Current Post: Professorial Fellow

Room Number: ZICER 1.08

Telephone: 01603 592267 (+44 1603 592267)

Fax: 01603 593901 (+44 1603 593901)

Email: a.watkinson@uea.ac.uk

Publications: EPrints Digital Repository

Research Interests

Climate change; flooding and coastal erosion; coastal zone management; coral reef ecology; integrated assessment; plant population and agricultural ecology.


Biography

Prof Watkinson is Director of the Living With Environmental Change Programme (www.lwec.org.uk) that is hosted within the School of Environmental Sciences. This joint initiative represents an unprecedented partnership between the Research Councils, Government Departments and Delivery Agencies to ensure that the UK provides international leadership and solutions to the challenges of environmental change. It is intended that the programme will speed the development of the interdisciplinary evidence base, tools and processes that are needed to inform public and policy debates on how to respond to a range of environmental challenges including climate change and population growth together with their consequences for food, water and energy security.

Prof. Watkinson was formerly Director of the Tyndall Centre for Climate Change Research and a Professor in the School of Environmental Sciences. His initial research career involved studies of population biology and its application to the fields of agriculture, conservation and climate change, but lately has involved interdisciplinary aspects of climate change, ecology and coastal zone management. Recent research highlights published in Science include predicting the biodiversity response to genetically modified herbicide resistant crops, the sustainability of Brazil nut harvesting in the Amazon and the decline of corals in the Caribbean. Research on climate change includes studies on the effects of hurricanes and global warming on coral reefs, sea level rise on turtle nesting beaches and climate change on island tourism. He was one of the lead authors of the Foresight report on Future Flooding commissioned by the Office of Science and Technology and was also involved with the preparation of the 2007 report by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change. He serves on a number of Research Council and Government committees and is a Visiting Professor at Fudan University in Shanghai. 


Significant Publications

• Paddack, M. J., Reynolds, J. D., Aguilar, C., Appeldoorn, R. S., Beets, J., Burkett, E. W., Chittaro, P. M., Clarke, K., Esteves, R., Fonseca, A. C., Forrester, G. E., Friedlander, A. M., García-Sais, J., González-Sansón, G., Jordan, L. K. B., McClellan, D., Miller, M. W., Molloy, P., Mumby, P. J., Nagelkerken, I., Nemeth, M., Navas-Camacho, R., Pitt, J., Polunin, N. V. C., Reyes-Nivia, M. C., Robertson, D. R., Rodríguez-Ramírez, A., Salas, E., Smith, S. R., Spieler, R. E., Steele, M. A., Williams, I. D., Wormald, C. L., Watkinson, A. R. & Côté, I. M. (2009) Recent region-wide declines in Caribbean reef fish abundance. Current Biology, 19, 1-6.
• Evans, E. P., Simm, J. D., Thorne, C. R., Arnell, N. W., Ashley, R. M., Hess, T. M., Lane, S. N., Morris, J., Nicholls, R. J., Penning-Rowsell, E. C., Reynard, N. S., Saul, A. J., Tapsell, S. M., Watkinson, A. R. & Wheater, H. S. (2008) An update of the Foresight Future Flooding 2004 qualitative risk analysis. Cabinet Office, London.

• Ma, Z., Li, B., Li, W., Han, N., Chen, J. & Watkinson, A. R. (2008) Conflicts between biodiversity conservation and development in a biosphere reserve. Journal of Applied Ecology, doi: 10.1111/j.1365-2664.2008.01528.x.

• O’Neill, S. J., Osborn, T. J., Hulme, M., Lorenzoni, I. & Watkinson, A. R. (2008) Using expert knowledge to assess uncertainties in future polar bear populations under climate change. Journal of Applied Ecology, 45, 1649-1659.

• Sutherland, W. J., Bailey, M. J., Bainbridge, I. P., Brereton, T., Dick, J. T. A., Drewitt, J., Dulvy, N. K., Dusic, N. R., Freckleton, R. P., Gaston, K. J., Gilder, P. M., Green, R. E., Heathwaite, A. L., Johnson, S. M., Macdonald, D. W., Mitchell, R., Osborn, D., Owen, R. P., Pretty, J., Prior, S. V., Prosser, H., Pullin, A. S., Rose, P., Stott, A., Tew, T., Thomas, C. D., Thompson, D. B. A., Vickery, J. A., Walker, M., Walmsley, C., Warrington, S., Watkinson, A. R., Williams, R. J., Woodroffe, R. & Woodroof, H. J. (2008) Future novel threats and opportunities facing UK biodiversity identified by horizon scanning. Journal of Applied Ecology, 45, 821-833.

• Gill, J. A., Watkinson, A. R., McWilliams, J. P. & Cote, I. M. (2006) Opposing forces of aerosol cooling and El Nino drive coral bleaching on Caribbean reefs. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America, 103, 18870-18873.

• Sutherland, W. J., Armstrong-Brown, S., Armsworth, P. R., Brereton, T., Brickland, J., Campbell, C. D., Chamberlain, D. E., Cooke, A. I., Dulvy, N. K., Dusic, N. R., Fitton, M., Freckleton, R. P., Godfray, C. H., Grout, N., Harvey, H. J., Hedley, C., Hopkins, J. J., Kift, N. B., Kirby, J., Kunin, W. E., MacDonald, D. W., Marker, B., Naura, M., Neale, A. R., Oliver, T., Osborn, D., Pullin, A. S., Shardlow, M. E. A., Showler, D. A., Smith, P. L., Smithers, R. J., Solandt, J.-L., Spencer, J., Thomas, C. D., Thompson, J., Webb, S. E., Yalden, D. W. & Watkinson, A. R. (2006) The identification of 100 ecological questions of high policy relevance in the UK. Journal of Applied Ecology, 43, 617-627.

• Gardner, T. A., Côté, I. M., Gill, J. A., Grant, A. & Watkinson, A. R. (2005) Hurricanes and Caribbean coral reefs: Impacts, recovery patterns, and role in long-term decline. Ecology, 86, 174-184.

• McWilliams, J. P., Côté, I. M., Gill, J. A., Sutherland, W. J. & Watkinson, A. R. (2005) Accelerating impacts of temperature-induced coral bleaching in the Caribbean. Ecology, 86, 2055-2060.

• Evans, E., Ashley, R., Hall, J., Penning-Rowsell, E., Saul, A., Sayers, P., Thorne, C. & Watkinson, A. (2004) Foresight, Future Flooding. Scientific Summary: Volume I - Future risks and their drivers. Office of Science and Technology, London.

• Evans, E., Ashley, R., Hall, J., Penning-Rowsell, E., Sayers, P., Thorne, C. & Watkinson, A. (2004) Foresight, Future Flooding. Scientific Summary: Volume II - Managing future risks. Office of Science and Technology, London.

• Gardner, T. A., Côté, I. M., Gill, J. A., Grant, A. & Watkinson, A. R. (2003) Long-term region-wide declines in Caribbean corals. Science, 301, 958-960.

• Peres, C. A., Baider, C., Zuidema, P. A., Wadt, L. H. O., Kainer, K. A., Gomes-Silva, D. A. P., Salomao, R. P., Simoes, L. L., Franciosi, E. R. N., Valverde, F. C., Gribel, R., Shepard, G. H., Kanashiro, M., Coventry, P., Yu, D. W., Watkinson, A. R. & Freckleton, R. P. (2003) Demographic threats to the sustainability of Brazil nut exploitation. Science, 302, 2112-2114.

Page last updated 25 October 2011