Mark Gibbons

Mark J. Gibbons graduated with a B.S. degree (with honors) in marine biology from the University of Liverpool in 1983, prior to working briefly with Professor J. S. Ryland at the University College of Swansea. He left to join Professor C. G. Griffiths in the Zoology Department at the University of Cape Town (UCT) in 1984, where he studied the ecology of rocky shore meiofauna for his Ph.D. degree. Mark managed to secure a research fellowship with the Benguela Ecology Programme (BEP) in 1989 and, under the early guidance of Dr. L. Hutchings and Professor J. G. Field, he studied the predator-prey relationships of euphausiids, chaetognaths, ctenophores, and salps. He was given a merit award for his contributions to the BEP in 1993. Mark was seconded to the Zoology Department at the University of the Western Cape (UWC) in January 1995 and secured a position as lecturer there in 2006. He has subsequently been promoted through the ranks and is currently a Full Professor, having acted as Head of the Zoology Department (2000–2002) and then as Chairperson of the Department of Biodiversity and Conservation Biology (2005-2006). UWC is a historically black university that draws its students from the disadvantaged communities across South Africa. As the only trained marine ecologist in the department at UWC, Mark is required to provide an array of opportunities for postgraduates and has had students working on organisms from foraminifera to cetaceans. His research focuses on issues of biodiversity and he has led projects in marine invertebrate taxonomy (with colleagues at the NHM, London), offshore benthos and the population and community ecology of coastal zooplankton, particularly pelagic cnidarians. Mark has published over 60 peer-reviewed papers.

Biography Updated on 28 May 2007

Personal Home Page

http://www.botany.uwc.ac.za/staff/mgibbons_1.asp

Articles in Scholarly Journals [Incomplete List]

  1. Molecular dating and biogeography of the neritic krill Nyctiphanes
    Marine Biology, 2008
  2. Jellyfish overtake fish in a heavily fished ecosystem
    Current Biology, vol. 16, no. 13, pp. R492–R493, 2006
  3. Jellyfish overtake fish in a heavily fished ecosystem
    Current Biology, vol. 16, no. 19, pp. 1976–1976, 2006
  4. Submersible observations on the daytime vertical distribution of Aequorea ?forskalea off the west coast of southern Africa
    Journal of the Marine Biological Association of the UK, vol. 85, no. 3, pp. 519–522, 2005
  5. What determines the likelihood of species discovery in marine holozooplankton: is size, range or depth important?
    Oikos, vol. 109, no. 3, pp. 567–576, 2005
  6. Towards the acoustic estimation of jellyfish abundance
    Marine Ecology Progress Series, vol. 295, pp. 105–111, 2005
  7. Siphonophore assemblages along the east coast of South Africa; mesoscale distribution and temporal variations
    Journal of Plankton Research, vol. 26, no. 9, pp. 1115–1128, 2004
  8. Single-target echo detections of jellyfish
    ICES Journal of Marine Science, vol. 61, no. 3, pp. 383–393, 2004
  9. The effect of wave exposure on the foraminifera of Gelidium pristoides
    Journal of the Marine Biological Association of the UK, vol. 83, no. 4, pp. 705–710, 2003
  10. The match between ocean circulation and zoogeography of epipelagic siphonophores around southern Africa
    Journal of the Marine Biological Association of the UK, vol. 82, no. 5, pp. 801–810, 2002
  11. Hydrobiologia, vol. 451, no. 1/3, pp. 275–286, 2001
  12. Biometry and size distribution of Chrysaora hysoscella (Cnidaria, Scyphozoa) and Aequorea aequorea (Cnidaria, Hydrozoa) off Namibia with some notes on their parasite Hyperia medusarum
    Journal of Plankton Research, vol. 23, no. 10, pp. 1073–1080, 2001
  13. Acoustic observations of jellyfish in the Namibian Benguela
    Marine Ecology Progress Series, vol. 210, pp. 55–66, 2001
  14. Short-term variability in the assemblage of medusae and ctenophores following upwelling events in the southern Benguela ecosystem
    Marine Ecology Progress Series, vol. 220, pp. 169–177, 2001
  15. Changes in the composition of the non-copepod zooplankton assemblage in St Helena Bay (southern Benguela ecosystem) during a six day drogue study
    Marine Ecology Progress Series, vol. 180, pp. 111–120, 1999
  16. Temporal persistence in the vertical structure of the assemblage of planktonic medusae in the NW Mediterranean Sea
    Marine Ecology Progress Series, vol. 189, pp. 105–115, 1999
  17. Potamonautes Granularis Sp. Nov. (Brachyura, Potamonautidae), a New Cryptic Species of River Crab From the Olifants River System, South Africa
    Crustaceana, vol. 71, no. 8, pp. 885–903, 1998
  18. Genetic and morphometric variation in the potamonautid river crab Potamonautes parvispina (Decapoda: Potamonautidae) from two Western Cape rivers, South Africa
    Journal of Natural History, vol. 32, no. 8, pp. 1245–1258, 1998
  19. Pelagic biogeography of the South Atlantic Ocean
    Marine Biology, vol. 129, no. 4, pp. 757–768, 1997
  20. Sampling and analysis of gut contents in relation to environmental variability and diel vertical migration by herbivorous zooplankton
    Journal of Plankton Research, vol. 18, no. 9, pp. 1535–1556, 1996
  21. Zoogeography and diversity of euphausiids around southern Africa
    Marine Biology, vol. 123, no. 2, pp. 257–268, 1995
  22. Diet vertical migration and feeding of Sagitta friderici and Sagitta tasmanica in the southern Benguela upwelling region, with a comment on the structure of the guild of primary carnivores
    Marine Ecology Progress Series, vol. 111, pp. 225–240, 1994
  23. Vertical migration and feeding of Euphausia lucens at two 72 h stations in the southern Benguela upwelling region
    Marine Biology, vol. 116, no. 2, pp. 257–268, 1993
  24. The effects and implications of container volume on clearance rates of the ambush entangling predator Pleurobrachia pileus (Ctenophora: Tentaculata)
    Journal of Experimental Marine Biology and Ecology, vol. 163, no. 2, pp. 199–208, 1992
  25. Diet and feeding of Euphausia hanseni and Nematoscelis megalops (Euphausiacea) in the northern Benguela Current: ecological significance of vertical space partitioning
    Marine Ecology Progress Series, vol. 73, pp. 173–181, 1991
  26. The impact of wave exposure on the meiofauna of Gelidium pristoides (Turner) Kuetzing (Gelidiales: Rhodophyta)
    Estuarine, Coastal and Shelf Science, vol. 27, no. 6, pp. 581–593, 1988
  27. The impact of sediment accumulations, relative habitat complexity and elevation on rocky shore meiofauna
    Journal of Experimental Marine Biology and Ecology, vol. 122, no. 3, pp. 225–241, 1988
  28. The depositional environment and petroleum geochemistry of the Marl Slate-Kupferschiefer
    Geological Society, London, Special Publications, vol. 26, no. 1, pp. 249–249, 1987
  29. A comparison of macrofaunal and meiofaunal distribution and standing stock across a rocky shore, with an estimate of their productivities
    Marine Biology, vol. 93, no. 2, pp. 181–188, 1986
  30. Petroleum geochemistry of the Southern Santos Basin, offshore Brazil
    Journal of the Geological Society, vol. 140, no. 3, pp. 423–430, 1983