Andy Hoey – Visiting Researcher

Faye Moyes

Tuesday 16 June 2015

We recently hosted Andy Hoey in St Andrews, thanks to funding from a Sally Connally Hardie bursary. The purpose of this visit was to kick-start a collaboration between Maria, Heidi Burdett and Andy looking at how stoichiometry constrains ecosystem function in coral reefs.

Ecological stoichiometry looks at how ratios of elements in nature constrain the flow of mass, and has consequences that span cellular function, to organismal growth and ecosystem function. We are specifically interested in understanding whether there are stoichiometric positive feedbacks involved in reefs’ algal-dominated vs. coral-dominated states.