Dr Nick Graham

Postdoctoral Research Fellow

 

 


 


Research Interests

My research career has focussed on large-scale ecological questions directly relevant to the management of coral reef ecosystems. One of my principal research interests over the past several years has been the impacts of coral bleaching on fish assemblages. I have assessed the longer-term impacts of coral bleaching on fishes and identified the collapse of reef structural matrix as a major driver of declines in a wide range of species and size classes. These impacts lead to reduced fish biodiversity and changes in size structure, leading to lag effects in fisheries and long-term ecosystem disruption. A large-scale, multi-institutional study, covering 7 countries in the Indian Ocean and over a decade of data, enabled us to assess the ability of local management in the form of No Take Areas to protect and promote recovery of reefs in the face of large-scale climate disturbance. Impacts and recovery varied among locations and with local geography, but was not influenced by local management.

Another collaboration in the Indian Ocean led to a large database of coral genera-specific responses to warm water events across the western Indian Ocean with which we assessed the ability of satellite monitoring systems to predict bleaching events and assessed changes in the diversity and community composition of corals across the region. I have had an interest in the impacts of fishing and marine protection on reef fish assemblages for some time and have worked on the time scales necessary for full recovery in No Take Areas and the effects of fishing and protection on predator-prey relationships and the overall size structuring of fish communities. More recently I have been involved with assessing the capability of remote sensing technologies to resolve habitat characteristics on reefs at a scale relevant to fish, and am getting increasingly interested in methods of linking social-ecological systems for natural resource assessment and management in a changing climate. I have co-authored 4 invited review papers.

 

Select Publications

[3]  Graham, NAJ, McClanahan, TR, MacNeil, MA, Wilson, SK, Polunin, NVC, Jennings, S, Chabanet, P, Clark, S, Spalding, MD, Letourneur, Y, Bigot, L, Galzin, R, Öhman, MC, Garpe, KC, Edwards, AJ and Sheppard, CRC (2008). Climate warming, marine protected areas and the ocean-scale integrity of coral reef ecosystems. PLoS ONE 3(8): e3039.
http://dx.doi.org/10.1371%2Fjournal.pone.0003039

[4]  Pratchett, MS, Munday, PL, Wilson, SK, Graham, NAJ, Cinner, JE, Bellwood, DR, Jones, GP, Polunin, NVC and McClanahan, TR (2008). Effects of climate induced coral bleaching on coral reef fishes; ecological and economic consequences. Oceanography and Marine Biology 46: 251-296.

[5]  Graham, N (2007). Ecological versatility and the decline of coral feeding fishes following climate driven coral mortality. Marine Biology 153(2): 119-127.
http://dx.doi.org/10.1007/s00227-007-0786-x

[6]  Graham, N, McClanahan, T, Letourneur, Y and Galzin, R (2007). Anthropogenic stressors, inter-specific competition and enso effects on a mauritian coral reef. Environmental Biology of Fishes 78(1): 57-69.
http://dx.doi.org/10.1007/s10641-006-9077-5

[7]  Graham, NAJ, Wilson, SK, Jennings, S, Polunin, NVC, Robinson, J, Bijoux, JP and Daw, TM (2007). Lag effects in the impacts of mass coral bleaching on coral reef fish, fisheries, and ecosystems. Conservation Biology 21(5): 1291-1300.
http://dx.doi.org/10.1111/j.1523-1739.2007.00754.x

[8]  Ledlie, M, Graham, N, Bythell, J, Wilson, S, Jennings, S, Polunin, N and Hardcastle, J (2007). Phase shifts and the role of herbivory in the resilience of coral reefs. Coral Reefs 26(3): 641-653.
http://dx.doi.org/10.1007/s00338-007-0230-1

[9]  Mangubhai, S, Harris, A and Graham, NAJ (2007). Synchronous daytime spawning of the solitary coral fungia danai (fungiidae) in the chagos archipelago, central indian ocean. Coral Reefs 26(1): 15-15.

[10]  McClanahan, TR, Ateweberhan, M, Graham, NAJ, Wilson, SK, Sebastian, CR, Guillaume, MMM and Bruggemann, JH (2007). Western indian ocean coral communities: Bleaching responses and susceptibility to extinction. Marine Ecology-Progress Series 337: 1-13.

[11]  McClanahan, TR, Ateweberhan, M, Sebastian, CR, Graham, NAJ, Wilson, SK, Bruggemann, JH and Guillaume, MMM (2007). Predictability of coral bleaching from synoptic satellite and in situ temperature observations. Coral Reefs 26(3): 695-701.

[12]  McClanahan, TR, Graham, NAJ, Calnan, JM and MacNeil, MA (2007). Toward pristine biomass: Reef fish recovery in coral reef marine protected areas in kenya. Ecological Applications 17(4): 1055-1067.

[13]  McClanahan, TR, Graham, NAJ, Maina, J, Chabanet, P, Bruggemann, JH and Polunin (2007). Influence of instantaneous variation on estimates of coral reef fish populations and communities. Marine Ecology Progress Series 340: 221-234.
http://www.int-res.com/abstracts/meps/v340/p221-234/

[14]  Turner, R, Cakacaka, A, Graham, N, Polunin, N, Pratchett, M, Stead, S and Wilson, S (2007). Declining reliance on marine resources in remote south pacific societies: Ecological versus socio-economic drivers. Coral Reefs 26(4): 997-1008.
http://dx.doi.org/10.1007/s00338-007-0238-6

[15]  Wilson, S, Graham, N and Polunin, N (2007). Appraisal of visual assessments of habitat complexity and benthic composition on coral reefs. Marine Biology 151(3): 1069-1076.
http://dx.doi.org/10.1007/s00227-006-0538-3

[16]  Graham, NAJ, Wilson, SK, Jennings, S, Polunin, NVC, Bijoux, JP and Robinson, J (2006). Dynamic fragility of oceanic coral reef ecosystems. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America 103(22): 8425-8429.

[17]  Graham, NAJ, Dulvy, NK, Jennings, S and Polunin, NVC (2005). Size-spectra as indicators of the effects of fishing on coral reef fish assemblages. Coral Reefs 24(1): 118-124.
http://dx.doi.org/10.1007/s00338-004-0466-y

[18]  Graham, NAJ, Evans, RD and Russ, GR (2003). The effects of marine reserve protection on the trophic relationships of reef fishes on the great barrier reef. Environmental Conservation 30(2): 200-208.