Wallace Coffee Talks - Autumn 2018
06 December - 1pm - Zoology Museum
Marta RodrÃguez-Rey (Swansea University, UK)
Pathways of Introduction and Spread of Aquatic Invasive Species (AIS) in freshwater ecosystems
Aquatic invasive species negatively impact on biodiversity, economy and biosecurity, especially on freshwater ecosystems which are among the most endangered but less protected ecosystems on Earth. Therefore, it is required, to identify the pathways of introduction and spread of invasive species in order to find optimum management approaches. In this talk, I will present the main outputs of my thesis entitled ‘Pathways of Introduction and Spread of Aquatic Invasive Species (AIS) in freshwater ecosystems’. Species Distribution Models are applied to study the range expansion of multiple freshwater taxa (fish, arthropods, molluscs, amphibians and reptiles) by including both environmental and anthropogenic predictors. Also, I will present the social perception toward invasive species in three European countries, a study that was conducted to understand the society’s role in the invasion process, needed for the success of any management actions.
Designing hydrodynamic biologging tags with a slice of policymaking on the side
Having undertaken a Science Policy Internship at The Royal Society last summer, I will talk first about some of my highlights from this opportunity, and some of my involvements in other policy-related activities since, often through the British Ecological Society. Not surprisingly then, also my thesis is quite policy focussed, aimed at providing an evidence base for managing the impact of tidal energy structures on grey seal movements and behaviour along the Welsh coast. Crucial to these aims is the design and deployment of bio-logging devices to record animal behaviour, so I will present a chapter where I have led a collaboration between engineers and ecologists to use Computational Fluid Dynamics techniques borrowed from aerospace engineering to improve the design of bio-logging devices attached to seals.
