Telephone: | +61 8 6304 5798 |
---|---|
Facsimile: | +61 8 6304 5509 |
Email: | g.hyndes@ecu.edu.au |
Campus: | Joondalup |
Room: | JO19.345 |
ORCID iD: | https://orcid.org/0000-0002-3525-1665 |
Glenn is Professor in Coastal Ecology in the School of Science who is active in teaching aspects of biological and environmental sciences, and is an active researcher in the ecology of coastal and marine ecosystems.
University and National Teaching Awards
My research focuses on marine ecology and fisheries science, specifically on the: (1) trophic connectivity within and between habitats in the marine environment; (2) interactions of fauna with coastal habitats, such as seagrass meadows and surf zones; and (3) fisheries interactions with the environment and management. My major focus on connectivity within and between habitats in the marine environment, seeks to understand the importance of the movement of material from one habitat to another in coastal seascapes. This program is directed towards examining the movement of nutrients via detritus from reefs to seagrass meadows and detritus from reefs and seagrass meadows to surf zones and beaches.
A large part of my research focuses on using stable isotopes as a tool for understanding ecological interactions. This has focused on: testing the assumptions of bulk stable isotopes in food web studies and comparing this approach to other biomarker tools; using novel enriched stable isotopes to test for flow of nutrients through food webs; and using stable isotopes and fatty acids to determine the source of nutrients in food webs.
A large aspect of my research has focused on understanding how consumers interact with their habitat, particularly in seagrass ecosystems. More recently, this program has focused more on grazing pressure by herbivorous fishes in reef ecosystems, showing that intense grazing is limited to only a few key species, but this has a strong influence on recruitment and standing biomass of algae in these systems, adding to the evidence that these species are key players in coral-reef resilience. This work in the tropics, combined with studies examining herbivory in temperate seagrass meadows, has led to a focus on examining the potential effects of tropical grazers moving into temperate seagrass meadows as a consequence of global ocean warming, and setting the agenda for future research on this important topic.