The OceanMatters Lab
Research Projects
Our Current Focus
The human-nature system in China's bay areas- protecting rare marine species & fishery resources
Since 2021
Bay areas are often highly populated with developed economies, they are however also regions where marine species are rich and important habitats (salt marsh, macroalga/seagrass meadow, mangrove, coral reefs) are located. These areas are thus the frontline where humans and nature interact and problems of conflicts emerge. This project aims to study two typical bay areas in China (e.g. Haizhou Bay in the north vs. the Great Bay Area in the south). We conduct fisheries-dependent surveys, historical data mining, and semi-structured interviews to collect data about flagship and key species in the region, as well as human activities (e.g. fishing effort map) and environmental conditions (e.g. water temperature, depth, substrate). Based on these datasets and statistical models, we analyze the socio-ecological process that drives the change of the bay areas.
Citizen science of seahorses and pipefish in East Asia
Since 2015
Citizen science has become a vital and cost-effective tool in collecting biodiversity data, especially at large spatial scales. Given seahorses are popular among divers, they are the unique mode species to explore how citizen science can contribute to conservation of rare and threatened marine animals. We have launched this project since 2015, along with the iSeahorse citizen science program (www.iseahorse.org). So far, there are over 100 divers participated in this project and some consistently contributed great insights about the distributions of seahorses in China's coastal waters. Moving forward, we start to cover pipefish in 2021 to better understand how seahorses and their relatives coexist and compete with each in terms of ecological niches (e.g. habitat use, prey resources, predation strategies).
