Research Group Summary
The Marine Ecology Research Group (MERG) was formed in 1993 and is centred within the Department of Biological Sciences, University of Canterbury. The focus of the group is field-based, marine ecological research in the nearshore environment. The major emphasis is on the processes responsible for the biological structure of rocky coast communities, which increasingly involve human impacts.
Areas of research have included larval fish ecology, the ecology of coastal fishes, the effects of wave exposure on settlement and recruitment of habitat-forming species, the effects of humans on intertidal platforms, and life history studies on a wide range of invertebrates, algae and seagrass. Most of the research is done by students in pursuit of a post-graduate degree in marine ecology and based out of Christchurch at the University.