Research
How is Dispersal Influenced by the Local Environment
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One of my primary research intersts is understanding how the local habitat influences dispersal dynamics. I am using Coryphopterus hyalinus/personatus as a model system to understand these dynamics because, despite being generally poorly studied these two species contain characteristics making them an ideal study system for these questions. Namely, an abundant, short-lived sedentary adult life-history combined with generally localized dispersal behaviour. Part of understanding how habitat quality influences dispersal is to first understand what counts as “good” habitat from the perspective of the Coryphopterus themselves. To try and get a fish eye view of what makes a particular part of the coral reef a better/worse place for a Coryphopterus to live I used structure-from-motion photogrammetry to create 3D reef models which I then used to model the distribution of Coryphopterus on the reef.