In the rapidly developing field of ocean science and conservation, evidence synthesis is a powerful tool to draw insights from multiple sources to guide evidence-based decision-making. This team used evidence synthesis to examine how climate change directly impacts reef fish and leads to downstream impacts on tropical social-ecological systems (fish populations, ecological communities, ecosystems and dependent human communities).

Team members completed extensive training and used evidence synthesis to conduct an exploratory analysis using qualitative document coding to extract data. In addition to developing a holistic conceptual model for understanding the range of impacts of climate change on tropical ecosystems, they also focused specifically on the impacts of climate change on reef fish in Sint Eustatius, a small Dutch island in the Caribbean.

Learn more about this team’s work by reading their team profile.

Timing

Summer 2023 – Summer 2024

Team Outputs

Impact Cascades of Climate Change on Coral Reef Fishery Systems (Team profile; 2024 Fortin Foundation Bass Connections Virtual Showcase)

Impact Cascades of Climate Change on Coral Reef Fishery Systems (Poster presented at Fortin Foundation Bass Connections Showcase, April 17, 2024)

“How Might Conservation Interventions Be Able to Mitigate the Impacts of Climate Change on Tropical Coastal Marine Social-Ecological Systems?” (Presentation by Dana Grieco and David Gill at “Blueprints for Resilience” workshop, Stony Brook University, New York, June 2024)

Manuscripts in preparation

This Team in the News

Meet the Winners of the 2024 Bass Connections Student Research Awards

See earlier related team, Marine Conservation Evidence and Synthesis (2022-2023).

Image: View from boat during President Vincent Price’s visit to Duke Marine Lab, by Jared Lazarus/Duke University