Anna Metaxas,

Department of Oceanography, Dalhousie University

Dr. Anna Metaxas is a Professor in Oceanography at Dalhousie University. Her research focuses on the factors that regulate populations of benthic marine invertebrates, particularly early in their life history. She uses a combination of approaches, such as field sampling, laboratory experiments and mathematical modelling, to study organisms of ecological and economic importance, including invasive species. She has worked in a variety of habitats from shallow rocky subtidal regions to the deep-sea, including hydrothermal vents and deep-water corals, in temperate and tropical regions of the world. Her research has implications for marine conservation, such as the establishment and success of conservation areas for benthic populations. She is currently involved in a number of national and international initiatives that have as an ultimate goal the translation of scientific outcomes into information that is relevant to policy. She has served on several national and international steering and scientific advisory com­mittees and boards: the “Biogeography of Deep-Water Chemosynthetic Ecosystems (ChEss)” project of the Census of Marine Life, Ridge 2000, the Biological Studies and Vent Ecology committees of InterRidge, and the Excellence Cluster Future Ocean. She was a co-director of the research school in Transatlantic Ocean System Science and Technology from 2013 to 2014. She is currently the chair of the Population Connectivity working group of INDEEP (International network for scientific investigation of deep-sea ecosystems), as well as of the InterRidge Working Group on “Ecological Connectivity and Resilience”.