Emily Steele's Notable First Presentation at an International Conference.
Connecting Coastal Community's Master's student Emily Steele recently shared her early research findings at the Indo-Pacific Fish Conference in Auckland during Special Session 1: Moving Beyond Home Ranges. Her thesis investigates the foraging behaviour of butterflyfishes along a turbidity gradient at Vavanga Reef in the Solomon Islands, aiming to enhance our understanding of ecosystem functioning on coral reefs impacted by anthropogenic stress. Watch her awesome presentation in its entirety here.
Over the past nine months, Emily has meticulously tracked the 3D movements of three butterflyfish species (Chaetodon baronessa, Chaetodon lunulatus, and Chaetodon vagabundus) with varying dependency on coral as food by analysing stereo-video footage. This process required over 34,000 mouse clicks to ensure highly precise tracking. Such detailed data collection allows her to study variations in the velocity of these butterflyfishes, providing insights into their energy expenditure across different environmental conditions.
While Emily's research is still in its preliminary stages, it provides crucial insights into the energy use strategies of butterflyfishes and their vital role in sustaining the health and resilience of stressed coral reef ecosystems. Her ongoing research is poised to reveal novel perspectives on how these species adjust their foraging behaviour in response to habitat degradation, potentially yielding significant contributions to our understanding of energy seascapes and ecosystem functioning. This work holds particular importance for the local indigenous communities dependent on these ecosystems. As Emily continues her research, her findings are anticipated to enhance ecosystem management strategies. For more details about Emily's research and her conference presentation, please contact Emily Steele (emily.jupp@aut.ac.nz), or her supervisors Armagan Sabetian (armagan.sabetian@aut.ac.nz) and Julian Lilkendey (julian.lilkendey@icloud.com).
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