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Sessile marine invertebrates are abundant, easy to sensus (they can't run away) and form ecologically important communities in marine environments. They also typically have complex life cycles and are restricted by the amount of suitable habitat available for them to colonise. These characteristics mean that sessile invertebrates provide an excellent opportunity to test a wide range of ecological questions, including how animals respond to competition, predation and disturbance and how these processes in turn shape the structure of populations and communities. Our lab maintains a strong interest in using sessile invertebrates (including ascidians, bryozoans, sponges, cnidarians and barnacles amongst others) to answer these kinds of broad ecological questions. We are also particularly interested in recruitment dynamics in marine systems, and sessile invertebrates are ideal for investigating the many factors that contribute to variation in recruitment success.
Currently we are involved in projects examining the causes and effects of variability in larval size of the encrusting bryozoan, Watersipora subtorquata. We are also performing a detailied study of early post settlement mortality for a range of sessile invertebrates in an attempt to determine how variation in mortality rates contributes to recruitment dynamics.