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Ceridwen Fraser imageContact

Office 310 Castle Street, Room 143
Tel +64 3 479 8306
Email ceridwen.fraser@otago.ac.nz

Academic qualifications

Bachelor of Applied Science (Conservation of Cultural Materials), University of Canberra, 2000
Bachelor of Marine Science (Hons 1A), Macquarie University, 2005
PhD (Zoology), University of Otago, 2009

Research interests

  • Biogeography: how physical processes (such as earthquakes and volcanoes) influence spatial patterns of biodiversity
  • Long-distance dispersal, e.g. of coastal marine organisms and their pathogens / parasites
  • Antarctic and sub-Antarctic ecology and evolution
  • How density-dependent processes influence spatial biodiversity patterns

My group combines molecular ecology with aspects of earth sciences to understand the processes that shape global patterns of biodiversity. We use a wide range of techniques to address research questions, including genetics (e.g. metabarcoding and phylogenomic analyses), and ecology, and have a particular focus on the high-latitude ecosystems of the Southern Hemisphere (New Zealand, the sub-Antarctic and Antarctica). Examples include studying how kelp communities and parasites can raft long distances across oceans, how plants and animals probably survived past ice ages by sheltering around volcanoes (and in volcanic caves), in Antarctica, and how large disturbances such as earthquakes create opportunities for genetic and community change in marine ecosystems in New Zealand.

I am also a member of the Coastal People: Southern Skies collaboration that connects communities with world-leading, cross-discipline research to rebuild coastal ecosystems.
Coastal People: Southern Skies

Visit the Fraser Lab website for more information on my group's research

View my publications on the Fraser Lab website
View my Google scholar profile

For potential research students

If you are a student interested in doing a research project within my group, I would be happy to hear from you. I occasionally have some funding to support scholarships for undergraduate (summer projects and Honours) and Masters research, and the University of Otago has many PhD scholarships available for high-achieving students, including those from overseas.

You can read about the group's projects, see what other students are doing (or have done), and contact me to discuss possibilities. Most projects include some genetic analyses as well as environmental data (this sort of work is known as molecular ecology), so students that have studied biology / ecology, ideally including some genetics, are most well placed for this work.

Visit here for details on group's projects and to see what other students are doing (or have done)

Email ceridwen.fraser@otago.ac.nz

Courses

  • MARI 301 Marine Ecology and Ecosystems (Co-ordinator and lecturer)
  • MARI 202 Ecology and Biology of Marine Invertebrates (contributing lecturer)
  • ECOL 321 Ecology of Species Introductions and Invasions (contributing lecturer)
  • MARI 431 Antarctic and Southern Ocean Marine Ecosystems (contributing lecturer)

Postgraduate students

View current and former students who have worked in the Fraser Lab

Publications

Fraser, C. (2024, August). Losing sight of the shore: Dynamic biodiversity. University of Otago, Dunedin, New Zealand. [Inaugural Professorial Lecture]. Other Research Output

Dawson, H. R. S., England, M. H., Morrison, A. K., Tamsitt, V., & Fraser, C. I. (2024). Floating debris and organisms can raft to Antarctic coasts from all major Southern Hemisphere landmasses. Global Change Biology, 30, e17467. doi: 10.1111/gcb.17467 Journal - Research Article

Pearman, W. S., Duffy, G. A., Gemmell, N. J., Morales, S. E., & Fraser, C. I. (2024). Long-distance movement dynamics shape host microbiome richness and turnover. FEMS Microbiology Ecology. Advance online publication. doi: 10.1093/femsec/fiae089 Journal - Research Article

Pearman, W. S., Adams, C. I. M., Monteiro, M., Quesada, A., & Fraser, C. I. (2024). Fine-scale phylogenetic diversity gradients support the Antarctic geothermal refugia hypothesis. Antarctic Science. Advance online publication. doi: 10.1017/S0954102024000099 Journal - Research Article

Perry, F., Duffy, G. A., Lamare, M. D., & Fraser, C. I. (2024). Kelp holdfast microclimates buffer invertebrate inhabitants from extreme temperatures. Marine Environmental Research, 198, 106523. doi: 10.1016/j.marenvres.2024.106523 Journal - Research Article

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