By Institute of Biomedical and Environmental Health Research (IBEHR)
University of the West of Scotland
mhairi.alexander@uws.ac.uk
2017 Cruciblist
Dr Mhairi Alexander is a Marine Ecologist and has been in her current role as a Lecturer in Zoology at the University of the West of Scotland since September 2015. She completed a BSc in Marine and Environmental Biology at the University of St Andrews (2006) and an MRes in Marine Biology at Plymouth University (2007) before moving to Queen’s University Belfast to complete her PhD in Marine Ecology (2012).
Upon completion of her PhD, Mhairi moved to South Africa and spent three years as a postdoctoral fellow at Stellenbosch University. Her work is divided between native and invasive animal systems.
Mhairi is mostly interested in the interactions of species (e.g. predator-prey) that live in coastal environments such as intertidal rocky shores in temperate regions like the United Kingdom. Her research in South Africa spanned additional systems however and included freshwater streams and manmade impoundments. Here her work was entirely focussed on non-native species and she was involved in the development of a methodology that enables better prediction of the environmental impacts of invasive species before they occur. Mhairi’s current research continues to be marine focussed and is split between a range of diverse projects. She continues to investigate invasive species impacts in South Africa with interest in the effects they have particularly on commercially important native species such as rock lobsters. She is also developing interests in the effects of other environmental stressors on aquatic systems such as anthropogenic noise and agricultural pollutants and what their consequences are for animal behaviours and impact at the population- and community level.
Mhairi is also now involved in industry funded project work investigating shrimp behaviour in aquaculture and restoration of coral reefs in Indonesia.