Jake Dytnerski
Ph.D. candidate
Research
Hong Kong has a seasonally dynamic marine environment. Summer sea surface temperatures can exceed 30°C whereas winter temperatures can drop below 15°C. This range in temperature allows for year-round coral communities, and abundant growth of macroalgae in the winter. For my PhD, I am researching the role of the long-spined sea urchin, Diadema setosum, in the ecosystem, here in Hong Kong. Much work has been done on Diadema antillarum in the Caribbean, and some work has been done on the D. setosum as a bioeroder of coral reefs in the tropics. However, little is known about which marcoalgae these urchins feed on; how they affect the seasonal patterns of macroalgae growth and distribution; if the urchins target living corals here in Hong Kong or just the turf algae that grows on the dead skeletons of the corals. Answering these questions will help understand the food sources of the urchins and how their energy stores vary with the seasonal change in food abundance. I am also interested in the connectivity of the populations of D. setosum across its range, as they can be found from the East coast of Africa to French Polynesia, from Honshu, Japan to NSW, Australia. I want to compare the physiological performance of the urchins from stable tropical environments and highly variable environments to determine if they show extensive physiological plasticity, or if populations have adapted to variable environments. This will allow me to predict how these important grazers will cope with future conditions across their range.
Education
2016: Bachelor of Science, Honours Marine Biology, University of British Columbia, Canada
2013: Arts and Science Diploma: Biology, Langara College, Canada
Awards
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2015: Dean of Science Scholarship – Biology research grant
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2013: Betty and Tony Pletcher Memorial Scholarship – For Achievement in Biology
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2012: Real Estate Foundation Biology Student Bursary – Bursary for Biology students
Steven Wong
Research Assistant
Research
Oysters have been consumed as food and their shells as coins or ornaments around the world for thousands of years. In recent decades, oyster shells help producing concrete by supplementing or replacing cement. When oysters aggregate together they form oyster reef which provides numbers of ecosystem services such as filtering seawater, while they feed and increase habitat complexity.
Oyster farming in Hong Kong could be traced back at least 700 years. In the early 19th century, there were 11 lime kilns, refining oyster, bivalve shells, corals into lime. How much potential services did we lose by removing oyster shells from the sea? Is it worth or is it practical to restore oyster reef by building artificial ones?
My current research, which is a collaboration with The Nature Conservancy, focuses on whether artificial oyster habitats help enhancing biodiversity such as birds, crabs, polychaetas, fishes, amphipods, etc. At the same time, I will study if is there any relationships between oyster habitat and horseshoe crab foraging grounds.
