Join young guns Catalina Musrri Fuenzalida, Luke Walker and Sophie Vuleta as they unveil Sydney’s underwater world and the impact of climate change on marine biodiversity. Learn about the efforts to conserve underwater forests threatened by climate change with Catalina, discover the amazing world of cold-water corals with Sophie and join Luke on an exploration of the impact of rising ocean temperatures on seagrass ecosystems and their associated microbial communities.

Join us for nibbles and drinks at 5.45pm for a 6pm start. 

This event is brought to you by the Waverley Action Group in partnership with the Sydney Institute of Marine Science, Macquarie University, The University of Sydney, University of New South Whales and Waverley Council. 

Questions? please contact secondnature@waverley.nsw.gov.au   

Tickets minus service fee will be refunded to attendees only. 

About the speakers

Catalina Musrri Fuenzalida
Catalina is a PhD student from the University of Sydney. Her PhD aims to improve the restoration success and resilience of crayweed underwater forests to climate change. She studied Marine Biology in Chile, where she researched marine ecology in subtidal communities along the Chilean coast. She is interested in climate change impacts on temperate environments and other anthropogenic impacts on coastal ecosystems (e.g. pollution, overfishing).

Luke Walker
Luke is a PhD student in marine ecology at Macquarie University. His broad research interests include investigating anthropogenic impacts on our ocean and estuaries. His PhD research specifically investigates the role of above and below ground  microbial communities on ameliorating environmental stress in seagrass plants.

Sophie Vuleta 
Sophie is a PhD Candidate at the University of New South Wales researching coral biology and ecology. In particular, she is interested in investigating the diversity, complexity, biology and distribution of corals. Her PhD work is based along the NSW coastline and on Norfolk Island.