Sponges of the New Caledonian lagoon - IRD

Author profiles
Chris Battershill is a marine biologist with the New Zealand Oceanographic
Institute (NIWA), now specialising on chemical ecology, aquaculture and population
biology of sponges which produce pharmacologically interesting compounds, Over
the past decade he has worked extensively throughout New zealand, the South
Pacific, Australia, the Subantarctic and Antarctic waters looking at aspects of the
ecology of sponges, particularly recruitment patterns and responses to anthropogenic
disturbance, and is particularly interested in rocky reef communities, both
marine animals and plants, that elicit anti-tumour and anti-viral active chemicals.
Patricia Bergquist is Professor of Marine zoology at the University of Auckland,
Auckland, Her research interest has been directed towards sponges since 1958,
having published over 100 papers, monographs and books on different aspects of
sponge biology ranging from taxonomy to molecular biology, Her particular interest
lies in using multidisciplinary approaches to study the problems of sponge systematics
and phylogeny, in particular corroborating traditional morphologically-based taxonomic
decisions with informative molecular and ecological data obtained from a diversity
of techniques,
Radovan Borojevic, Professor of Cell Biology at the Institute of Chemistry, Federal
university of Rio de Janeiro, Brasil works on cell differentiation and evolution of
multicellular systems, Principal interests in systematics are Calcareous Sponges.
Cecile Debitus, is a research officer at the Orstom Center in Noumea (New
Caledonia). The main subject of research programs led in Orstom's laboratory are
the bioactive compounds isolated from marine Invertebrates, with a special interest
on Sponges from the New Caledonian lagoon and the surrounding seamounts.
Jane Fromont is a Research Scientist and Curator at the Department of Aquatic
zoology, western Australia Museum, Perth, Australia. She has been working on
sponges in Australia and New Zealand since 1981, with her principal interests being
the taxonomy and systematics of sponges, their reproductive biology, ecology and
distribution. Jane's most recent project has been to document haplosclerid and petrosid
species occurring in tropical Australian waters, in particular the Great Barrier Reef
region, and to investigate the role of reproductive mode (ovipar-itylviviparity) as a
mechanism of niche separation amongst sympatric sibling species.
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Author
profiles