Public awareness towards marine forests
One of the biggest threats to the ocean is ignorance. Efforts to conserve our marine forests will be futile if the public is not aware of the value of this systems. Public awareness of the issues affecting seaweed forests is vital to motivate their effective management and promote their conservation. However, efforts to increase public understanding of less charismatic ecosystems have often left out seaweed forests, perhaps because their social and economic value has not been sufficiently promoted.
I am interested in understanding how the layman percieves (or knows about) seaweed forests, and whether that perception differs with that of other marine habitats. I am also intrigued to know whether the public's perceived threats to marine habitat health align with those of the scientific community. This research is conducted in collaboration with Kendra Travaille, who is a fellow PhD researcher based at the UWA Oceans Institute. |