PhD project title: Biophysical Controls on Pollution Flows in Coral Reef Marine Protected Areas (MPAs)(

Supervisory team: Erik Horstman (UT), Bart Vermeulen (WUR), Katarzyna Kujawa (WUR), Kathelijne Wijnberg (UT), Rosh Ranasinghe (UT)

PhD project description: Coral reefs are under severe threat worldwide. At the same time, coral reefs are actively promoted as a critical attraction for marine tourism. A key challenge remains to understand the dynamics of the Marine Protected Areas (MPAs) established to protect coral reefs: how are physical, social, and ecological factors interlinked, and how do they affect coral reef resilience? In this project, we set out to monitor and model the hydrodynamics in coral reef MPAs on seasonal time scales to: (i) better understand the hydrodynamics and connectivity of coastal waters at coral reefs and (ii) investigate the contributions of tourism activities to pollution flows at coral reef ecosystems in MPAs. This study aims to provide new insights and tools that could help to manage tourism-induced pollution flows in coral reef MPAs.