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 | Biography |  |
Associate Professor Lovelock's research area is the biocomplexity of mangrove ecosystems. The current major emphasis of my work is to understand the roles of, and interaction between nitrogen and phosphorus availability in regulating plant growth and nutrient cycling within mangrove forests. Mangrove forests are key resources for maintenance of productive fisheries and for protecting coastlines from erosion. In mangroves, my work is important in probing and understanding the consequences of coastal eutrophication, which is one of the greatest threats to coastal marine environments.
We are working towards understanding whether forests are a significant sinks for nutrients that could protect adjacent marine ecosystems (often coral reefs), or whether they have a finite capacity to utilize, store and process nutrients. So far we have made some significant breakthroughs in determining differences among species in their response to nutrient enrichments.
With our wide array of sites (Belize, Florida, Panama, New Zealand, QLD, NSW and WA) we anticipate being able to make predictions as to the response of different types of mangrove forests, in different biogeographic provinces, to nutrient enrichment that will aid in coastal management decisions.
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