Personal profile
Contact Info
Address:
School of Ocean Sciences
Bangor University
Isle of Anglesey, LL59 5AB
Room: 414 Westbury Mount Phone: 01248 382598
Email: [email protected]
Overview
After graduating in Appplied Marine Biology from Bangor University, including a year-long research internship at NIOZ working on deep-sea bacterio-plankton, I contitnued to complete an MSc in Marine Environemtal Protection at Bangor.
After University studies, I worked in the commercial marine science sector as a benthic taxonomist between 2008 and 2012, assessing benthic biodiversity in continental-shelf surveys from the UK and aborad. In 2012 I left this role to pursue a Ph.D. in the ecological functioning of submarine canyons. Post Ph.D., I returned to commercial marine science working as an offshore environemtal scientist, responsible for designing and implementing seabed surveys in and around offshore installations in the UK, West Africa and the Middle East. In 2019 I was appointed as lecture in Marine biology in the School of Ocean Sciences, within the teaching and scholarship team.
My PhD focused on the ecosystem ecology of Mid Atlantic Bight submarine canyons, specifically Baltimore and Norfolk canyons, in the western North Atlantc. My thesis involved an ecosystem appraisal of the hydrodynamics, sediments & food supply influencing canyon habitats and benthic macrofauna communities and their contribution to canyon ecosystem function.
Research
I am a benthic ecologist with expertise in benthic biodiversity, ecosystem functioning, trait-based approaches and disturbance ecology. I am particularly intersted in deep-sea and biogenic habitats focusing on the macrofaunal community ecology.
Our work seeks to reach beyond the traditional assessment methods of biodiversity to a more inclusive ecosystem approach that considers the role of benthic organisims in mediating mediating key ecosystem processing and services.
Our research involves unpicking how marine biodiversity and habitats contribute to the functioning of seafloor ecosystems across biotic and abiotic gradients. Habitats of interest include deep-sea and continental margin habitats, such as submarine canyons and cold-seeps, cold-water coral reefs and subtidal habitats.
We use spatial and temporal empirical datasets to bridge the gaps between traditional taxonomic assessments of biodiversity and community assemblage functioning.
Research Group/s
Teaching and Supervision
Current Teaching Responsibilities:
I teach across a range of undergraduate and postgraduate modules in the School of Ocean Sciences. The main focus of my teaching is benthic marine benthic ecology and marine predators and data analysis.
ONS-1001 Environemtal Data and Analysis
DNS-1003 Ecology and Evolution
OSX-3000 BSc Dissertation Project
OSX-3011 Extreme Marine Habitats
OSX-3020 Shark and their Relatives
OSX-4000 Marine Ecology Skills
OSX-4009 MSc Dissertation Project, Design and Planning
I am always willing to supervise MRes and Ph.D. Contact me for further details.
Education/Academic qualification
Postgraduate, PhD, Macrofaunal Diversity and Functioning within Submarine Canyons of the Mid-Atlantic Bight, Western North Atlantic, Bangor University
Mar 2012 → Mar 2018
Award Date: 25 Apr 2018
Postgraduate, MSc, Marine Environmental Protection , Bangor University
Sept 2007 → Sept 2008
Award Date: 30 Sept 2008
Undergraduate, BSc, Applied Marine Biology, Bangor University
Sept 2003 → May 2007
Award Date: 1 Jul 2007
Keywords
- QL Zoology
- Benthic ecology
- Disturbance
- Ecosystem Services
- QH301 Biology
- Marine Biology
- Benthos
- Deep sea
- Macro-invertebrates
Expertise related to UN Sustainable Development Goals
In 2015, UN member states agreed to 17 global Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) to end poverty, protect the planet and ensure prosperity for all. This person’s work contributes towards the following SDG(s):
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SDG 2 Zero Hunger
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SDG 7 Affordable and Clean Energy
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SDG 13 Climate Action
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SDG 14 Life Below Water
Fingerprint
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Collaborations and top research areas from the last five years
Research output
- 10 Article
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Magelonidae Cunningham & Ramage, 1888 (Annelida, Polychaeta)—Worldwide Identification Keys and the Re-Establishment of Maea Johnston, 1865
Mortimer, K., Mills, K. & Robertson, C. M., 14 Feb 2026, In: Taxonomy. 6, 1, 17.Research output: Contribution to journal › Article › peer-review
Open AccessFile -
Towards Greater Standardisation in Benthic Trait Research to Support Application to Environmental Management
Susini, I., Tillin, H. M., Anderson, L., Robertson, C. M., Rees, S. & Howell, K. L., 4 Mar 2025, In: Ecology and Evolution. 15, 3, e71072.Research output: Contribution to journal › Article › peer-review
Open AccessFile8 Downloads (Pure) -
Variation in coral rubble cryptofauna is scale-dependent and driven by small-scale habitat characteristics
Goberdhan, L., Robertson, C., Egerton, J., Fox, M., Johnson, M., Graham, N. & Williams, G. J., 5 Dec 2024, (E-pub ahead of print) In: Marine Ecology Progress Series. 750, p. 19-36Research output: Contribution to journal › Article › peer-review
Open AccessFile326 Downloads (Pure) -
Distributions of microplastics and larger anthropogenic debris in Norfolk Canyon, Baltimore Canyon, and the adjacent continental slope (Western North Atlantic Margin, USA)
Jones, E. S., Ross, S. W., Robertson, C. M. & Young, C. M., 11 Jan 2022, In: Marine pollution bulletin. 174Research output: Contribution to journal › Article › peer-review
Open AccessFile235 Downloads (Pure) -
Effects of bottom trawling and hypoxia on benthic invertebrate communities
van Denderen, P. D., Tornroos, A., Sciberras, M., Hinz, H., Friedland, R., Lasota, R., Mangano, M. C., Robertson, C., Valanko, S. & Hiddink, J. G., 11 Aug 2022, In: Marine Ecology Progress Series. 694, p. 13-27 15 p.Research output: Contribution to journal › Article › peer-review
Open AccessFile107 Downloads (Pure)
Projects
- 1 Active
Thesis
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Macrofaunal Diversity and Functioning within Submarine Canyons of the Mid-Atlantic Bight, Western North Atlantic
Robertson, C. (Author), Davies, A. (Supervisor), 2018Student thesis: Doctor of Philosophy
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