Owen R O'Shea

Australian Institute of Marine Science, 
25 Myers Street, 
Crawley, 
WA, 6009

I studied marine and tropical biology as an undergraduate at James Cook University in Townsville, North Queensland, and I soon developed a strong interest in marine ecology, particularly migratory behaviour in elasmobranchs. I went on and completed a challenging honours project which took me to the remote Osprey Reef in the Coral Sea, as well as rarely visited reefs in the famous 'Ribbon Reefs' of the far Northern Great Barrier Reef. My honours research focused on the ecology of marine cleaning intereactions, with a focus on manta rays and sharks which aggregate in large numbers at Osprey Reef. At the end of 2007 I moved to Perth where I began working with scientists at the University of Western Australia in conducting fish surveys and seagrass monitoring in Geographe Bay, 200 km's south of Perth. This entailed the use of baited remote underwater video (BRUV) at locations from Cape Leuwin in the South, to Bussleton in the North. In conjunction with this, I also became involved in an ecological study of seagrass communities in relation to terrestrial run off from artificial drains into Geographe Bay. Once this work had been completed, I began a short term contract with the Marine Ecosystems Branch at the Department of Environment and Conservation in Perth. This invloved providing advice and comments to the Environmental Protection Authority in relation to industrial projects that could potentially affect WA's coastal waters. At the begining of 2009 I began a PhD at Murdoch University in collaboration with the Australian Institute of Marine Science. My research is titled 'The Demography and Ecology of Demersal Stingrays at Ningaloo Reef, Western Australia'. This research aims to describe the distribution, abundance, movement patterns demography and ecosystem impact of demersal rays (Order: Rajiformes) at inshore, lagoonal habitats within the Ningaloo Reef Marine Park in the north west of Western Australia. The research will highlight key ecological functions and migratory behaviour of rays at multiple spatial scales through active tracking, demographic analysis, exclusion experiments and analysis of feeding behaviour and their role as potential engineers of coastal and nearshore ecosystems. I am in my second year of this PhD and have so far conducted over 6 months intensive field sampling, and have amassed a significant ammount of data, including new locality records for a parasitic leech and two new stingray hosts. I aim to complete my field work in mid 2011 and finish at the begining of 2012. In addition to this, I currently work as a consultant to the Environmental Protection Authority in Perth, Western Australia and teach 1st year undergraduate biology at Murdoch University.

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