Dr Maria Beger
- Position: University Academic Fellow in Marine Conservation Science
- Areas of expertise: Coral reef fish ecology; Marine conservation science; Spatial planning; Marxan; Climate change impacts on marine systems; Connectivity in spatial decision science; Genetics in conservation planning
- Email: M.Beger@leeds.ac.uk
- Phone: +44(0)113 343 2899
- Location: 8.02 Manton
- Website: Twitter | Googlescholar | ORCID
Profile
2012-2016 Research Fellow, ARC Centre of Excellence for Environmental Decisions, The University of Queensland, Australia2008-2011 Postdocs: The University of Queensland, University of Melbourne, University of Tasmania2002-2008 PhD Conservation Science, The University of Queensland, Australia2000-2002 Australian-European Exchange Scholar, James Cook University, Australia1996 Dipl.Ing. Groundwater Engineering, TU Dresden, Germany1994 MSc Marine Resources Management & Conservation, Heriot Watt Uni, UK
I am a conservation ecologist with complementary interests in coral reef ecology and spatial conservation prioritization. I mostly work in the Coral Triangle, the Pacific, the Western Indian Ocean, Japan and Australia. I also work in projects dealing with fish biomass predictions, climate change science, ecosystem services, and global evaluations of protected areas. Current themes I work on are:
- Integrating larval dispersal into spatial planning and conservation;
- How can genetic data inform conservation decisions?
- Managing whole life cycles in migratory animals: integrating telemetry into planning;
- How can we model and manage coral reef resilience?
- Multi-taxon community assembly rules along a tropical to temperate temperature gradient (Australia, Japan)
- Managing range shifts;
- How do pristine reefs differ (Republic of the Marshall Islands)?
- Develop coastal and offshore bioregionalisations (South Pacific);
- Quantifying human-ecological links in coastal ecosystems;
- Which fish are here (fish species counts in Maldives, Philippines, Indonesia, PNG, Australia, Palau, FSM, Marshall Islands, ...)
I collaborate with local and regional conservation NGOs, including The Nature Conservancy (Coral Triangle, Micronesia), IUCN (Pacific, Maldives), World Wildlife Fund (Malaysia), Marshall Islands Conservation Society (Republic of the Marshall Islands). I also work with government agencies, such as the NSW Department of Primary Industries and NSW Office of Environment and Heritage in Australia.
Research interests
I am a quantitative marine ecologist and conservation scientist integrating field data, spatial models and decision science to find conservation solutions that link theory and practice.
<h4>Research projects</h4> <p>Any research projects I'm currently working on will be listed below. Our list of all <a href="https://biologicalsciences.leeds.ac.uk/dir/research-projects">research projects</a> allows you to view and search the full list of projects in the faculty.</p>Student education
PhD Scholarships available
NERC DTP: Understanding and managing tropical marine ecosystem interactions to improve their climate change futures
Dr Maria Beger (SoB), Professor Piers Forster (SEE): http://www.nercdtp.leeds.ac.uk/projects/index.php?id=697
Current Projects
- 1. Effect of climate change on coral reef ecosystems and their management
- 2. Conservation planning / spatial decision science in marine environments
- 3. Community shifts along gradients: Tropical - Temperate (Australia, Japan)
Please contact me to discuss other projects in the fields of:
- Marine ecology
- Spatial conservation planning
- Climate change ecology