Sean D. Connell 

I forecast the ecological outcomes of management at local-regional-global scales by: 

• Generating knowledge of human influences on producers (e.g. nutrient-pollution), their consumers (e.g. fishing), and synergies with climate (e.g. ocean acidification); as applied to subtidal habitat.
• Reconciling conflicting perspectives across biogeographic boundaries (i.e. MacroEcology) and time (i.e. the past and the future environments). 
• Collaboration with coastal mangers, to changed our perspective of Australian coastal policy, and recently assisted future efforts by recognizing pre-industrial environments and their CO2 and temperate driven future. 

Latest media release

Selected Publications

"The maintenance & disruption of subtidal habitat"

INTRODUCTION

• Connell SD & Irving in press The subtidal ecology of rocky coast: local-regional-biogeographic regional patterns and their experimental analysis. in Marine Macroecology. University of Chicago Press, Chicago.
• Russell & SD & Connell 2009 Eutrophication science: moving into the future. Trends in Ecology and Evolution.  October issue.
• Gorman, Russell & SD Connell 2009 Land-to-sea connectivity: linking human-derived terrestrial subsidies to subtidal habitat change on open rocky coasts. Ecological Applications 19: 1114-1126
• Harley & SD Connell 2009  Shifts in abiotic variables and consequences for diversity.  In Hard Bottom Communities: Patterns, Dynamics and Changes. Springer 206: 257-268

METHODS

• Underwood, Chapman & SD Connell 2000 Observations in ecology: you can't make progress on processes without understanding the patterns. JEMBE 250:97-115.
• Fowler-Walker, SD Connell, & Gillanders 2005 Variation at local scales need not impede tests for broader scale patterns. MB 147:823-831.
• Drummond & SD Connell 2005 Quantifying percentage cover on subtidal organisms on rocky coasts: a comparison of the costs and benefits of standard methods. MFR 56:865-876.
• Roberts & SD Connell 2008 Detecting benthic responses to human-induced change: effectiveness of alternate taxonomic classification and indices. MEPS 358:75-84.
• Elsdon & SD Connell 2009 Spatial and temporal monitoring of coastal water quality: refining the way we consider, gather, and interpret patterns. Aquatic Biol 5:157-166

RESULTS 
   Patterns of habitat: local through biogeographic scales

• Connell SD & Irving 2008 Integrating ecology with biogeography using landscape characteristics: a case study of subtidal habitat across continental Australia. J. Biogeography. 35: 1608-1621.
• Anderson, SD Connell, Gillanders et al. 2005 Relationships between taxonomic resolution and spatial scales of multivariate variation. J Animal Ecology 74:636-646.
• Irving, SD Connell & Gillanders 2004 Local complexity in patterns of canopy-benthos associations produce regional patterns across temperate Australasia. MB 144:361-368.
• Fowler-Walker & SD Connell. 2002 Opposing states of subtidal habitat across temperate Australia: consistency and predictability in kelp canopy - understorey associations. MEPS 240:49-56.

   Maintenance of natural patterns: causes

• Connell SD 2005 Assembly and maintenance of subtidal habitat heterogeneity: synergistic effects of light penetration and sedimentation. MEPS 289:53-61.
• Connell SD 2003 Negative effects overpower the positive of kelp to exclude invertebrates from the understorey community. Oecologia 137:97-103.
• Russell & SD Connell 2005 A novel interaction between nutrients and grazers alters relative dominance of marine habitats. MEPS 289:5-11.
• Russell et al. SD Connell 2005 Nutrients increase epiphyte loads: broad-scale observations and an experimental assessment. MB 147:551-558.
• Goodsell & SD Connell 2005 Disturbance initiates diversity in recruitment of canopy-forming algae... Phyc 44:632-639.

   Disruption by humans: causes & consequences

• Russell etal SD Connell 2009  Synergistic effects of climate change and local stressors: CO2 and nutrient-driven change in subtidal rocky habitats.  Global Change Biology 15:2153-2162.
• Connell SD, Russell et al. 2008 Recovering a lost baseline: missing kelp forests on a metropolitan coast. MEPS 360:63-72.
• Gorgula & SD Connell 2004 Expansive covers of turf-forming algae on human-dominated coast: the relative effects of increasing nutrient and sediment loads. MB 145:613-619.
• Russell & SD Connell 2007 Response of grazers to sudden nutrient pulses in oligotrophic v. eutrophic conditions. MEPS 349:73-80.
• Goodsell & SD Connell 2002 Can habitat loss be treated independently of habitat configuration? Implications for rare and common taxa in fragmented landscapes. MEPS 239:37-44.

• Glasby, SD Connell et al 2007 Nonindigenous biota on artificial structures: could habitat creation facilitate biological invasions? MB 151:887-895.

 Repair by humans:

• Gorman & SD Connell in press Recovering subtidal forests in human-dominated landscapes.  J Applied Ecology.

DISCUSSION

• Connell SD 2007 Subtidal temperate rocky habitats: habitat heterogeneity at local to continental scales. in Marine Ecology. Oxford University Press, Melbourne.
• Connell SD 2007 Water quality and the loss of coral reefs and kelp forests: alternative states and the influence of fishing. in Marine Ecology. Oxford University Press, Melbourne.
• Airoldi, SD Connell & Beck 2009 The loss of natural habitats and the addition of artificial substrata. In Hard Bottom Communities: Patterns, Dynamic, Diversity and Change. Springer 206: 269-280.
• Connell 2009 Diversity patterns and their causes. In Hard Bottom Communities: Patterns, Dynamics, Diversity and Change. Springer 206: 76-80.

      Acknowledgements

I thank those who shared their time with me; sea-by-day & swag-by-night.  It is reassuring that government has engaged us with their policy development.  I hope these efforts benefit our collective understanding and enjoyment of the land and sea. 

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