Profile

I come from California, Steinbeck country. I think ‘Cannery Row’ provides the setting for the coast of northern California and what rock-pooling is like there. Surprisingly it is NOT warm- see the link to the beach I grew up on.

Moss Beach Marine Reserve!

Besides science, I love to draw and paint, crochet and quilt, play music and explore.

Favorite movie- Ghostbusters and Monsters Inc are classics

Favorite Book- Might still be Princess Bride, but 20,000 leagues under the sea is a delightful read. A short history of nearly everything is also great- but especially if you like science.

I think some people are confused when I tell them I study seaweeds like kelp. I used to work with dolphins and sea lions (sea otters too) but one day, while learning how to become a science diver in the kelp forest, I decided to give it all up for the algae (official name of seaweeds). Why you ask? Actually, it’s very simple. Algae are so good at fitting in with their surroundings- they are found in so many places other than kelp forests like sea ice, your pool, inside corals, and they produce 50% of the oxygen we breath everyday.

I work in Botany and Plant Sciences at NUI Galway with Dr. Dagmar Stengel. My project looks at which animals choose to live in kelp forests from early on in their lives through to the teenage and adult years. I also study how fast kelps grow, and the age of kelps in each forest to see how often storms and waves might tear up kelps. This lets us know how stable forests are for the animals that live there and how much food the kelps might be providing for those animals.

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START: cup of coffee

8 AM: cup of coffe

10 AM: First dive- take pictures and count stuff

12 PM: lunch on a grass knoll near the beach (in the rain)

2PM: second dive- take pictures, count stuff and collect some kelp

4 PM: Dry off and drive back to the lab

6 PM: snacks and count kelps and animals in the lab

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