| Title | 9. Threat |
|---|---|
| Subtitle | Pollution |
| Contributor | Ann Thornton(author) |
| William H. Morgan(author) | |
| Eleanor Bladon (author) | |
| Rebecca K. Smith(author) | |
| William J. Sutherland(author) | |
| DOI | https://doi.org/10.11647/obp.0453.09 |
| Landing page | https://www.openbookpublishers.com/books/10.11647/obp.0453/chapters/10.11647/obp.0453.09 |
| License | https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/ |
| Copyright | Ann Thornton; William H. Morgan; Eleanor K. Bladon; Rebecca K. Smith; William J. Sutherland; |
| Publisher | Open Book Publishers |
| Published on | 2025-04-22 |
| Long abstract | This chapter summarizes evidence for the effectiveness of actions to mitigate the threat from pollution on corals. Actions include using chemicals or minerals to neutralize or remove pollutants; reducing pollution from industrial and military activities; and removing garbage and solid waste from the marine environment. |
| Page range | pp. 81–102 |
| Print length | 22 pages |
| Language | English (Original) |
Ann Thornton is a Research Associate in the Department of Zoology at the University of Cambridge and the Managing Editor of the Conservation Evidence Journal. She has previously worked for the Joint Nature Conservation Committee (JNCC) on marine natural capital. Whilst at Southampton University, she collaborated with research institutions in Colombia to assess the impact of El Niño and La Niña on mangrove systems on the Colombian Caribbean coast. Ann’s PhD research assessed the impact of green macroalgal mats on intertidal invertebrates and wading birds. Her work provided recommendations for ways to manage the macroalgal mats to maximise invertebrate diversity and, therefore, energy availability for the internationally important wading bird populations in Poole Harbour.
William Morgan is a Postdoctoral Research Associate in the Department of Zoology at the University of Cambridge. His current research involves collating the available evidence for the effectiveness of conservation actions, and developing tools, resources and processes to help improve evidence use and embed it in conservation practice and decision making. He gained his PhD at the University of Aberdeen, where his work focussed on how population recovery and expansion is driven by processes occurring across a range of spatial scales, from individual level decision making, to metapopulation level colonisation-extinction dynamics. As part of this, he designed and implemented a water vole reintroduction in the northeast of Scotland with the goal of speeding up the recovery of this once abundant species.
Eleanor Bladon is a Research Associate in the Department of Zoology at the University of Cambridge. Her work focuses on how we can use knowledge of animal populations’ social evolutionary history to predict their resilience and ability to adapt to a rapidly changing world. She previously worked as a Research Associate for Conservation Evidence on their butterfly and moth, and coral synopses. She was awarded her PhD from the University of Cambridge for research on the evolutionary causes and consequences of adaptive social behaviour in insects.
Rebecca Smith is a Senior Research Associate in the Department of Zoology at the University of Cambridge and the Manager of the Conservation Evidence project. Her work focuses on overseeing the collation of scientific information about the effectiveness of conservation actions and making it easily accessible to decision makers. Also working with practitioners, policy makers, funders and others to identify barriers and co-design solutions to improve the use and generation of evidence, with the aim of improving practice. Prior to her work with Conservation Evidence, Rebecca’s research focussed on population monitoring and ecological studies to provide management recommendations for declining and endangered species, particularly mammals. Rebecca has also worked as a Senior Ecological Consultant.
William Sutherland is a conservation scientist in the Department of Zoology at the University of Cambridge. He is committed to improving the practice of conservation and other fields. He invented the term evidence-based conservation in 2000 and has been heavily involved in changing practice since, especially through the creation of the https://www.conservationevidence.com website and editing the book Transforming Conservation: A Practical Guide to Evidence and Decision Making.