B.Sc. (Hons) Plymouth Polytechnic 1987; PGCE University of Southampton 1988; Ph.D. University of Southampton 1996; Postdoctoral Fellow, University of Southampton 1996 – 1999; Lecturer / Senior Lecturer in Marine Ecology, University of Plymouth 1999-2005; Assoc. Prof. in Marine Ecology and Deputy Director, Centre for Research on Ecological Impacts of Coastal Cities 2005 – 2008; Director, Centre for Research on Ecological Impacts of Coastal Cities 2009 - .
RESEARCH INTERESTS
My personal research interests could be summarised as the ecology of defence, particularly inducible defences which are mobilised by the threat of an attack or the attack itself. Predator-prey relationships are often considered a key part of ecosystem processes. I am interested in fundamental questions such as what constitutes a signal between a predator and its food and how the signal receiver and the animal that sends it should respond to these signals. As many induced defences incur a cost in either energy expended or lost feeding opportunities, a prey/food organism should only activate defences when needed. It is important to identify these, as yet unknown, signals in an ecological setting before trying to establish general patterns. Responses to these signals can be behavioural (such as hiding from predators), physiological (such as increasing the level of noxious chemicals in the tissues of potential food/prey organisms) or they can be structural (such as growing a thicker shell). The organisms I have used in developing experimental tests of hypotheses developed from these ideas include barnacles, limpets and seaweeds.
(Click here to see enlarged figure)
A defensive benefit to being in a group when under attack: if one limpet is attacked, the whole group clamps down. The graph shows the difference in mean tenacities for naïve (control) limpets and limpets at varying distances from a limpet subject to a simulated predation event. Tenacity was scaled to foot area and represented a tractable surrogate for the force needed by a predatory bird to remove a limpet. (Coleman, R.A., Browne, M.A. & Theobalds, T. (2004) Ecology 85: 1053-1059)
My other interests are marine conservation and human impacts on intertidal habitats. Sarah Carless, my Ph.D. student at Plymouth, has discovered that recreational use of rocky shores does indeed reduce feeding by an ecologically important predator (the oystercatcher Haematopus ostralegus), but these birds recover very quickly. So, less frequent human activities on the shore are unlikely to mean these birds are deprived of food. Recreational fishing may also have an indirect effect on the marine environment. In the UK, there is a recently developed informal fishery for moulting Carcinus maenas (an intertidal crab which is invasive here in Australia) for use as bait by anglers. Emma Sheehan (another Ph.D. student at Plymouth) is currently trying to understand the impact of this fishery on crab populations, the benthic infauna of estuaries and on feeding birds. Initial results show that estuaries which are fished for C. maenas seem to have greater densities of these crabs.
Closing marine fisheries is a well established tool for marine conservation all over the world, but the success or other-wise of these closures is often justified in terms of fisheries or in terms of conservation, a less tangible output. It is often difficult to persuade legislators and the general public of the need to conserve a habitat they haven’t seen or one with which they cannot engage. With colleagues in Plymouth, I am attempting to put conservation of marine habitats such as seagrass beds and rocky subtidal reefs into a socio-economic framework . We are developing monetary values for ecological “goods and services”, in addition to the traditionally-used economic benefits of fisheries, no-take angling, diving and infrastructure for tourism which support these activities. This will better inform stakeholders and enable less contentious decision-making.
(Click here to see enlarged figure)
PROJECTS
My future work at the Centre will develop my ideas on induced defences, using barnacles and sea-weeds to try to quantify the costs involved in mobilising defences in response to known predator-derived signals. These costs will be addressed in the context of short-term loss of energy and longer-term changes in reproductive output. A new direction for me will be to get involved in protecting Australia’s biodiversity. I will be developing work on invasive species such as Carcinus maenas and trying to understand how climatic change may modify invasions.
PUBLICATIONS
To 2007:
24 publications
42 conference papers
1 book chapter
5 reports
1 book review
List of publications by Ross Coleman
Cartwright, S. R., R. A. Coleman & M. A. Browne (2006). Ecologically relevant effects of pulse application of copper on the limpet Patella vulgata L. Marine Ecology Progress Series, Vol. 236, pp. 187-194.
Coleman, R.A., S.J. Hawkins & H.L. Wood (2006). Testing the reproductive benefits of aggregation: the limpet Patella vulgata shows no evidence of synchrony in gonad development. Marine Ecology Progress Series, Vol. 306, pp. 201-207.
Coleman, R. A. (In press) Over-estimations of food abundance: predator responses to prey aggregation. Ecology
Coleman, R. A. & P. A. R. Hockey (In press). Effects of an alien invertebrate species and wave action on prey selection by African black oystercatchers (Haematopus moquini). Austral Ecology
Coleman, R. A. & P. A. R. Hockey (2008) Effects of an alien invertebrate species and wave action on prey selection by African black oystercatchers (Haematopus moquini). Austral Ecology Vol. 33, 232-240
Coleman, R. A., S. J. Ramchunder, K. M. Davies, A. J. Moody & A. Foggo (2007). Herbivore-induced infochemicals influence foraging behaviour in two intertidal predators. Oecologia, Vol. 151, pp. 454-463.
Coleman, R. A., S. Ramchunder, A. J. Moody & A. Foggo (2007). An enzyme present in snail saliva induces herbivore-resistance in a marine alga. Functional Ecology, Vol. 21, pp. 101-106.
Dalesman, S., S. D. Rundle, R. A. Coleman & P. A. Cotton (2006). Cue association and anti-predator behaviour in a pulmonate snail, Lymnaea stagnalis. Animal Behaviour, Vol. 71, pp. 789-797.
Gilbey, V., M. J. Attrill & R. A. Coleman (In press). Juvenile Chinese mitten crabs (Eriocheir sinensis) in the Thames Estuary: distribution, movement and possible interactions with the native crab Carcinus maenas. Biological Invasions
Gilbey, V., M. J. Attrill & R. A. Coleman (2008) Juvenile Chinese mitten crabs (Eriocheir sinensis) in the Thames Estuary: distribution, movement and possible interactions with the native crab Carcinus maenas. Biological Invasions Vol 10, pp. 67-77
Jenkins, S.R., P. Aberg, G. Cervin, R.A. Coleman, J. Delany, P. Della Santina, S.J. Hawkins, E. LaCroix, A.A. Myers, M. Lindegarth, A.M. Power, M.F. Roberts & R.G. Hartnoll (2000). Spatial and temporal variation in settlement and recruitment of the intertidal barnacle Semibalanus balanoides(L) (Crustacea: Cirripedia) over a European scale. Journal of Experimental Marine Biology and Ecology, Vol. 243, pp. 209-225.
Jenkins, S.R., R.A. Coleman, M.T. Burrows, R.G. Hartnoll & S.J. Hawkins (2005). Regional scale differences in determinism of limpet grazing effects. Marine Ecology Progress Series, Vol. 287, pp. 77-86.
Lee, J.T., R.A. Coleman & M.B. Jones (2006). Population dynamics and growth of juveniles of the velvet swimming crab Necora puber (Decapoda: Portunidae). Marine Biology, Vol. 148, pp. 609-619.
Lee, J.T., R.A. Coleman & M.B. Jones (2005). Vertical migration during tidal transport of megalopae of Necora puber in coastal shallow waters. Estuarine, Coastal and Shelf Sciences, Vol. 65, pp. 396-404.
Spooner, E. H., R. A. Coleman & M. J. Attrill (2007). Sex differences in body morphology and multitrophic interactions involving the foraging behaviour of the crab Carcinus maenas. Marine Ecology, Vol. 28, pp. 394–403.
%20limpets%20and%20limpets%20at%20varying%20distances%20from%20a%20limpet%20subject%20to%20a%20simulated%20predation%20event.%20%20Tenacity%20was%20scaled%20to%20foot%20area%20and%20represented%20a%20tractable%20surrogate%20for%20the%20force%20needed%20by%20a%20predatory%20bird%20to%20remove%20a%20limpet.%20(Coleman,%20R.A.,%20Browne,%20M.A.%20&%20Theobalds,%20T.%20(2004)%20Ecology%2085:%201053-1059))
