Trinity College Dublin Ecologist Snaps Up Photographic Prize

Posted on: 06 September 2013

Trinity College Dublin ecologist, Dr Danielle Green snapped up a prize in the British Ecological Society’s Centenary photographic competition for her photograph of Lough Swilly in County Donegal taken during PhD fieldwork.

Dr Green’s image was voted runner-up of the ‘Celebrating Ecology’ section of the British Ecological Society Centenary photographic competition held as part of the society’s centenary celebrations. The images were on show at INTECOL, the world’s largest international ecology meeting held at ExCeL in London in August.

Diving in headfirst! Ecologist uses his head to search for cryptic infauna on intertidal mud-flats.

Dr Green’s research focuses on how human activities affect marine biodiversity, ecosystem functioning and services. The research provides scientifically sound recommendations for environmental management, feeding into policy to protect our ecosystems.

“I studied the impacts of a non-native species of oyster on the biodiversity and ecosystem functioning of intertidal mud-flats,” explained Dr Green. “Assisted by a team of friends from the MarBEE lab we trudged back and forth across the sticky mud, gathering data. My work focussed on what was going on within the mud and when one of my friends decided to take a closer look I couldn’t resist taking this picture.”

Having successfully completed her PhD at UCD, Dr Green won an Irish Research Council grant to continue her research on the impacts of human activities on marine ecosystems. Her postdoctoral work at Trinity College Dublin focuses on the effects of microplastics.