Prof Karen Diele

Biography	I am a Professor of Marine Ecology at Edinburgh Napier University (ENU). I am heading our Centre for Conservation and Restoration Science (CCRS) and am University lead for Research Structures, working with ENU's new Research Centres. I am steering committee member of the Fisheries Science and Aquatic Stressor Fora of the Marine Alliance for Science and Technology for Scotland (MASTS; www.masts.ac.uk) and was Co-Director of St Abbs Marine Station, 2015-2020. Before moving to Scotland, I was researcher at the Leibniz Centre of Tropical Marine Ecology (ZMT) in Bremen, Germany, with projects in Brazil and Vietnam (2011-2006). Between 2000 and 2005 I was based in Northern Brazil as a postdoctoral fellow where I also coordinated a 10 yrs bilateral research project on Mangrove Dynamics and Management. In 2000 I gained my PhD degree in Biology at the University Bremen / ZMT, Germany. I am currently teaching in the programmes MSc - Wildlife Biology and Conservation, and BSc (Hon) Marine Freshwater Biology. Prior to ENU I lectured Marine Biology at the University of Bremen and within the programme 'International Studies in Aquatic Tropical Ecology (ISATEC)'. RESEARCH INTERESTS My research focuses on the dynamics, management and conservation/restoration of coastal ecosystems, on the life cycles and functional ecology of associated benthic marine invertebrates and their behavioural and physiological responses to environmental change (e.g. underwater noise, climatic stressors). I have been working in mangrove forests, seagrass meadows, rocky shores and biogenic reefs. My approach involves descriptive and experimental field and laboratory studies to answer fundamental biological and ecological questions and to deliver conservation, management and livelihood solutions. RECENT GRANT SUCCESSES - 'Minding the Gap' - Industry funded - 2024-2027 - 'WOSHH-eDNA-Sound - Scottish Marine Environmental Enhancement Fund - 2023-2025 - Tool Development for assessing Oyster Restoration success. - 20123-2024 'The West of Scotland Herring Hunt' (WOSHH) - William Grant Foundation - 2021-2024. See https://scottishherring.org (Research tab) - 'Marine Soundscapes and eDNA for Assessing Biodiversity and Functioning of Re-establishing European Flat Oyster Reefs, Ostrea edulis' - NERC - SUPER DTP 2021 - 2025 - 'As Good as (G)Old? Comparing Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services of Restored and Natural Mangrove Forests in the Wallacea Region (CoReNat) - NERC 2018-2022 - Wester Ross Herring Spawning Ecology - Skye and Lochalsh Rivers Trust / William Grant Foundation - 2020-2021 - 'The Role of the Gill Microbiome in the Evolution of Terrestrialness in Brachyuran Crabs (Microlanding)' - CRG KAUST 2019 -2022 - 'Quantifying and Reducing the Environmental Footprint of Processing of the Meat of the Brazilian Mangrove Crab Ucides cordatus and Scoping for Bioactive Compounds. Newton-Confap - 2018-2019 RECENT MEDIA OUTPUT ---- BBC Scotland (25/04/24), and The Times (26/04/24), featuring herring spawning ground seen from space , surveyed by WOSHH & partners ---- The Scotsman (04/08/22), and The Times (06/08/22), featuring the WOSHH project and launch of a new website dedicated to Scottish Herring ---- AgroMas - Tech and Startup (31/01/22; 30 min life interview); TV Brazil, featuring the launch of the new IoS version of a citizen-science mobile app for monitoring mass-mating of Brazilian mangrove crabs ---- BBC Blue Planet UK Episode 2, featuring our underwater noise research) and Episode 5, featuring our animal 'personality' research). PLACEMENT STUDENTS In addition to enjoying my work with Postdoctoral Fellows, PhD, MSc and UG students, I am welcoming UK and international placement students to gain experience in our labs. For example, between 2017 and 2019 I have been accepting three students from the School of Engineering, University of Lyon, France (5 months PROMO-placements), and between 2014 and 2016 IAESTE students from ETH Zuerich, Switzerland, TU Aachen, Germany and University of Bogotá, Colombia.
Research Interests	Marine & coastal functional ecology; Biodiversity; Conservation & restoration (e.g. mangroves; herring spawning habitat; Shellfish ecology); Soundscape ecology; Stressors; Co-Management
ResearcherID	https://scholar.google.co.uk/citations?user=tGk_GC4AAAAJ&hl=en
PhD Supervision Availability	No