Researchers
Students
Alumni
ManagementKarin Zwiep
PhD candidate
University of Queensland
ARC Centre of Excellence for Coral Reef Studies
James Cook University Townsville
Queensland 4811 Australia
Phone: 61 7 4781 4000
Email: info@coralcoe.org.au
Karin grew up near the coast in the Netherlands and has always been fascinated by marine life. She completed her undergraduate degree in Biology at Utrecht University in 2013, focusing on (marine) ecology. It was during her masters in Environmental Biology she pursued paleoecology and studying marine ecosystems over longer time scales.
She has worked on a variety of projects, from crustacean-ciliate symbioses in Dutch waters at the NIOZ, to dinoflagellate cysts and pollen in the Mediterranean sapropels at Utrecht University’s Marine Palynology group, as well as harmful algal blooms in the Caribbean. Her first time in Australia was in 2015 during an internship studying genetic diversity and connectivity of Symbiodinium in high latitude reefs under the supervision of Dr. Eugenia Sampayo.
After finishing her Master’s, she moved back to Australia in mid-2017 to start her PhD in the Marine Palaeoecology Lab at the University of Queensland under the supervision of Professor John Pandolfi and co-supervisor Associate Professor Cynthia Riginos. Her project focuses on adding an extra dimension to the reconstruction of past coral reefs and their community structure through the recovery of ancient DNA from coral reef sediments along the East Australian coast.
A massive global study of the world’s reefs has found sharks are ‘functionally extinct’ on nearly one in five of the reefs surveyed. James Cook University’s Professor Colin Simpfendorfer wa
A study published today found national governments repeatedly resisted the placement of 41 UNESCO World Heritage sites—including the Great Barrier Reef—on the World Heritage in Danger list. This r
Scientists can now explain how baby reef sharks tolerate living in the sometimes-extreme environments of their nurseries—but, they also say these habitats face an uncertain future which may leave ne
A new study illustrates the potential impact of recurrent heatwaves on coral species collected by the Australian aquarium coral industry. The study’s lead author, Professor Morgan Pratchett from
Abstract: Transformative environmental policy reform at a system-wide scale has received minimal attention as an academic research focus. The Great Barrier Reef Marine Park Zoning Plan 2003, release
Abstract: Anyone trying to communicate about sustainability quickly runs into difficulties. The most common definition, “development which meets the needs of the present without compromising the
Abstract: Coral reefs are dynamic and complex systems, and hence have ability teach us about fundamental principles of community ecology. One long-standing interest is learning how ecological communi
Abstract: Global heating will affect ecosystems and the benefits that they provide to people in a wide variety of ways, with profound direct and indirect effects on human society. Microeconomic adapt
Abstract: Most of the world’s population live within 100km of a coastline and depend on coastal marine ecosystems for sustenance, shoreline protection, and economic resources. Because our shoreline
Abstract: Urbanization deeply alters ecosystems, livelihoods, lifestyle, and consequently, human-nature relationships, with significant consequences for health and environmental behaviour. However, t
Abstract: Overexploitation from direct fishing and bycatch devastated shark populations around the world, leaving considerable doubt as to their ecological status. Yet much of what is known about sta
Abstract: Early life history stages of marine organisms can be difficult to study in the field, in part due to their inherently small size. Understanding to what extent early post-settlement processe
Partner Research Institutions
ARC Centre of Excellence for Coral Reef Studies
James Cook University Townsville
Queensland 4811 Australia
Phone: 61 7 4781 4000
Email: info@coralcoe.org.au