Dr Nicole Phillips

nicole.phillips@vuw.ac.nz

LAB GROUP

I currently supervise and co-supervise several fantastic Msc and PhD students. Below are the titles of their research projects, more detailed descriptions follow below.

Lesley McLeod (PhD candidate, FRST Tūāpapa Pūtaiao Māori Fellow, co-supervised with Dr. Alison McDiarmid, NIWA):

Lesley is conducting her research on larval behaviour of marine invertebrate species that are of economic and cultural importance: kina ( the urchin Evechinus chloroticus), paua (the abalone Halitois iris), and koura (rock lobster Jasus edwardsii). Lesley is investigating factors that drive variability in larval behaviour for these species, including parental effects and larval quality, across a variety of physical conditions in the water column. Ultimately, Lesley is interested in how this variability influences the outcome of hydrodynamic models developed to predict larval dispersal. The results from this research will help enhance the predicative capabilities of dispersal models (which are currently under development by NIWA) and in the long-term help optimise management strategies for these important species. 

Sonja Miller (PhD candidate, co-supervised with Dr. Jeff Shima, FRST Tūāpapa Pūtaiao Māori Fellow):

Sonja is interested in the effects of marine protected areas. Sonja's work is centered in Rarotonga, the Cook Islands, where she is examining the effects of ra'ui (traditionally managed protected areas closed to harvest) on a variety of species of fish and invertebrates, and on their trophic interactions. Sonja is particularly interested in developing tools that quantify how effects of protection are mediated by environmental variability inside and outside of the ra'ui, habitat quality, and the different life histories of the species.

A ra'ui in Rarotonga lagoon. Photo credit: Sonja Miller

Nicolai Truemper (PhD candidate, VUW Postgraduate Scholarship recipient):

Trade-offs in ecological considerations are commonly regarded as a key to understand the evolution of life history characteristics. The benefits of performing one ecological function comes at a cost of performing another function. In aggregating species, a trade-off between positive effects of aggregation and negative effects of density-dependence is compelling. The New Zealand porcelain crab Petrolisthes elongatus is highly abundant on intertidal boulder fields and cobble beaches. This species shows a highly aggregated, “clumped” pattern on a small scale (tens of centimetres) with high density patches under larger rocks. Thus, P. elongatus is a suitable model organism to address particular and general questions concerning life history trade-offs and spatial dynamics of an aggregating species. Nicolai is particularly interested in characterizing the trade-offs between aggregation and density-dependence on growth and reproduction, and how these trade-offs may be mediated by habitat quality.

Fieldwork at the Hutt River mouth.

Tagging porcelain crabs (Petrolisthes elongatus). Photo credit: Nicolai Truemper.

Chris Cornwall (MSc, 2007):

Paua (abalone, Haliotis iris) and kina (urchins, Evechinus chloroticus) are important grazers in subtidal reef ecosystems. Except for anecdotal reports, relatively little work has been done to explicitly examine the feeding ecology of these important species, or their potential direct interactions, even though their feeding ecology has implications for how subtidal reef ecosystems are structured. Chris' research will contribute to this body of work by examining aspects of feeding ecology of paua, and to a lesser degree kina, in terms of seaweed species preference, feeding mechanisms, and competition between these two species.

Kina (Evechinus chloroticus). Photo credit: Chris Cornwall.

Paua in an experimental aquarium. Photo credit: Chris Cornwall.

Rahul Demello (MSc candidate):

Barnacles in the Wellington region have distinctly different species-specific patterns of distribution. Overall densities of barnacles are orders of magnitude greater in Wellington Harbour, where the predominant species is the small honeycomb barnacle Chaemosipho columna, compared to the nearby South or Cook Strait coast, where populations are sparser and consist predominantly of the larger species Chaemosipho brunnea. Rahul's research is to determine the causes of these differences with a particular focus on potential regional differences in envirnomental stress, settlement, competition and predation.

Barnacle cyprid on a settlement plate. Photo credit: Rahul Demello.

Fieldwork in Wellington Harbour.

Janine Russell (MSc candidate):

Because of human-induced changes to the atmosphere, New Zealand is experiencing increased levels of ultraviolet radiaton (UV), which may have important ramifications for many species and ecosystems. Many species of marine molluscs lay egg masses in the intertidal or shallow subtidal, where the embryos develop. These embryos may be particularly vulnerable to increasing levels of UV, in addition to other environmental stresses from desiccation, increased water temperature, and salinity changes. Janine is examining the combined and seperate effects of UV and these other environmental stressors on the development of a variety of species of molluscs that lay benthic egg masses. Janine is particularly interested in differences among species that have different reproductive strategies (i.e. to lay intertidally vs. the shallow subtidal or under boulders), and how factors such as behaviour (in terms of choice of deposition site) and natural chemical sunscreens such as microsporine-like amino acids (MAAs) may mitigate the vulnerability of embryos to these potential detrimental effects.

Intertidal egg mass of the pulmonate limpet Benhamina obliquata.

John Van Der Sman (MSc candidate, Marsden funded Marine Biology Scholarship recipient):

Whelks lay benthic egg capsules in the intertidal, and different species use different strategies, i.e. use of nurse eggs, one vs. many embryos per capsule. Whelks therefore are an ideal model system to examine the causes and consequences of variability in maternal investment for offspring. John's research examines how the maternal environment influences trade-offs between offspring size and number, and how these trade-offs may vary among species with different reproductive strategies. Additionally, John will examine potential cascading effects of variability in maternal investment both on the performance of juvenile whelks in terms of growth, survvival, and feeding success, and on the vulnerability of their prey. This novel research will contribute to our understanding of how early community structure, and how recruitment of predator and prey species might be mediated by parental effects and larval history. This work is funded by a Marsden grant to N. Phillips.

Close up of Haustrum (formerly Lepsiella) scobina egg capsules. Photo credit: John Van Der Sman

Whelk (C. maculosa) and egg capsules in field.

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