Dr Mat Vanderklift, Marine Ecologist

Dr Mat Vanderklift: researching management of marine resources

Dr Mat Vanderklift is a Marine Ecologist working on sustainable use and management of Western Australia’s marine resources.

• 24 March 2010 | Updated 14 October 2011

• Current activities
• Background
• Academic qualifications
• Academic memberships

Current activities

Dr Mat Vanderklift's core expertise lies in studying marine food webs and benthic ecology, the processes influencing the life history of organisms living on or near the sea floor.

He works across several large, collaborative and multidisciplinary projects that span over a thousand kilometres from temperate southern kelp forests to tropical coral reefs.

He has led research to understand food web connections among different habitats within a landscape and among the organisms that live in those habitats, which has involved finding novel solutions to tackling complex ecological questions.

His findings have yielded insights relevant to management of coastal marine ecosystems, which is used to improve sustainable use and management of Western Australia’s marine resources. 

Dr Vanderklift currently conducts research on the interactions between marine organisms and their environment to identify and understand the impacts that accompany increased human use of marine ecosystems and to develop measures that can alleviate adverse effects.

Through this work Dr Vanderklift aims to understand the specific information requirements of conservation managers and provide useful data to translate into practical and sustainable policy strategies.

Background

Dr Vanderklift joined CSIRO in 2004.

Prior to joining CSIRO, Dr Vanderklift was an Australian Postdoctoral Fellow at the Centre for Ecosystem Management, Edith Cowan University, Western Australia,.

He also worked as the State Coasts & Clean Seas Coordinator for the Western Australian State Department for Planning and Infrastructure.

Academic qualifications

Dr Vanderklift has been awarded a:

• Bachelor of Applied Science, Victoria College (now Deakin University), University of Western Australia
• Master of Science, Edith Cowan University
• Doctor of Philosophy, University of Western Australia.

Academic memberships

Dr Vanderklift is a member of:

• Australian Marine Science Society
• Australian Society for Fish Biology
• International Union for Conservation of Nature Commission on Ecosystem Management.

Learn more about CSIRO Marine and Atmospheric Research.