Dr Robert Ellis

Rob's research focuses on adaptation and acclimation in animals exposed to environmental change. Specifically he is driven by the question of how a mechanistic understanding of animal physiology can be used to improve the productivity and sustainability of aquaculture in a wide range of production settings. This also extends to understanding how aquaculture can be used to help secure a healthy future for marine ecosystems in the face of increasing human impacts. During his career he has developed an interdisciplinary range of expertise in animal physiology, immunology, metabolomics, developmental biology, ecotoxicology, marine chemistry, climate change ecology and aquaculture.

Broad research specialisms

Physiology, host-pathogen interactions, marine invertebrates, climate change, ocean acidification, sustainable aquaculture, aquaculture ecosystems, population genomics, marine mussels, invertebrate development

Interests:

I am an integrative ecological physiologist with a keen interest in how organisms adapt to an ever changing environment, natural or man-made. In particular, I am interested in how stressors such as pollution, high pCO2 and temperature interact to affect an organism’s physiology and disease resistance. My research to date has thus focused on four main themes: 1) the impact of environmental change on early invertebrate development, 2) the trade-off between disease resistance and physiological functioning, 3) the consequences of changing seawater chemistry and increasing temperature for commercially important marine invertebrate and finfish species and 4) the optimization of intensive aquaculture practices, using organism physiology to inform system management and improve sustainability. Sitting at the juncture of two critically important but traditionally disparate fields my research therefore addresses two of the greatest challenges facing society in the 21st century.

Qualifications:

2013 PhD Ecological Physiology, University of Plymouth

2007 BSc Marine Biology, University of Plymouth

Career:

2021 - present Senior Lecturer, Biosciences, University of Exeter

2018 – 2021 Proleptic Lecturer, Biosciences, University of Exeter

2018 – 2021 NERC Industrial Innovation Fellow, University of Exeter

2015 – 2017 BBSRC Postdoctoral Research Fellow, University of Exeter

2014 – 2015 Senior Research Scientist, PML Applications, Plymouth

2012 – 2014 NERC Postdoctoral Research Assistant, University of Exeter