Eoghan Aston
PhD Candidate
James Cook University
From 2005 to 2022, the main node of the ARC Centre of Excellence for Coral Reef Studies was headquartered at James Cook University in Townsville, Queensland (Australia)
Eoghan developed a connection with the marine realm during his early teens, when he visited places far removed from his small English Midlands hometown. After completing an undergraduate Masters degree at Bangor University, North Wales, the tropics called. Developing his Masters work into a research paper with a team of interdisciplinary scientists based all around the world, Eoghan was taught quickly what can be achieved when several specialists put their heads together to solve a problem. Moving to Australia in early 2018, Eoghan spent a year assisting various PhD students on field trips in both Australia and Papua New Guinea, before embarking on his own PhD journey.
Eoghan’s PhD is investigating structural complexity in Scleractinian corals. He is using photogrammetry to digitally reconstruct corals at various scales in 3D, with the hope of improving our understanding of the differences between coral types over space and through time. His findings will offer insight into how the ability of reefs to provide habitat to fish may change as a result of stressors. He is supervised by Dr. Stephanie Duce and Professor Andrew Hoey.
Aston, E.A., Williams, G.J., Green, J.M., Davies, A.J., Wedding, L.M., Gove, J.M., Jouffray, J.B., Jones, T.T. and Clark, J., 2019. Scale‐dependent spatial patterns in benthic communities around a tropical island seascape. Ecography, 42(3), pp.578-590.
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