Research interest
My research tackles issues in coral reef systems using both ecological and social-ecological approaches and involves field and lab work, statistical models and spatial analyses.
Important themes in my research:
Disentangling key drivers of nutrient concentration in fish
Determining the ecological and environmental determinants of micronutrient availability from fish to achieve food and nutrition security.
Related publication:
- Hicks et al. 2019. Harnessing global fisheries to tackle micronutrient deficiencies. Nature, 574: 95–98
Current and future accessibility
Examining how accessibility from human settlements influences the condition of marine communities at both global and small scale.
Example publications:
- Maire et al. 2020. Disentangling the complex roles of markets on coral reefs in northwest Madagascar. Ecology and Society, 25(3):23, doi: 10.5751/ES-11595-250323.
- Maire et al. 2016. How accessible are coral reefs to people? A global assessment based on travel time. Ecology Letters, 19, 351:360, doi: 10.1111/ele.12577.
- Letessier et al. 2019. Remote reefs and seamounts are the last refuges for marine predators across the Indo-Pacific. PLOS Biology, 17(8): e3000366, doi: 10.1371/journal.pbio.3000366.
Defining the key drivers of coral reef ecosystems
Examining the key environmental and socioeconomic drivers of reef fish and coral communities while assessing the effectiveness of management strategies.
Example publications:
- Cinner et al. 2020. Meeting fisheries, ecosystem function, and biodiversity goals in a human-dominated world. Science, doi: 10.1126/science.aax9412.
- Cinner et al. 2018. The gravity of human impacts mediates coral reef conservation gains. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, doi: 10.1073/pnas.1708001115.
- Darling et al. 2019. Social-environmental drivers inform strategic management of coral reefs in the Anthropocene. Nature Ecology and Evolution, 3: 1341–1350.
- Cinner et al. 2016. Bright spots among the world’s coral reefs. Nature, 535: 416-419, doi:10.1038/nature18607.
Importance and drivers of fish biodiversity
Examining the complex relationships between biodiversity and ecosystem functioning. Developing statistical and analytic tools for studying biodiversity.
Example publications:
- Maire et al. 2018. Community-wide scan flags fish species associated to coral reef services globally. Proceedings B., doi: 10.1098/rspb.2018.1167.
- Maire et al. 2015. How many dimensions are needed to accurately assess functional diversity? A pragmatic approach for assessing the quality of functional spaces. Global Ecology and Biogeography, 24(6):728-740, doi: 10.1111/geb.12299.
