Dr Sebastian Hennige

I am a Senior Lecturer in the School of Geosciences, where I examine the impact of climate change and pollutants on marine organisms and ecosystems, with particular focus on tropical and cold-water coral reefs. I explore how Past events have impacted upon marine ecosystems and organisms, examine how organisms have adapted to survive in a wide variety of Present day systems, and use aquaria experiments to predict how Future projected changes will impact organism fitness. By combining climate research with potential pollution problems, I also investigate how nanoparticles from sunscreen may exacerbate the bleaching response of corals, and whether oil-degrading microbes can still ‘clean up’ oil spills in a future ocean. The four main themes of my research are:

• The impact of climate change on tropical and cold-water corals
• The impact of pollutants on marine organisms in a changing ocean
• Ecosystem based adaptation and sustainable aquaculture
• Fundamental Ecology

My fieldwork throughout my career has included expeditions to cold-water coral reefs in the UK and Norway, and to tropical reefs in Indonesia, the Maldives, the Seychelles and Egypt.

I was lead editor of a United Nations Convention on Biological Diversity report on ocean acidification, and am on the steering group for the MASTS Dynamics and Properties of Marine Systems theme.

I studied Marine and Environmental Biology at the University of St. Andrews before taking a PhD at the University of Essex examining acclimation and adaptations of corals across environmental gradients. I then went to the University of Delaware (USA) to research harmful algal bloom photophysiology in a variety of environments, and mechanisms underlying tropical coral bleaching. Following that, I moved to Heriot-Watt University to conduct the first long-term experiments on cold-water corals in a changing ocean. I was then awarded a NERC Fellowship at Heriot-Watt University and University of Edinburgh examining the impact of climate change in tropical and cold-water corals. I am currently a Lecturer in Marine Sciences at University of Edinburgh, in the School of GeoSciences.

Teaching

My main teaching is within the MSc. Marine Systems and Policies Programme, but I am also actively engaged in various courses at undergraduate level.