reserves requires an understanding not only of the biological processes in the reserve, and between the reserve and the surrounding ocean, but also of the effects of the wildlife on the wider political and economic processes. Such evaluations are made considerably more di...

This project was aimed towards developing opportunities for private sector engagement in protected area management; namely the designation of the coastal reef areas of the private islands of Denis and North within Seychelles. The report summarises rapid assessment surveys and ongoing monitoring to identify key areas of diversity and importance.