starfish on seagrass
Dr Chiara Bertelli

Dr Chiara Bertelli

Research Officer, Biosciences

Welsh language proficiency

Basic Welsh Speaker
Post Grad - 036
Ground Floor
Wallace Building
Singleton Campus

About

I am a marine biologist with over 15 years’ experience of coastal and marine ecological survey and research including boat-based marine mammal, fisheries and passive acoustic survey, SCUBA and snorkel surveys of temperate coastal habitats (mainly seagrass) as well as tropical coral reef surveys (Caribbean and Indo-Pacific).  My interests include seagrass ecology, benthic invertebrate and fish ID, acoustic monitoring of cetaceans, BRUVs, marine conservation, monitoring and management in of the coastal seascape for conservation and restoration. My PhD looked at environmental drivers of change in seagrass meadows mainly in the UK but also in seagrass meadows in Brazil.  More recently I have been working on habitat suitability modelling (HSM) in collaboration with Project Seagrass for Sky Ocean Rescue and WWF, Natural England and now as part of the SMMR ReSOW project using HSM for aiding decision making for seagrass restoration sites.

Areas Of Expertise

  • Seagrass ecology
  • Benthic and fish survey
  • Benthic invertebrate taxonomy
  • Rocky shore ecology
  • Marine mammal survey
  • Passive acoustic monitoring
  • Data analysis using R and Primer
  • Habitat Suitability Models

Career Highlights

Teaching Interests

My teaching focus is mainly applied and field based. I teach on the marine biology field courses: BIO260 Marine Biology Field Course; BIO327 Tropical Marine Ecology Field Course and BIO346 Professional Skills in Marine Biology and also BIO112 Life in the Oceans.

Research