Current Appointment: Associate Professor

Contact: Department of Environmental Sciences
University of Technology, Sydney
PO Box 123
Broadway NSW 2007
Australia
  Phone: +61 2 9514 4070
Fax: +61 2 9514 4079

E-mail:Peter.Ralph@uts.edu.au

Profile

Peter Ralph is marine botanist with expertise in chlorophyll a fluorescence. He heads a dynamic laboratory called the Aquatic Photosynthesis Group (APG) and leads the Climate Change Group within IWERM. The APG focuses on using photosynthetic tools to assess the impact of climate change on the microalgae that support vulnerable ecosystems including coral reefs, the Southern Ocean and Antarctic sea-ice. Over the past 15 years he has worked with seagrasses, freshwater macrophytes, macroalgae and terrestrial plants. He is keen to develop projects that link mechanistic understanding of photosynthetic processes to human-induced changes in the environment. The work of the APG covers scales from whole organisms, cellular to biochemical processes.

Aquatic Photosynthesis Group

Back row (L-R): Rachael Smith,  Lucy Buxton, Ross Hill, Isabel Jimenez-Denness, Matthew Smith, Anna-Maria Jegg (visitor) and Assoc. Prof. Peter Ralph.

Front row (L-R): Clifford Seery, Nikolaus Császár (visitor) and Dr Tae Seob Choi.

Absent: Karin Ulstrup, Amanda Charles,  Kim Wilson, Katherina Petrou and Dr Ranjeet Bhagooli.

Visitors

Alumni

Research Projects Available for Students

If you are interested in joining the APG, we have a number of projects suitable for PhD, MSc and Honours students. Please contact Peter for more details about any of these projects, come visit the lab and meet the group or if you have an idea that aligns with our research directions, please send Peter an email.

• Coral photobiology
• Coral bleaching mechanisms
• Antarctic phytoplankton
• Sea-ice algae
• Seagrass
• Benthic microalgae
• Vertical migration of pelagic or benthic microalgae

click HERE to view PhD Projects

Refereed Publications

Click HERE to view a full list of refereed publications.

National and International Collaboration

We collaborate with research groups in Australia, Germany, Denmark and US. The main institutions we collaborate with are:

• Michael Kühl - University of copenhagen
• Tony Larkum - University of Sydney
• Andrew McMinn - University of Tasmania
• Madeleine van Oppen - Australian Institute of Marine Sciences (AIMS)
• Rolf Gademann - Germany
• Bjorn Rost - Alfred Wagner Institute (AWI)

Equipment of the APG

Within the Aquatic Photosynthesis Group we have a range of the latest equipment for aquatic plant ecophysiology research. We also have a wide range of purpose built equipment. These facilities support both field campaigns and laboratory studies. The range of equipment is continually growing so as to expand further our capabilities.

click HERE to view a list of equipment.

Current and Past Student Projects

Click HERE for a list of student Projects

Teaching Duties

Over the past three years I have taught the following subjects:

• Marine Primary Producers
• Coastal and Marine Ecosystems
• Tropical Reef Ecosystems
• GIS and Resource Assessments
• Australian Biota
• Biocomputing
• Mapping and Remote Sensing
• Biology and Ecology for Engineers

Professional Activities

Review staff for Marine Ecology-Progress Series

Co-convener of ARC network meeting BEAM January 2004

Co-convened conference: International Workshop on Marine Applications of Chlorophyll a Fluorescence.
University of Sydney, 4-8 February, 2000.

Co-convened conference: International Workshop on Marine Applications of Chlorophyll a Fluorescence.
University of Sydney, 4-8 April, 1998.

Co-convener of ASPAB
University of Sydney, 13-15 February 2006

Training Courses

PAMTech Introduction - UTS (April 2006)

PAMTech Introduction - AIMS (September 2006)

Recent Grants Awarded

• ARC Discovery (2007-09)
  Bio-optical model of Antarctic sea-ice photosynthesis $218,000
• Australian Antarctic Science Grant (2006)
  Photosynthetic condition of Southern Ocean phytoplankton $9,000
• ARC Linkage (2005-7)
  Seagrass tolerance to oil spills- scaling of pollution in pacts $156,000
• Australian Antarctic Science Grant (2005)
  Effect of global climate change on primary production $29,000
• Antarctic Science Grant (2005)
  Photokinetic adaptation of sea-ice algae Australian $9,000
• ARC Discovery (2004-6)
  When corals bleach, what is the weakest link? $133,000
• Australian Antarctic Science Grant (2004-5)
  Are Antarctic macroalgae sensitive to contaminants? $18,000
• ARC-Discovery (2003-2006)
  Effect of climate change on primary production of Antarctic ecosystem $305,000
• ARC-Linkage (2003-2006)
  Development and evaluation of a phytotox-test for field and lab testing $120,000
• ARC SPIRT (2001-2003)
  Assessment of coastal pollution using macroagale gamete condition $66,000

Recent Media Releases

• Sydney Morning Herald, Lab Watch article 24th November 2005
• The Age, Icons Under Threat - The Great Barrier Reef - Thursday 17th November, 2005 {View Article}

Qualifications

• BAppSc (UTS), PhD (UTS), MAIBiol
• Doctor of Philosophy, UTS, 1997
  Thesis: "Stress physiology of Halophila ovalis (R. Br.) Hook f. using chlorophyll a fluorescence"

Employment History