Overview
Room: 325 Westbury Mount Phone: 01248 382898
E-mail: a.heenan@bangor.ac.uk
Web: Google Scholar ResearchGate
In 2003, I obtained a B.Sc. in Zoology at the University of Edinburgh and an M.Sc. in Tropical Coastal Management at Newcastle University upon Tyne in 2004. After my MSc I worked for the IUCN (World Conservation Union) Shark Specialist Group, contributing to Red Listing and CITES processes for species of Sharks, Skates and Rays. From 2006-2010 I did a PhD on the settlement behavior of larval coral reef fish, working at the Lizard Island research station on an Australian Museum Doctoral Fellowship, as well as in Indonesia and the Philippines. After my PhD, I worked as a marine ecologist, communicating scientific information to the Irish Sea Conservation Zone (ISCZ) stakeholder group, one of the regional projects in the UK national ecological network of marine conservation areas. From 2011-2017 I was based at the NOAA Pacific Islands Fisheries Science Center in Honolulu, Hawaii where I worked as an applied scientist for a long-term monitoring program. In that role, my time was split between collecting and analyzing a large-scale coral reef ecosystem monitoring dataset and capacity building for the implementation of an Ecosystem Approach to Fisheries Management (EAFM). In 2017 I took a Ser Cymru fellowship at the School of Ocean Sciences. This is funded by the European Union’s Horizon 2020 research and innovation programme under the Marie Skłodowska-Curie grant agreement No 663830.
I am now a full time lecturer at the School of Ocean Sciences, where my research focuses on modelling coral reef fishes to try and understand how coral reef ecosystems function and how humans interact with them. In my previous role at NOAA I had the extraordinary opportunity to dive on some of the most remote and pristine coral reefs on the planet. Doing so gave me an appreciation for the need to understand natural variation in ecosystem state due to the physical environment, in order to better understand and manage human activities. I have a strong interest in the information and data needs that can enable sustainable fisheries, and how we can put an Ecosystem Approach to Fisheries Management into practice. This includes implementing collaborative and integrated monitoring, with reproducible and standardized methods and data management protocols, as well as validating novel indicators for a whole system perspective.
Research Areas
Qualifications
- MSc
Newcastle University, - BSc
University of Edinburgh, - PhD
University of Edinburgh,
Postgraduate Project Opportunities
Publications
2024
- PublishedCumulative trophic curves elucidate tropical coral reef ecosystems
Link, J., Pranovi, F., Kindinger, T., Heenan, A. & Tanaka, K., 4 Jan 2024, In: Frontiers in Marine Science. 10
Research output: Contribution to journal › Article › peer-review
2023
- PublishedInternet trade of a previously unknown wildlife product from a critically endangered marine fish
Pytka, J., Moore, A. & Heenan, A., Mar 2023, In: Conservation Science and Practice. 5, 3, e12896.
Research output: Contribution to journal › Article › peer-review
2022
- PublishedLinking variation in planktonic primary production to coral reef fish growth and condition
Roche, R., Heenan, A., Taylor, B. M., Schwarz, J. N., Fox, M. D., Southworth, L., Williams, G. & Turner, J., 31 Aug 2022, In: Royal Society Open Science. 9, 8, p. 201012 201012.
Research output: Contribution to journal › Article › peer-review
2021
- PublishedSpatial and temporal scales of coral reef fish ecological research and management: a systematic map protocol
Lawrence, A., Heenan, A., Levine, A., Haddaway, N., Powell, F., Wedding, L., Roche, R., Lawrence, P., Szostek, C., Ford, H., Southworth, L., Sannassy Pilly, J., Richardson, L. & Williams, G. J., 25 Jan 2021, In: Environmental Evidence. 10, 3.
Research output: Contribution to journal › Article › peer-review
2020
- PublishedNatural variation in coral reef trophic structure across environmental gradients
Heenan, A., Williams, G. & Williams, I., Mar 2020, In: Frontiers in Ecology and the Environment. 18, 2, p. 69-75
Research output: Contribution to journal › Article › peer-review
2019
- PublishedAchieving social and ecological goals of coastal management through integrated monitoring
Wongbusarakum, S., Brown, V., Loerzel, A., Gorstein, M., Kleiber, D., Quinata, M., Iwane, M. & Heenan, A., Nov 2019, In: Journal of Applied Ecology. 56, 11, p. 2400-2409 10 p.
Research output: Contribution to journal › Article › peer-review - PublishedCoral reef ecology in the Anthropocene
Williams, G. J., Graham, N. A. J., Jouffray, J.-B., Norstrom, A. V., Nystrom, M., Gove, J. M., Heenan, A. & Wedding, L. M., Jun 2019, In: Functional Ecology. 33, 6, p. 1014-1022
Research output: Contribution to journal › Article › peer-review
2018
- PublishedEcological Impacts of the 2015/16 El Niño in the Central Equatorial Pacific
Brainard, R. E., Oliver, T., McPhaden, M. J., Cohen, A., Venegas, R., Heenan, A., Vargas-Ángel, B., Rotjan, R., Mangubhai, S., Flint, E. & Hunter, S. A., Jan 2018, In: Bulletin of the American Meteorological Society. 99, 1, p. S21-S26
Research output: Contribution to journal › Article › peer-review - PublishedIntegrated Monitoring with SocMon/SEM-Pasifika: Principles and Process
Heenan, A. & Wongbusarakum, S., 2018
Research output: Book/Report › Other report - PublishedLocal Biomass Baselines and the Recovery Potential for Hawaiian Coral Reef Fish Communities: Hawaiian Reef Fish Recovery Potential
Gorospe, K., Donahue, M., Heenan, A., Gove, J., Williams, I. & Brainard, R., 9 May 2018, In: Frontiers in Marine Science. 5, 162.
Research output: Contribution to journal › Article › peer-review - PublishedUsing Participatory Methods to Assess Data Poor Migrant Fisheries in Kenya
Ngao Wanyongi, I., Macharia, D., Heenan, A. & Mangi, S., 2018, In: Human Dimensions of Wildlife. 23, 6, p. 569-586
Research output: Contribution to journal › Article › peer-review
2017
- PublishedLong-term monitoring of coral reef fish assemblages in the Western central pacific
Heenan, A., Williams, I. D., Acoba, T., DesRochers, A., Kosaki, R. K., Kanemura, T., Nadon, M. O. & Brainard, R. E., Dec 2017, In: Scientific data. 4, 170176.
Research output: Contribution to journal › Article › peer-review
2016
- PublishedEcosystem monitoring for ecosystem-based management: using a polycentric approach to balance information trade-offs
Heenan, A., Gorospe, K., Williams, I., Levine, A., Maurin, P., Nadon, M., Oliver, T., Rooney, J., Timmers, M., Wongbusarakum, S. & Brainard, R., 13 May 2016, In: Journal of Applied Ecology. 53, 3, p. 699-704
Research output: Contribution to journal › Article › peer-review - PublishedNatural bounds on herbivorous coral reef fishes
Heenan, A., Hoey, A. S., Williams, G. & Williams, I. D., 23 Nov 2016, In: Proceedings of the Royal Society B.. 283, 1843
Research output: Contribution to journal › Article › peer-review
2015
- PublishedA climate-informed, ecosystem approach to fisheries management
Heenan, A., Pomeroy, R., Bell, J., Munday, P. L., Cheung, W., Logan, C., Brainard, R., Amri, A. Y., Alino, P., Armada, N., David, L., Rivera-Guieb, R., Green, S., Jompa, J., Leonardo, T., Mamauag, S., Parker, B., Shackeroff, J. & Yasin, Z., Jul 2015, In: Marine Policy. 57, p. 182-192
Research output: Contribution to journal › Article › peer-review - PublishedHuman, Oceanographic and Habitat Drivers of Central and Western Pacific Coral Reef Fish Assemblages
Williams, I. D., Baum, J. K., Heenan, A., Hanson, K. M., Nadon, M. O. & Brainard, R. E., 1 Apr 2015, In: PLoS ONE. 10, 4, e0120516.
Research output: Contribution to journal › Article › peer-review
2013
- PublishedMonitoring Herbivorous Fishes as Indicators of Coral Reef Resilience in American Samoa
Heenan, A. & Williams, I. D., 6 Nov 2013, In: PLoS ONE. 8, 11, e79604.
Research output: Contribution to journal › Article › peer-review
2009
- PublishedRestoring depleted coral-reef fish populations through recruitment enhancement: a proof of concept
Heenan, A., Meekan, M. G., Healy, S. D., Simpson, S. & Braithwaite, V. A., Nov 2009, In: Journal of Fish Biology. 75, 7, p. 1857-67 11 p.
Research output: Contribution to journal › Article › peer-review
Activities
2017
- How open data can help the world better manage coral reefs
2017
Links:
Activity: Types of Public engagement and outreach - Media article or participation (Contributor)
2016
- Jazz-band ecosystem monitoring
2016
Links:
Activity: Types of Public engagement and outreach - Media article or participation (Contributor) - Understanding the conditions that foster coral reef caretakers
2016
Links:
Activity: Types of Public engagement and outreach - Media article or participation (Contributor)
2015
- Measuring coral reef fishes by taking humans out of the picture
2015
Links:
Activity: Types of Public engagement and outreach - Media article or participation (Contributor)