Stacey McCormack

University of Tasmania · Institute for Marine and Antarctic Studies (IMAS)

MEASO is a core activity of the Integrating Climate and Ecosystem Dynamics in the Southern Ocean (ICED) program, which is a regional program of the Integrated Marine Biosphere Research (IMBeR, which is a joint program of Future Earth and the Scientific Committee for Oceanic Research) and co-sponsored by the Scientific Committee for Antarctic Resear...

Understanding regional-scale food web structure in the Southern Ocean is critical to informing fisheries management and assessments of climate change impacts on Southern Ocean ecosystems and ecosystem services. Historically, a large component of Southern Ocean ecosystem research has focused on Antarctic krill, which provide a short, highly efficien...

Pressure in academia and science is rapidly increasing and early career researchers (ECRs) have a lot to gain from being involved in research initiatives such as large international projects. But just how inclusive are they? Here we discuss experiences of ECRs directly involved in the Marine Ecosystem Assessment for the Southern Ocean (MEASO), an A...

An amendment to this paper has been published and can be accessed via a link at the top of the paper.

Antarctic krill (Euphausia superba) are swarming, oceanic crustaceans, up to two inches long, and best known as prey for whales and penguins – but they have another important role. With their large size, high biomass and daily vertical migrations they transport and transform essential nutrients, stimulate primary productivity and influence the carb...

In recent years, there has been a shift away from the long-standing paradigm in which a short, krill-dominated food chain was considered to be the central element in Southern Ocean food webs. Instead, there is now increasing recognition that alternative energy pathways through mid-trophic level groups (mesopelagic fish and squid) may be equally (if...

Marine ecosystem models that incorporate fisheries and climate change are essential for forecasting and guiding sustainable ecosystem management decisions. A key challenge in developing and applying ecosystem models that are able to provide robust predictions for management is to accurately represent the structure and dynamics of food webs. Ecosyst...

This poster outlines a food web model under development for Prydz Bay and the southern Kerguelen Plateau region aimed at exploring alternative energy pathways through mid-trophic levels. The model is implemented in the software Ecopath with Ecosim and its structure is informed by the Southern Ocean Dietary Database. The poster details the aims and...

Marine ecosystem models assist in understanding ecosystem changes resulting from fisheries and climate change, making them important tools for forecasting and guiding sustainable management decisions. One of the greatest challenges in formulating these models is determining their optimum scope that includes a suitable level of model complexity whil...

Global warming and ocean acidification are occurring at unprecedented rates causing changes in coastal waters such as the south-eastern coast of Australia, known as a climate change hotspot. The effects of elevated pCO2 and temperature on the physiology and microbial community composition of the geniculate coralline algae Amphiroa anceps, was inves...