Grace Murphy, Postdoctoral Fellow

Dalhousie University

Dr. Murphy completed her PhD at Dalhousie University in 2016 where she studied global trends in local biodiversity responses to human impacts. Her postdoctoral research with the Canadian Healthy Oceans Network is part of project 1.1.5.2 and involves developing a set of ecological metrics that best describe the ecosystem status of seagrass ecosystems and assessing how these metrics change across human impact gradients. Dr. Murphy’s research uses ecosystem data collected from hundreds of seagrass beds across Atlantic Canada to assess the generality of seagrass ecosystem responses to human activities. She is also collaborating with CHONe researchers on the West coast of Canada to compare the intensity of various human impacts on seagrass habitats and asses how seagrass ecosystem responses to human activities and management initiatives compare between coasts. Her results will help inform the selection of potential Marine Protected Areas in Canada’s coastal waters and quantify benefits derived from coastal conservation areas and management initiatives.