Research
Research Interests:
Biology of coral reefs, echinoderms and turtles
My research interests include marine invertebrate biology, especially echinoderms, coral reef ecology and turtle biology and conservation.
I have developed a keen interest in echinoderm biology over the last 35 years and have worked on many aspects of the group, including anatomy, fine structure, physiology , ecology and taxonomy. At the moment I am particularly interested in the reproductive physiology and ecology of tropical sea urchins of the genera Diadema and Echinothrix, particularly with the processes that regulate spawning behaviour.
I have a continuing interest in the distance chemoreception of food and predators in temperate starfish, and improving the experimental methods of analysing this. I have spent some time investigating the zoogeographical aspects of the distribution of invertebrates in the Indian Ocean, especially in the Red Sea and the Arabian sea, particularly with regard to upwelling zones and the associated occurence of temperate genera in localised cold water columns.
For several years I was active in turtle conservation in the eastern Mediterranean and I have retained a strong interest in this field. Over the years I have supervised a number of post graduate students in most of these areas.