People

Research Interests

• Impacts of climate change on reef systems
• Predicting recovery patterns in disturbed reef systems
• Linking social-ecological data

My research tackles large-scale ecological and social-ecological coral reef issues under the overarching themes of climate change, human use and resilience. I have worked extensively on the ecological ramifications of fishing and closed area management. I have assessed the long-term impacts of climate induced coral bleaching on coral reef fish assemblages, fisheries and ecosystem stability. I have studied the patterns and processes by which degraded coral reefs recover, and how this can be incorporated into, or influenced by, management action. Increasingly I work with social scientists and economists to assess methods of linking social-ecological systems for natural resource assessment and management.

Seminars

Predicting climate-driven regime shifts versus rebound potential in coral reefs

Unfolding phase shifts and managing for change

Maintaining ecosystems and livelihoods in the face of climate change

Extinction vulnerability of coral reef fishes in response to climate change

Will coral bleaching lead to fisheries collapse?

Select Media and Commentary

Web: BBC News – warming set to ‘devastate’ coral

Print: CourierMail – number of fish for healthy reef identified by scientists

TV: WIN News – a key to protecting coral reefs

Audio: The Times of London, Eureka magazine audio – Chagos marine reserve

Blog: Huffington Post – Climate change will lead to the extinction of coral reef fish

Commentary: Nature – Older but less wise ; Nature – Identifying reef fish at risk ; Current Biology – Marine conservation_moving beyond Malthus ; Science – Bleach prospects for coral recovery ; Current Biology – … but climate change indicators grow apace

Current Research Staff

• Dr Kirsty Nash, Post Doc
• Cindy Huchery, Research Assistant

Current Research Students

• Emmanuel Mbaru, ‘Using fisheries dependent data and socio-economic indicators to develop ecosystem based fisheries management tools’ PhD
• Laura Richardson, ‘The influence of coral community composition on coral reef ecosystem function’ PhD
• Tessa Hempson, ‘Defining the trophic role of reef sharks in coral reef ecosystems’ PhD
• Jan Robinson, ‘Disentangling the causes of vulnerability to fishing in reef fishes that aggregate’ PhD
• Matthew Jankowski, ‘Effects of depth and aspect on distribution, habitat use and specialisation in coral reef fish’ PhD

Publications Online

Google Scholar profile

Selected Publications

• Graham NAJ, Jennings S, MacNeil MA, Mouillot D, Wilson SK (2015) Predicting climate-driven regime shifts versus rebound potential in coral reefs. Nature 518: 94-97 http://www.nature.com/nature/journal/v518/n7537/full/nature14140.html
• MacNeil MA, Graham NAJ, Cinner JE, Wilson SK, Williams ID, Maina J, Newman S, Friedlander AM, Jupiter S, Polunin NVC, McClanahan TR (2015) Recovery potential of the world’s coral reef fishes. Nature 520: 341-344 http://www.nature.com/nature/journal/v520/n7547/full/nature14358.html 
• Graham NAJ (2014) Habitat complexity: coral structural loss leads to fisheries declines. Current Biology 24: R359-361   http://www.cell.com/current-biology/abstract/S0960-9822(14)00391-1
• Nash KL, Allen CR, Angeler DG, Barichievy C, Eason T, Garmestani AS, Graham NAJ, Granholm D, Knutson M, Nelson RJ, Nyström M, Stow GA, Sundstrom SM (2014) Discontinuities, cross-scale patterns and the organisation of ecosystems. Ecology 95: 654-667    http://www.esajournals.org/doi/abs/10.1890/13-1315.1
• Hicks CC, Graham NAJ, Cinner JE (2013) Synergies and tradeoffs in how managers, scientists, and fishers value coral reef ecosystem services. Global Environmental Change 23: 1444-1453 http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0959378013001349
• Graham NAJ, Cinner JE, Norström AV, Nyström M (2014) Coral reefs as novel ecosystems: embracing new futures. Current Opinion in Environmental Sustainability 7: 9-14 http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S1877343513001851
• Graham NAJ, Bellwood DR, Cinner JE, Hughes TP, Norström AV, Nyström M (2013) Managing resilience to reverse phase shifts in coral reefs. Frontiers in Ecology and the Environment 11: 541-548        http://www.esajournals.org/doi/abs/10.1890/120305
• Graham NAJ, McClanahan TR (2013) The last call for marine wilderness? BioScience 63: 397-402    http://www.jstor.org/stable/10.1525/bio.2013.63.5.13
• Graham NAJ, Nash KL (2013) The importance of structural complexity in coral reef ecosystems. Coral Reefs 32: 315-326 http://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s00338-012-0984-y
• Mouillot D, Graham NAJ, Villéger S, Mason NWH, Bellwood DR (2013) A functional approach reveals community responses to disturbances. Trends in Ecology and Evolution 28: 167-177 http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0169534712002650
• Januchowski-Hartley FA, Graham NAJ, Cinner JE, Russ GR (2013) Spillover of fish naïveté from marine reserves. Ecology Letters 16: 191-197 http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/ele.12028/full
• Cinner JE, McClanahan TR, MacNeil MA, Graham NAJ, et al. (2012) Comanagement of coral reef social-ecological systems. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the USA 109: 5219-5222 http://www.pnas.org/content/109/14/5219.short
• McClanahan TR, Graham NAJ, MacNeil MA, Muthiga NA, Cinner JE, Bruggemann JH, Wilson SK (2011) Critical thresholds and tangible targets for ecosystem-based management of coral reef fisheries. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the USA 108: 17230-17233 http://www.pnas.org/content/108/41/17230.short
• Graham NAJ, Chabanet P, Evans RD, Jennings S, Letourneur Y, MacNeil MA, McClanahan TR, Ohman MC, Polunin NVC, Wilson SK (2011) Extinction vulnerability of coral reef fishes. Ecology Letters 14: 341-348  http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/j.1461-0248.2011.01592.x/abstract
• Graham NAJ, Ainsworth TD, Baird AH, Ban NC, et al. (2011) From microbes to people: tractable benefits of no-take areas for coral reefs. Oceanography and Marine Biology: An Annual Review 49: 105-136 http://xa.yimg.com/kq/groups/23692934/735252035/name/Graham+et+al.+OMBAR+2011.pdf
• Hughes TP, Graham NAJ, Jackson JBC, Mumby PJ, Steneck RS (2010) Rising to the challenge of sustaining coral reef resilience. Trends in Ecology and Evolution 25: 633-642
  http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0169534710001825
• Pollnac R, Christie P, Cinner JE, Dalton T, Daw TM, Forrester GE, Graham NAJ, McClanahan TR (2010) Marine reserves as linked social-ecological systems. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the USA 107: 18262-18265 http://www.pnas.org/content/early/2010/02/16/0908266107.abstract
• MacNeil MA, Graham NAJ, Cinner JE, Dulvy NK, Loring PA, Jennings S, Polunin NVC, Fisk AT, McClanahan TR (2010) Transitional states in marine fisheries: adapting to cope with predicted global change. Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society B 365: 3753-3763
  http://rstb.royalsocietypublishing.org/content/365/1558/3753.full
• Graham NAJ, Spalding MD, Sheppard CRC (2010) Reef shark declines in remote atolls highlight the need for multi-faceted conservation action. Aquatic Conservation: Marine and Freshwater Ecosystems 20: 543-548 http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/aqc.1116/abstract
• Cinner, JE, McClanahan, TR, Daw, TM, Graham, NAJ, Maina, J, Wilson, SK, Hughes, TP (2009) Linking social and ecological systems to sustain coral ref fisheries. Current Biology 19: 206-212
  http://www.cell.com/current-biology/abstract/S0960-9822(08)01572-8
• MacNeil, MA, Graham, NAJ, Polunin, NVC, Kulbicki, M, Galzin, R, Harmelin-Vivien, M, Rushton, SP (2009) Hierarchical drivers of reef-fish metacommunity structure. Ecology 90: 252-264
  http://www.esajournals.org/doi/abs/10.1890/07-0487.1
• Wilson, SK, Fisher, R, Pratchett, MS, Graham, NAJ, Dulvy, NK, Turner, RA, Cakacaka, A, Polunin, NVC, Rushton, SP (2008) Explotation and habitat degradation as agents of change within coral reef fish communities. Global Change Biology 14: 2796-2809 http://www3.interscience.wiley.com/journal/121462861/abstract?CRETRY=1&SRETRY=0
• Nyström, M, Graham, NAJ, Lokrantz, J, Norström, A (2008) Capturing the cornerstones of coral reef resilience: linking theory to practice. Coral Reefs 27: 795-809
  http://www.springerlink.com/content/y736137635618158/
• Graham, NAJ, McClanahan, TR, MacNeil, MA, Wilson, SK, Polunin, NVC, Jennings, S, Chabanet, P, Clark, S, Spalding, MD, Letourneur, Y, Bigot, L, Galzin, R, Öhman, MC, Garpe, KC, Edwards, AJ and Sheppard, CRC (2008). Climate warming, marine protected areas and the ocean-scale integrity of coral reef ecosystems. PLoS ONE 3(8): e3039.
  http://dx.doi.org/10.1371%2Fjournal.pone.0003039
• McClanahan TR, Cinner JE, Maina J, Graham NAJ, Daw TM, Stead SM, Wamukota A, Brown K, Ateweberhan M, Venus V, Polunin NVC (2008) Conservation action in a changing climate. Conservation Letters 1: 53-59.       http://www3.interscience.wiley.com/journal/120696730/abstract
• Pratchett, MS, Munday, PL, Wilson, SK, Graham, NAJ, Cinner, JE, Bellwood, DR, Jones, GP, Polunin, NVC and McClanahan, TR (2008). Effects of climate induced coral bleaching on coral reef fishes; ecological and economic consequences. Oceanography and Marine Biology 46: 251-296.
• Graham, NAJ (2007). Ecological versatility and the decline of coral feeding fishes following climate driven coral mortality. Marine Biology 153: 119-127.
  http://dx.doi.org/10.1007/s00227-007-0786-x
• Graham, NAJ, Wilson, SK, Jennings, S, Polunin, NVC, Robinson, J, Bijoux, JP and Daw, TM (2007). Lag effects in the impacts of mass coral bleaching on coral reef fish, fisheries, and ecosystems. Conservation Biology 21: 1291-1300.
  http://dx.doi.org/10.1111/j.1523-1739.2007.00754.x
• McClanahan, TR, Graham, NAJ, Calnan, JM and MacNeil, MA (2007). Toward pristine biomass: Reef fish recovery in coral reef marine protected areas in Kenya. Ecological Applications 17: 1055-1067.
  http://www.esajournals.org/doi/abs/10.1890/06-1450
• Wilson SK, Graham NAJ, Pratchett MS, Jones GP, Polunin NVC (2006) Multiple disturbances and the global degradation of coral reefs: are reef fishes at risk or resilient? Global Change Biology 12: 2220-2234.      http://www3.interscience.wiley.com/journal/118575635/abstract
• Graham, NAJ, Wilson, SK, Jennings, S, Polunin, NVC, Bijoux, JP and Robinson, J (2006). Dynamic fragility of oceanic coral reef ecosystems. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America 103: 8425-8429. http://www.pnas.org/content/103/22/8425.abstract
• Graham, NAJ, Dulvy, NK, Jennings, S and Polunin, NVC (2005). Size-spectra as indicators of the effects of fishing on coral reef fish assemblages. Coral Reefs 24: 118-124.
  http://dx.doi.org/10.1007/s00338-004-0466-y
• Graham, NAJ, Evans, RD and Russ, GR (2003). The effects of marine reserve protection on the trophic relationships of reef fishes on the Great Barrier Reef. Environmental Conservation 30: 200-208. http://journals.cambridge.org/action/displayAbstract?fromPage=online&aid=164185