Scientific Committee
Professor David R Bellwood
James Cook University, Australia
Email : david.bellwood@jcu.edu.au
David Bellwood works on the evolution and ecology of coral reef fishes. His interests span palaeontology, phylogenetics, biogeography, functional and behavioural ecology. The overriding theme is to understand the role of fishes on coral reefs: how they have shaped the evolution of reefs, how they maintain ecosystem processes, and how our actions are changing the future of coral reefs. His main goal now is to develop practical solutions to the problems faced by coral reefs and the people who depend on them.
Professor Giacomo Bernardi
University of California Santa Cruz, USA
Email : bernardi@ucsc.edu
Research focus: Giacomo Bernardi’s lab focuses on the ecology and evolution of fishes. At the ecological level, research projects deal with recruitment dynamics, trophic interactions, and the effects of major disturbance events on fish assemblages. At the evolutionary level, the lab focuses on speciation, local adaptation and the evolutionary history of a number of coral reef fish groups. Our approaches are field and lab based, the latter primarily using phylogenomic and population genomic methods. In addition to natural systems, we have been working during the past decade on the genetics of the Lessepsian bioinvasion of the Mediterranean.
Dr. Culum Brown
Macquarie University, Australia
Email : culum.brown@mq.edu.au
Culum’s research niche lies in the study of fish behavioural ecology and its application to conservation biology and fisheries science with his most significant contribution being enhancing our understanding of fish cognition and behaviour. Culum is a well-known champion of fish intelligence. Culum has worked with a wide variety of model organisms including salmoniids, sticklebacks, rainbowfish, guppies and sharks. Much of his PhD research at the University of Queensland (2000) and post docs at Cambridge University focused on predator recognition and the social behaviour of fishes with a particular emphasis on social learning. Culum has applied his knowledge of fish cognition to enhancing the post-release survival of hatchery-reared fish (life-skills training). His post docs at the Smithsonian and the University of Edinburgh looked at the ecological correlates of cognition. Culum was the guest editor of a special issue on learning and memory in fishes in the review journal Fish and Fisheries. This collection of work was later released as a book entitled Fish Cognition and Behaviour published in 2006 & 2011 by Wiley-Blackwell. He is also Editor of The Journal of Fish Biology and a former editor of Animal Behaviour.
Dr. Mireille Chinain
Institut Louis Malardé – Laboratoire des Micro-Algues Toxiques, Tahiti, French Polynesia
Email : mchinain@ilm.pf
Since 2000, Mireille Chinain has been acting as head of the Laboratory of Toxic Micro-Algae (Institut Louis Malardé, Tahiti), whose mandate is to increase monitoring capabilities and prevention against marine biotoxins poisonings in French Polynesia, with a strong focus on ciguatera poisoning.
Her laboratory is in charge of the epidemiological surveillance of marine biotoxin intoxications and ciguatera database for French Polynesia, in collaboration with the Public Health Directorate of French Polynesia. It also manages algal and toxin-based field monitoring programs throughout Polynesian Islands and the Pacific region, for ciguatera risk assessment and management purposes. Current research programs focus on the ecology, biodiversity, taxonomy and toxicology of the ciguatera-causing dinoflagellate Gambierdiscus, as well as the development of various methods for ciguatoxins detection and a better understanding of the pathophysiology of ciguatera.
Associate Professor Gerry Clos
University of Otago, New Zealand
Email : gerry.closs@otago.ac.nz
Associate Professor Gerry Closs is Head of Department, Department of Zoology at the University of Otago. His expertise is in freshwater ecology, with a specialist interest in the ecology of freshwater fish. He has over 100 publications examining the conservation, ecology and management of freshwater systems, fish and invertebrates, plus numerous media commentaries and popular science articles. Gerry completed his doctoral research at Monash University in 1991, and then taught at La Trobe University for 5 years, before commencing as a Lecturer at the University of Otago in 1997. His current research interests focus on fish and freshwater invertebrate life history, migration and distribution. Of particular interest is the evolution and ecological role of fish migration, and relationships between the early life history of fishes, distribution and migration
Professor Geoffrey P. Jones
College of Science & Engineering, and ARC Centre of Excellence for Coral Reef Studies, JCU, Australia
Email : geoffrey.jones@jcu.edu.au
Research interests
Population dynamics of coral and temperate reef fishes
Behavioural ecology of reef fishes
Marine population connectivity
Habitat structure, disturbance and impacts on reef fishes
Rarity in coral reef fish assemblages
Human impacts on and conservation of coral reef fish communities
Role of marine reserves in conservation and fisheries management
Dr. Tim Langlois
University of Western Australia, Australia
E-mail: timothy.langlois@uwa.edu.au
I am active in creating international collaborations to synthesize a global perspective on the impacts of long-term and acute environmental and anthropogenic disturbances in marine ecosystems. My research in Australia examines continental-scale changes in ecological patterns as revealed by analyses of non-destructive video surveys of fish assemblages. As a Research Fellow at the Oceans Institute and a lecturer in the School of Plant Biology I use these global and regional studies to provide undergraduate and postgraduate students with a window into macroecological processes acting at both local and global scales.
Dr. Keiichi Matsuura
National Museum of Nature and Science, Japan
E-mail: matsuura@kahaku.go.jp
I had been working as an ichthyologist at the National Museum of Nature and Science, Japan since 1979 and retired the museum in March 2013. However, I was given the title of Curator Emeritus of the museum and am still studying systematics of tetraodontiform fishes and coral reef fishes. I have recently been also involved in a large project on biomimetics.
Dr. Marc Metian
International Atomic Energy Agency- Environment Laboratories, Monaco
Email : m.metian@iaea.org
Website of the lab or https://www.iaea.org/nael/page.php?page=2113
Marc Metian is researcher at the Environment Laboratories of the International Atomic Energy Agency (Monaco). He is a radioecologist, holds a degree in bioengineering from the Free University of Brussels, Belgium (2003) and a PhD in Biological Oceanology and Marine Environment from the University of La Rochelle, France (2007). He is a multidisciplinary scientist with experience in environmental and sustainability-oriented research. He is got a solid background in marine ecotoxicology, physiology and trophic transfer of essential and non-essential elements in marine organisms and a keen interest in seafood safety, seafood security, the aquaculture world and its future challenges.
For more info on his work: https://www.researchgate.net/profile/Marc_Metian
Dr. Valeriano Parravicini
Ecole Pratique des Hautes Etudes (EPHE), CRIOBE, France
Email : valeriano.parravicini@gmail.com
I am a marine ecologist at the “Centre de Recherches Insulaires et Observatoire de l’Environnement” based in Perpignan, France (EPHE, USR 3278, head: Serge Planes). After a PhD on the effects of climatic and anthropogenic pressures on Mediterranean rocky reef benthic communities, I obtained a post-doctoral position at CESAB, the French Centre for the synthesis and analysis of biodiversity. During my post-doc, I was charged to build an extensive global database on the distribution of 6,316 tropical reef fish species and to co-coordinate an international group of scientists for testing general macro-ecological and biogeographical theories. I have gained extensive experience in ecology, macro-ecology, biogeography and community ecology. Since 2014 I am Associate Professor at the CRIOBE in Perpignan and I have developed three main research axes: (i) the investigation of the interaction between environmental factors and species traits and how it determines community assembly processes on coral reefs; (ii) the investigation of the relative role of climate vs. species interaction in determining invasion success; (iii) the investigation of the complex relationship among biodiversity, human disturbance and the processes delivered by reef fish assemblages.
Dr. Luiz A. Rocha
California Academy of Sciences, San Francisco, USA
Email : LRocha@calacademy.org
I am the Follett Chair of Ichthyology at the California Academy of Sciences. My research interests and experience are centered on the evolution, phylogeography (or the geographic distribution of genetic lineages), conservation, biogeography, systematics and community and behavioral ecology of coral reef fishes. I frequently try to combine these fields, invoking ecology to help explain evolutionary patterns and using molecular tools to test biogeographic and systematic hypotheses. The overall objective of this interdisciplinary research is to test existing hypotheses (and propose new ones) about what generates and maintains the extremely high biodiversity in tropical coral reefs. Current projects include the investigation of processes of speciation in marine and freshwater fishes using modern genomic techniques, the survey of unexplored mesophotic reefs (between 100-150m depth) using technical diving, and contributing to the conservation and restoration of coral reefs.
Dr. Pierre Sasal
CRIOBE USR 3278 CNRS-EPHE-UPVD
Email : pierre.sasal@criobe.pf
Pierre Sasal is a fish parasitologist working on the effects of parasites on the ecology of fishes. He first start working on the effects of parasites in MPAs and get specialized on fish parasites and conservation biology. A large part of is research is now on the effects of parasites in aquaculture or under other anthropogenic pressure(global change, shark feeding, invasive species, …). After several years working on parasites of eels he is also involved in the protection of freshwater ecosystems from the south pacific with special interest on eels. He is co-author of more than 70 international papers and 2 chapters in books.
Dr. Marc Taquet
Institut de Recherche pour le Developpement (IRD – Tahiti)
Email : marc.taquet@gmail.com
PHD in Biology and Marine Environment (University Pierre and Marie Curie, Paris 6) HdR, Director of the Research Institute for the Development (IRD), in French Polynesia, I was the Director of the Ifremer Pacific Centre from January 2009 to August 2014. My main research topics are the tropical fisheries, mainly interested in FAD fisheries and on the aggregative behavior of large pelagic fish around floating objects. I also work on the marine fish biodiversity, both in pelagic and reef ecosystems in the Indian Ocean, in French Antilles and the Pacific. I am co-author around 50 scientific publications, 9 books (laureate of the Jean Pantaleon Award, French Veterinary Academy, 2014) and 10 scientific movies.