Kristen Anderson

Kristen came to Australia after completing her BSc in Canada at the University of Calgary majoring in Biological Sciences. Kristen started at James Cook University completing graduate studies in marine biology course work and then an Honours project in marine biology, studying coral growth rates of branching corals at Lord Howe Island. She completed her PhD thesis in 2016 at the ARC Centre of Excellence for Coral Reef Studies, JCU, studying the spatial and temporal variation of branching coral species on the Great Barrier Reef. Her work involved quantifying contemporary growth rates and looking at how coral calcification and physiology will be impacted in future climate change scenarios.

Coral growth rates are a proxy for reef resilience, which is imperative in our changing world. Her research aims to understand the dynamic relationship of coral growth rates and environmental conditions. She investigates spatiotemporal variation in coral growth rates at multiple scales and assesses the main environmental drivers. In doing such, she compares contemporary coral growth rates to comparable historic data determining changes in coral growth rates of branching species through time. Using finely controlled experimental treatments, she expose corals to future climate change scenarios determining the physiological response in corals to climate change stressors, mainly temperature and ocean acidification. In doing so, she investigates how coral calcification and physiology will be altered with the sustained and ongoing effects of climate change.

My other research themes have focused on large scale ecological processes such as coral community composition and size structure of reef communities, background mortality rates and impacts of climate change such as coral bleaching.

PhD Thesis

Anderson, KD (2016) Temporal and spatial variation in the growth of branching corals. James Cook University, Townsville. Australia.

Publications List:

Anderson KD, Cantin N, Heron SF, Pisapia C, Pratchett MS (2017) Variation in growth rates of branching corals along Australia’s Great Barrier Reef. Scientific Reports DOI: 10.1038/s41598-017-03085-1

Hughes TP, Kerry JT, Álvarez-Noriega M, Álvarez-Romero JG, Anderson KD., Baird AH…. (2017). Global warming and recurrent mass bleaching of corals. Nature, 543(7645), 373-377.

Madin J, Anderson KD, Andreasen M, Bridge T, Cairns S, Connolly S, Darling E, Diaz M, Falster D, Franklin
E, Gates R, Hoogenboom M, Huang D, Keith S, Kosnik M, Kuo CY, Lough J, Lovelock C, Luiz O,
Martinelli J, Mizerek T, Pandolfi J, Pochon X, Pratchett MS, Putnam H, Roberts E, Stat M, Wallace C,
Widman E, and Baird A. (2016) The Coral Trait Database, a curated database of trait information for
coral species from the global oceans. Scientific data, 3, 160017.

Pisapia, C., D. Burn, R. Yoosuf, A. Najeeb, K. Anderson and M. Pratchett (2016). Coral recovery in the central Maldives archipelago since the last major mass-bleaching, in 1998. Scientific Reports 6: 34720.

Pisapia C, Anderson KD, Pratchett MS. (2016) Temporal consistency in background mortality for four
dominant coral taxa along Australia’s Great Barrier Reef. Coral Reefs (Accepted Feb 2, 2016)

Anderson KD, Heron SF, Pratchett MS (2015) Species-specific declines in linear extension of branching corals
at a subtropical reef, Lord Howe Island. Coral Reefs 34(2): 479-490

Pratchett MS, Anderson KD, Hoogenboom MO, Widman E, Baird AH, Pandolfi JM, Edmunds PJ, Lough JM
(2015) Spatial, temporal and taxonomic variation in coral growth: Implications for the structure and
function of coral reef ecosystems. Oceanography and Marine Biology: An Annual Review 53:215-295

Anderson K, Pratchett . (2014) Variation in size-frequency distributions of branching corals between a tropical versus sub-tropical reef. Marine Ecology Progress Series, 502, 117-128.

Pisapia C, Anderson K, Pratchett MS (2014) Intraspecific Variation in Physiological Condition of Reef-Building Corals Associated with Differential Levels of Chronic Disturbance. Plos One, 9, e91529.

Anderson, K, Pratchett M, Baird A (2012) Summer growth rates of coral at Lord Howe Island, Australia. Proc 12th Int Coral Reef Symp, Cairns, Australia

Conference Presentations:

Anderson K, Cantin N, Casey J, Pratchett M. The impacts of climate change stressors on Acropora calcification. Oral presentation. 13^th International Coral Reef Symposium, June 2016.

Anderson, K., Cantin, N., Pratchett, M. The impacts of climate change stressors of Acropora calcification and
survival. Australian Coral Reef Society Conference. Day Dream Island, August 2015.

Anderson K., Pratchett, M. Variation in size-frequency distributions of branching corals between a tropical
versus sub-tropical reef. Poster session. Australian Coral Reef Society Conference. Brisbane, August 2014

Anderson, K., Pratchett, M. Declining coral growth at Australia’s most southern reef. Fifteen minute talk. Australian Coral Reef Society Conference. Sydney, August 2013.

Anderson, K., Pratchett, M., Baird, A. Declining coral growth at Lord Howe Island Fifteen minute talk. 12th International Coral Reef Symposium. Cairns, July 2012.

Awards and Grants:

Ian Potter Early Career Research Travel Grant. For European Coral Reef Symposium 2017. AUD 1200

Reef Responses 3-year Fellowship 2016-2019. ARC Centre of Excellence for Coral Reef Studies and Australian Institute of Marine Science. AUD 20000 per annum

James Cook University International Research Scholar. 2012-2015: AUD 53728 per annum

AIMS@JCU Travel Award 2016. For International Coral Reef Symposium 2016. AUD1000

AIMS@JCU Travel Award 2015. For Australian Reef Society Conference 2015. AUD750

AIMS@JCU Pilot Research Award 2014. AUD1,000

GBRMPA Science for Management Award 2014. AUD1,000.

ARC Centre of Excellence for Coral Reef Studies, Graduate Research Scheme (GRS) 2013. AUD2,369.

Travel award to attend the Australian Coral Reef Society Conference 2012 (Sydney, August 2012). AUD380.

AIMS@JCU Honours Scholarship 2011. Australian Institute for Marine Science, Townsville, QLD. AUD1,000.

1

People and ecosystems

2

Ecosystem dynamics: past, present and future

3

Responding to a changing world

Coral Bleaching

People

Media Releases

Coral reef scientist receives royal honour

Marine reserves are vital – but under pressure

Coral reefs losing ability to keep pace with sea-level rise

Combination of light and temperature naturally regulate algal abundance

Seminars

Chasing anthropogenic pollution in the ocean using geochemistry of marine calcifiers

Building social-ecological resilience in a coastal-marine environment: the case of Araçá Bay (Brazil)

Contemporary patterns of natural selection among hybridising species of coral reef fish

Effects of water quality on the ecology of herbivorous parrotfishes and surgeonfishes in American Samoa

The Resilience Network…and the search or fortunate reefs

Regulators of coral reef diversity in deep time and space

Fine-scale coral connectivity pathways in the Great Barrier Reef and in the Florida Reef Tract: Implications for conservation and restoration

Epigenetics: How genes and environment interact

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