In aquatic environments sediments act as a sink for contaminants. Disturbances such as storms, dredging or bioturbation can resuspend and release contaminants into the water column. Rarely has the impact of sediment contamination been considered for animals that live above the sediment. Unfortunately, contamination is not restricted to the industrialised regions of the world. Human activities in polar regions such as Antarctica have resulted in areas of localised contamination. Although Antarctic species are thought to be particularly susceptible to contaminants few studies have explicitly examined this.

 

My research uses laboratory and field manipulations to examine the impact of metal contaminated sediments on rocky-reef and sediment fauna in a temperate and polar ecosystem.