Dr Gareth Williams

Reader / Director of Impact and Engagement

Contact info

Room: 303 Craig Mair      Phone: +44(0)1248 382588

E-mail: g.j.williams@bangor.ac.uk      Twitter 

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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 

  1. Published

    Social-environmental drivers inform strategic management of coral reefs in the Anthropocene

    Darling, E. S., McClanahan, T. R., Maina, J., Gurney, G. G., Graham, N. A. J., Januchowski-Hartley, F., Cinner, J. E., Mora, C., Hicks, C. C., Maire, E., Puotinen, M., Skirving, W. J., Adjeroud, M., Ahmadia, G., Arthur, R., Bauman, A. G., Beger, M., Berumen, M. L., Bigot, L., Bouwmeester, J., Brenier, A., Bridge, T. C. L., Brown, E., Campbell, S. J., Cannon, S., Cauvin, B., Chen, C. A., Claudet, J., Denis, V., Donner, S., Estradivari, Fadli, N., Feary, D. A., Fenner, D., Fox, H., Franklin, E. C., Friedlander, A., Gilmour, J., Goiran, C., Guest, J., Hobbs, J-P. A., Hoey, A. S., Houk, P., Johnson, S., Jupiter, S. D., Kayal, M., Kuo, C., Lamb, J., Lee, M. A. C., Low, J., Muthiga, N., Muttaqin, E., Nand, Y., Nash, K. L., Nedlic, O., Pandolfi, J. M., Pardede, S., Patankar, V., Penin, L., Ribas-Deulofeu, L., Richards, Z., Roberts, T. E., Rodgers, K. S., Safuan, C. D. M., Sala, E., Shedrawi, G., Sin, T. M., Smallhorn-West, P., Smith, J. E., Sommer, B., Steinberg, P. D., Sutthacheep, M., Tan, C. H. J., Williams, G., Wilson, S., Yeemin, T., Bruno, J. F., Fortin, M-J., Krkosek, M. & Mouillot, D., 12 Aug 2019, In: Nature Ecology and Evolution. 3, 9, p. 1341-1350

    Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

  2. Published

    Three-dimensional digital mapping of ecosystems: a new era in spatial ecology

    D'Urban Jackson, T., Williams, G. J., Walker-Springett, G. & Davies, A., 12 Feb 2020, In: Proceedings of the Royal Society B.. 287, 1920, 20192383.

    Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

  3. Published

    Antarctic sea-ice microbial communities show distinct patterns of zonation in response to algal-derived substrates

    Cowie, R. O., Williams, G. J., Maas, E. W., Voyles, K. M. & Ryan, K. G., 2 Oct 2014, In: Aquatic Microbial Ecology. 73, 2, p. 123-134

    Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

  4. Published

    Macroalgae exhibit diverse responses to human disturbances on coral reefs

    Cannon, S., Donner, S., Liu, A., Gonzalez Espinosa, P., Baird, A., Baum, J., Bauman, A., Beger, M., Benkwitt, C., Birt, M., Chancerelle, Y., Cinner, J., Crane, N., Denis, V., Depczynski, M., Fadli, N., Fenner, D., Fulton, C., Golbuu, Y., Graham, N., Guest, J., Harrison, H., Hobbs, J-P., Hoey, A., Holmes, T., Houk, P., Januchowski-Hartley, F., Jompa, J., Kuo, C-Y., Valentino Limmon, G., Lin, Y., McClanahan, T., Muenzel, D., Paddack, M., Planes, S., Pratchett, M., Radford, B., Reimer, J., Richards, Z., Ross, C., Rulmal Jr., J., Sommer, B., Williams, G. J. & Wilson, S., 1 Jun 2023, In: Global Change Biology. 29, 12, p. 3318-3330

    Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

  5. Published

    Reef Fish Survey Techniques: Assessing the Potential for Standardizing Methodologies

    Caldwell, Z. R., Zgliczynski, B. J., Williams, G. & Sandin, S. A., 25 Apr 2016, In: PLoS ONE. 11, 4, e0153066.

    Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

  6. Published

    Hawaiʻi Coral Disease database (HICORDIS): species-specific coral health data from across the Hawaiian archipelago

    Caldwell, J. M., Burns, J. H. R., Couch, C., Ross, M., Runyon, C., Takabayashi, M., Vargas-Ángel, B., Walsh, W., Walton, M., White, D., Williams, G. & Heron, S. F., Sept 2016, In: Data in Brief. 8, p. 1054-1058

    Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

  7. Published

    Impacts and Recovery from Severe Tropical Cyclone Yasi on the Great Barrier Reef

    Beeden, R., Maynard, J., Puotinen, M., Marshall, P., Dryden, J., Goldberg, J. & Williams, G., 15 Apr 2015, In: PLoS ONE. 10, 4, p. e0121272

    Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

  8. Natural history of coral-algae competition across a gradient of human activity in the Line Islands

    Barott, K. L., Williams, G. J., Vermeij, M. J. A., Harris, J., Smith, J. E., Rohwer, F. L. & Sandin, S. A., 2012, In: Marine Ecology Progress Series. 460, p. 1-12

    Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

  9. Published

    Scale-dependent spatial patterns in benthic communities around a tropical island seascape

    Aston, E. A., Williams, G. J., Green, J. A. M., Davies, A. J., Wedding, L. M., Gove, J. M., Jouffray, J-B., Jones, T. T. & Clark, J., Mar 2019, In: Ecography. 42, 3, p. 578-590

    Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

  10. Growth Anomalies on the Coral Genera Acropora and Porites Are Strongly Associated with Host Density and Human Population Size across the Indo-Pacific

    Aeby, G. S., Williams, G. J., Franklin, E. C., Haapkyla, J., Harvell, C. D., Neale, S., Page, C. A., Raymundo, L., Vargas-Angel, B., Willis, B. L., Work, T. M. & Davy, S. K., 18 Feb 2011, In: PLoS ONE. 6, 2

    Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

  11. Published

    Pathogenesis of a tissue loss disease affecting multiple species of corals along the Florida Reef Tract

    Aeby, G. S., Ushijima, B., Campbell, J., Jones, S., Williams, G. J., Meyer, J., Hase, C. & Paul, V., 1 Nov 2019, In: Frontiers in Marine Science. 6, 678.

    Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

  12. Patterns of Coral Disease across the Hawaiian Archipelago: Relating Disease to Environment

    Aeby, G. S., Williams, G. J., Franklin, E. C., Kenyon, J., Cox, E. F., Coles, S. & Work, T. M., 31 May 2011, In: PLoS ONE. 6, 5

    Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

  13. E-pub ahead of print

    Host density and anthropogenic stress are drivers of variability in dark spot disease in Siderastrea siderea across the Florida Reef Tract

    Aeby, G. S., Williams, G. J., Whitall, D., Davies, A., Fromuth, E. & Walker, B. K., 27 Jun 2023, (E-pub ahead of print) In: Bulletin of Marine Science .

    Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

  14. Published

    Localized outbreaks of coral disease on Arabian reefs are linked to extreme temperatures and environmental stressors

    Aeby, G., Howells, E., Work, T., Abrego, D., Williams, G. J., Wedding, L., Caldwell, J., Moritsch, M. & Burt, J., Jun 2020, In: Coral Reefs. 39, 3, p. 829-846 18 p.

    Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

  15. Disease dynamics of Montipora white syndrome within Kaneohe Bay, Oahu, Hawaii: distribution, seasonality, virulence, and transmissibility

    Aeby, G. S., Ross, M., Williams, G., Lewis, T. D. & Work, T. M., 26 Jul 2010, In: Diseases of Aquatic Organisms. 91, 1, p. 1-8

    Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

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