In the lead up to our Annual Marine Science Forum on the 2nd and 3rd of May, we will feature a post about each of the scientists presenting this year.

This week we would like to introduce you to:

Professor Andy Davis 

Professor of Marine Biology, University of Wollongong

Forum presentation: Deeper, faster, cheaper: technology revolutionises 21st century marine biology

Much as the development of the aqualung (co-invented by Jacques Cousteau) revolutionised access to the marine realm, recent technological advances allow scientists to collect data and make observations for longer or in deeper water than was imaginable a few years ago.  James Cameron pushed the boundaries with his 11km deep dive into the Mariana trench, but  this ‘high end’ technology is well outside the budget of the average scientist.  The beauty of recent technology is it’s affordability and small size.  I will demonstrate how staff and students at the University of Wollongong have been using technology to understand changes in fish assemblages associated with south coast marine parks and the movements of fishes using surgically implanted acoustic tags .  Never has there been a more exciting time for marine science.

Bio

Andy has been researching human impacts on marine systems for more than 25 years. He is an experimental ecologist and has undertaken research on every continent, including Antarctica.  He has worked with invasive pests, the impacts of climate change and worked to assess the effectiveness of Marine Parks.  One of his key current interests is the recovery of deep water assemblages from damage associated with anchor scour.  He heads a dynamic group of postgraduate students and collectively they have publihsed more than 125 scholarly scientific articles.  He serves as an associate editor for two scholarly journals and his work has been cited more than 2750 times.