Dr Gareth Williams
Reader / Director of Impact and Engagement
Affiliations
Links
- https://www.bangor.ac.uk/oceansciences/staff/gareth-williams
Department Home Page - https://scholar.google.com/citations?user=EfvZsI8AAAAJ&hl=en
Google Scholar Page
Contact info
Room: 303 Craig Mair Phone: +44(0)1248 382588
E-mail: g.j.williams@bangor.ac.uk Twitter
I graduated in Marine Biology (University of Liverpool) in 2004 and completed an MSc in Marine Environmental Protection (Bangor University) in 2006. I began a PhD in Marine Biology (Victoria University of Wellington, New Zealand) in 2007 in coral disease ecology, combining macroecology, experimental ecology, and histopathology to identify disease baselines and drivers of disease prevalence on Pacific coral reefs. A focus study site of mine was Palmyra Atoll, an uninhabited atoll in the Northern Line Islands. After obtaining my PhD in 2011, I was awarded a post-doctoral scholarship at Scripps Institution of Oceanography, University of California San Diego (UCSD) where I continued to work on the macroecology of Pacific coral reefs. This role at Scripps transitioned into an Assistant Project Scientist position within the Center for Marine Biodiversity and Conservation in 2013. I left Scripps in late 2015 to return to the UK and take up my full-time role within the School of Ocean Sciences at Bangor University.
I am a marine ecologist specialising in coral reef ecology. My work focuses on the interaction of organisms with their environment, often taking a macroecological approach. I am particularly interested in how human activities and natural biophysical gradients interact to drive community patterns across multiple trophic levels (microbes to sharks) and scales (individual reefs to entire ocean basins). Much of my work incorporates remote coral reefs free from direct human impact, providing key replication at the unimpacted end of an intact-to-degraded ecosystem spectrum. By surveying across extensive geographical areas we address broad questions pertaining to: 1. the human, climatic and oceanographic drivers of coral reef ecosystem structure and function, 2. climate change impacts to coral reef ecosystems, 3. the spatial ecology of coral reefs, and 4. disease dynamics on coral reefs.
Research Areas
- Published
High frequency temperature variability reduces the risk of coral bleaching
Safaie, A., Silbiger, N. J., McClanahan, T. R., Pawlak, G., Barshis, D. J., Hench, J. L., Rogers, J. S., Williams, G. & Davis, K. A., 2018, In: Nature Communications. 9, 1671.Research output: Contribution to journal › Article › peer-review
- Published
Linking variation in planktonic primary production to coral reef fish growth and condition
Roche, R., Heenan, A., Taylor, B. M., Schwarz, J. N., Fox, M. D., Southworth, L., Williams, G. & Turner, J., 31 Aug 2022, In: Royal Society Open Science. 9, 8, p. 201012 201012.Research output: Contribution to journal › Article › peer-review
- Published
Towards Developing a Mechanistic Understanding of Coral Reef Resilience to Thermal Stress Across Multiple Scales
Roche, R., Williams, G. & Turner, J., Mar 2018, In: Current Climate Change Reports. 4, 1, p. 51-64 D 87.Research output: Contribution to journal › Article › peer-review
- Published
Local human impacts disrupt depth-dependent zonation of tropical reef fish communities
Richardson, L., Heenan, A., Delargy, A., Neubauer, P., Lecky, J., Gove, J. M., Green, M., Kindinger, T., Ingeman, K. & Williams, G. J., Nov 2023, In: Nature Ecology and Evolution. 7, 11, p. 1844-1855 12 p.Research output: Contribution to journal › Article › peer-review
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Environmental Factors Affecting Large-Bodied Coral Reef Fish Assemblages in the Mariana Archipelago
Richards, B. L., Williams, I. D., Vetter, O. J. & Williams, G. J., 27 Feb 2012, In: PLoS ONE. 7, 2, e31374.Research output: Contribution to journal › Article › peer-review
- Published
A robust operational model for predicting where tropical cyclone waves damage coral reefs
Puotinen, M., Maynard, J. A., Beeden, R., Radford, B. & Williams, G., May 2017, In: Scientific Reports. 6, 26009.Research output: Contribution to journal › Article › peer-review
- Published
Guiding coral reef futures in the Anthropocene
Norstrom, A. V., Nystrom, M., Jouffray, J-B., Folke, C., Graham, N. A. J., Moberg, F., Olsson, P. & Williams, G., 1 Nov 2016, In: Frontiers in Ecology and the Environment.Research output: Contribution to journal › Article › peer-review
- Published
Possible control of acute outbreaks of a marine fungal pathogen by nominally herbivorous tropical reef fish
Neal, B., Honisch, B., Warrender, T., Williams, G. J., Work, T. & Price, N., 12 Jul 2020, In: Oecologia. 193, 3, p. 603-617Research output: Contribution to journal › Article › peer-review
- Published
Positive and Negative Effects of a Threatened Parrotfish on Reef Ecosystems
McCauley, D. J., Young, H. S., Guevara, R., Williams, G. J., Power, E. A., Dunbar, R. B., Bird, D. W., Durham, W. H. & Micheli, F., 26 Jul 2014, In: Conservation Biology. 28, 5, p. 1312-1321Research output: Contribution to journal › Article › peer-review
- Published
Assessing relative resilience potential of coral reefs to inform management
Maynard, J. A., McKagan, S., Raymundo, L., Johnson, S., Ahmadia, G. N., Johnston, L., Houk, P., Williams, G., Kendall, M., Heron, S. F., van Hooidonk, R., Mcleod, E., Tracey, D. & Planes, S., 1 Dec 2015, In: Biological Conservation. 192, December, p. 109-119Research output: Contribution to journal › Article › peer-review