Dr Ines Lange

My research addresses questions about the response of coral reef ecosystems to natural and human-induced environmental disturbances. Over my career I have used manipulative experiments to study the effects of local anthropogenic stressors, and I conducted long-term observations of reefs in naturally highly variable environments. Synthesizing research on ecological and physiological responses of reef organisms to their environment, I am currently focussing on quantifying reef geo-ecological functions. These important functions include habitat provision to marine life, coastal protection from wave energy and sediment supply to low-lying islands. Specifically, I am interested in the impacts of environmental change on the state and functioning of reef carbonate structures and the potential beneficial effects of active management interventions, such as coral restoration and rat eradication from islands.

Projects:

Implications of nutrient flow and feedbacks across the seabird-island-reef system (2021-2026)

I am currently funded by the Bertarelli Program in Marine Science (BPMS) in a project with researchers from Lancaster University and Oxford University. In this multidisciplinary project we seek to quantify the importance of seabird nutrient subsidies on tropical islands and adjacent reefs, and to assess impacts on coral reef ecology, coral reef geomorphology, and the feedback loops through this system. Our understanding will support tropical island and reef conservation and restoration, providing scientific evidence to promote rat eradication and renaturation programs. Geographic locations for this project include the Chagos Archipelago, Seychelles and French Polynesia.

Ecological functions on restored coral reefs (2022-2024)

In collaboration with researchers from Lancaster University and IPB Unversity in Indonesia and restoration practitioners from Mars Sustainable Solutions we investigate whether restored reefs harbour the same biodiversity, deliver the same ecosystem functions and create the same socio-economic opportunities as healthy reefs. Surveying reefs that were restored a few months to four years ago, we showed a full recovery of carbonate budgets within just four years. Other ecosystem functions auch as coral biodiversity still differ from nearby healthy reefs.

Quantifying the growth rates of novel coral assemblages on Caribbean reefs (2019-2022)

With a small research grant from the British Ecological Society I was able to advance photogrammetry and 3D modelling workflows to quantify coral colony growth, and compare different metrics of coral growth and calcification for six coral species in the Mexican Caribbean, some of which did not have any prior data on growth. We also showed pronounced differences in growth and calcification between a fore reef and a back reef site, illustrating the need for species- and site-specific growth rate data to quantify important reef functions.

Impacts of bleaching on reef carbonate budgets in the Chagos Archipelago (2018-2021)

I started in Exeter as a postdoctoral researcher for this project funded by the Bertarelli Program in Marine Science. The research was focused on assessing rates of reef carbonate production and bioerosion at sites across a remote Archipelago in the Indian Ocean, and providing improved local-scale metrics for quantifying bioerosion and coral growth rates. Surveys were conducted before and after a large-scale bleaching event in 2016, in order to track the process of reef degradation and subsequent recovery of reef functions. I also developed a non-invasive workflow to quantify coral growth rates using photogrammetry and 3D modelling.

Research Groups

Oceans Group

Exeter Marine
Catchment and Coastal