Sue-Ann’s research focuses on the effects of environmental stressors on marine organisms including invertebrates, corals and fishes. She is particularly interested in the effects of multiple stressors such as ocean warming, ocean acidification and water quality impacts including light availability (turbidity), nutrients and salinity. Sue-Ann’s broad research interests include ecology, physiology, behaviour and the potential for acclimation and adaptation to change in marine organisms.

Research organisms include: bivalve and gastropod molluscs (oysters, giant clams, jumping snails, cone snails, pteropods), crown-of-thorns starfish (COTS), hard and soft corals, crustaceans, sea urchins, fish (coral reef fish, kingfish, barramundi), brachiopods and sea cucumbers.

Research sites include: Australia, Singapore, French Polynesia, Antarctica, Arctic, UK, deep sea (Crozet Islands and North Atlantic abyssal plain), Falkland Islands and New Zealand.

Sue-Ann is originally from the UK and studied for a BSc (Hons) degree in Biology from the University of Nottingham and MSc in Oceanography from the National Oceanography Centre, University of Southampton. With the University of Southampton and British Antarctic Survey, Sue-Ann researched evolutionary trends across latitudinal gradients in marine invertebrates to determine how adaptive traits change along environmental gradients from the tropics to the poles for her PhD, in collaboration with the National University of Singapore, University of Melbourne and James Cook University.

http://www.coralcoe.org.au/researchers/sue-ann-watson

 http://sueannwatson.weebly.com/

 

Interests

Research

• Invertebrates, fish, ecology, physiology, behavioural ecology, climate change, ocean warming, ocean acidification, water quality, light availability, nutrients, resouce availability, salinity, carbonate chemistry

Research Disciplines

• Ecology (0602)
• Ecological Applications (0501)

Socio-Economic Objectives

• Climate and Climate Change (9603)
• Expanding Knowledge (9701)

Awards

• 2015 - Australian Museum Eureka Prize: Macquarie University Eureka Prize for Outstanding Early Career Researcher finalist (Australian national science awards)
• 2015 - Rising Star of Queensland Science (Queensland Government)
• 2014 - Queensland Young Tall Poppy Scientist of the Year

Fellowships

• 2016 to 2017 - Institute for Pacific Coral Reefs / Institut des Récifs Coralliens du Pacifique (IRCP) Fellowship, Mo’orea, French Polynesia
• 2015 to 2016 - Lizard Island Yulgilbar Foundation Fellowship, Australia

These are the most recent publications associated with this author. To see a detailed profile of all publications stored at JCU, visit ResearchOnline@JCU. Hover over Altmetrics badges to see social impact.

Journal Articles

• Allan B, Domenici P, Watson S, Munday P and McCormick M (2017) Warming has a greater effect than elevated CO2 on predator prey interactions in coral reef fish. Proceedings of the Royal Society of London Series B, Biological Sciences, 284 (1857). pp. 1-9
• Allen J, Schrage K, Foo S, Watson S and Byrne M (2017) The effects of salinity and pH on fertilization, early development and hatching in the Crown-of-Thorns seastar. Diversity, 9 (1). pp. 1-14
• Ferrari M, McCormick M, Watson S, Meekan M, Munday P and Chivers D (2017) Predation in high CO2 waters: prey fish from high-risk environments are less susceptible to ocean acidification. Integrative and Comparative Biology, 57 (1). pp. 55-62
• Watson S, Fields J and Munday P (2017) Ocean acidification alters predator behaviour and reduces predation rate. Biology Letters, 13. pp. 1-5
• Wessels W, Sprungala S, Watson S, Miller D and Bourne D (2017) The microbiome of the octocoral Lobophytum pauciflorum: minor differences between sexes and resilience to short-term stress. FEMS Microbiology Ecology, 93 (5). pp. 1-13
• Heinrich D, Watson S, Rummer J, Brandl S, Simpfendorfer C, Heupel M and Munday P (2016) Foraging behaviour of the epaulette shark Hemiscyllium ocellatum is not affected by elevated CO2. ICES Journal of Marine Science, 73 (3). pp. 633-640
• Moya A, Howes E, Lacoue-Labarthe T, Forêt S, Hanna B, Medina M, Munday P, Ong J, Teyssié J, Torda G, Watson S, Miller D, Bijma J and Gattuso J (2016) Near-future pH conditions severely impact calcification, metabolism and the nervous system in the pteropod Heliconoides inflatus. Global Change Biology, 22 (12). pp. 3888-3900
• Munday P, Welch M, Allan B, Watson S, McMahon S and McCormick M (2016) Effects of elevated CO2 on predator avoidance behaviour by reef fishes is not altered by experimental test water. PeerJ, 4. pp. 1-18
• Munday P, Watson S, Parsons D, King A, Barr N, McLeod I, Allan B and Pether S (2016) Effects of elevated CO2 on early life history development of the yellowtail kingfish, Seriola lalandi, a large pelagic fish. ICES Journal of Marine Science, 73 (3). pp. 641-649
• Nadler L, Killen S, McCormick M, Watson S and Munday P (2016) Effect of elevated carbon dioxide on shoal familiarity and metabolism in a coral reef fish. Conservation Physiology, 4 (1).
• Brien H, Watson S and Hoogenboom M (2015) Presence of competitors influences photosynthesis, but not growth, of the hard coral Porites cylindrica at elevated seawater CO2. ICES Journal of Marine Science, 73 (3). pp. 659-669
• Ferrari M, Munday P, Rummer J, McCormick M, Corkill K, Watson S, Allan B, Meekan M and Chivers D (2015) Interactive effects of ocean acidification and rising sea temperatures alter predation rate and predator selectivity in reef fish communities. Global Change Biology, 21. pp. 1848-1855

Current and recent Research Funding to JCU is shown by funding source and project.

Advisory Accreditation: I can be on your Advisory Panel as a Primary or Secondary Advisor.

These Higher Degree Research projects are either current or by students who have completed their studies within the past 5 years at JCU. Linked titles show theses available within ResearchOnline@JCU.

Current

• The Effects of Projected Future CO2 on Cephalopod Behaviours and Physiology (PhD , Primary Advisor)
• The Impacts of Coal Contamination on Reproduction and Early Life History Stages in Corals. (PhD , Secondary Advisor)

The map shows research collaborations by institution from the past 7 years.
Note: Map points are indicative of the countries or states that institutions are associated with.