Dan A. Smale

Research Statement

AI generated · 1d ago

Dan A. Smale's indexed work centers on the ecological and socioeconomic consequences of marine heatwaves, alongside long-running research into kelp forests as habitat formers. His most-cited first-author study, on how marine heatwaves threaten global biodiversity and ecosystem services, has drawn over 1,700 citations, while his senior-author contributions include a framework for categorizing and naming marine heatwaves and projections of 21st-century marine heatwave events and their ecological impacts. Related work examines the biological impacts of marine heatwaves and the drivers behind the most extreme events, with Alistair James Hobday appearing among his collaborators on this theme. Beyond the focus list, Smale contributed to a hierarchical approach to defining marine heatwaves and to evidence that marine heatwaves have lengthened and become more frequent over the past century, both widely cited foundations for the field. He also took part in work on climate-driven regime shifts in temperate marine ecosystems and on the future of Blue Carbon science, the latter alongside Carlos Manuel Duarte. No software, datasets, patents, or grants are indexed beyond these publications. Taken together, the named works trace a consistent line of inquiry: characterizing marine heatwaves as a physical phenomenon, then tracing their biological and societal consequences, particularly in kelp-dominated coastal systems.

Most Cited Works

Longer and more frequent marine heatwaves over the past century

Eric C J Oliver, Markus G Donat, Michael T Burrows, Pippa J Moore, Dan A Smale, Lisa V Alexander, Jessica A Benthuysen, Ming Feng, Alex Sen Gupta, Alistair J Hobday, Neil J Holbrook, Sarah E Perkins-Kirkpatrick, Hillary A Scannell, Sandra C Straub, Thomas Wernberg

Nature Communications2018

2,132Citations

Marine heatwaves threaten global biodiversity and the provision of ecosystem services

Dan A. Smale

Research Areas

Marine and coastal plant biologyMarine Biology and Ecology ResearchCoral and Marine Ecosystems StudiesMarine Ecology and Invasive SpeciesEcology and Vegetation Dynamics Studies

Affiliations & Education

Education

2005–2007
Open University(GB)
PhD · w/ British Antarctic Survey
2000–2003
University of Plymouth(GB)
BSc Marine Biology

Employment

2012–present· now
Marine Biological Association of the United Kingdom(GB)
Research Fellow

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Sources