Richard Stuart-Smith

Brief description

Dr Rick Stuart-Smith
Research Fellow
I am an ecologist who studies broad-scale patterns in reef biodiversity. My primary interests are in understanding human impacts on reef communities and incorporation of high resolution biodiversity data into universal metrics of reef condition. I am also a co-founder of Reef Life Survey, an international marine science and conservation program, and have undertaken reef biodiversity surveys on rocky and coral reefs around the world and trained over 150 volunteer divers in Australia and Spain in reef biodiversity survey methods.
Research and projects
Current research interests revolve around analysis of broad-scale reef biodiversity datasets collected though the Reef Life Survey program, IMAS long-term marine protected area monitoring program and the condition of Tasmanian rocky reefs project. Foci are biodiversity patterns associated with the distribution of anthropogenic activities, including over-fishing and pollution, and understanding global trends in rocky and coral reef ecology.