Bertarelli-Annual-Report-2024-LR - Flipbook - Page 33
Marine Science 2023
Scientist Spotlight
Prof. Yadvinder
Malhi
Professor of Ecosystem Science at the
Environmental Change Institute, School
of Geography and the Environment, and
Senior Research Fellow, Oriel College,
University of Oxford, UK
“I have found tropical
islands to be a uniquely
wonderful place to
appreciate this dance
of nutrients, energy
and life between air,
land and sea.”
Dr. Malc Nicoll
Senior Research Fellow, Zoological
Society of London’s Institute of
Zoology
“Technology can give us the
most amazing insights into
the natural world. Being able
to document where seabirds
go and how they use the open
ocean is not only fascinating,
but instrumental in their
conservation.”
Yadvinder’s research is on terrestrial ecology
and, over most of his career, has mainly
focused on understanding the ecosystem
functioning of tropical forests and savannas.
Working in the Indian Ocean region, he
aims to determine the extent to which
seabirds influence terrestrial ecology and
biogeochemical cycling of nutrients on
ocean islands. While working in this region
has been new for him, he finds it fascinating
to study these unique atoll forests, which
have often received less research attention
than the surrounding marine ecosystems.
He feels sharing approaches, insights
and learning across terrestrial and marine
ecology is wonderful and valuable, and
something that does not happen enough in
ecological research.
Malc’s research assesses the degree of
connectivity in the Western Indian Ocean for
five ecologically contrasting seabird species
(greater frigatebird, red-footed booby, sooty
tern, tropical and wedge-tailed shearwater)
by establishing the rate of transfer of genetic
material between colonies. This will identify
discrete ‘conservation or management
units’ made up of one or more (connected)
colonies. In combination with understanding
how attractive a colony’s surrounding marine
environment is for dispersing seabirds the
results of this research is enabling him to guide
the scale at which seabird conservation policy
and actions could be set in the region.
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