Georgina Wood

Kelp restoration, green gravel and genomics (Postdoc)

I am a Postdoctoral Research Associate with the Wernberg Lab, based within UWA’s Ocean Institute. My work generally revolves around the ecology of temperate coastal environments, and I’m particularly focused on developing solutions to the multitude of challenges that these systems face both now and into the future. My background is classic experimental marine ecology, but increasingly my research involves skills and knowledge in population and seascape genomics and ecology of both macro and microbial life. I’m also a passionate science communicator and have delivered various marine ecology-themed workshops for local councils, schools and NGOs.

I completed my PhD at the University of New South Wales in 2020, where I utilised field, experimental and molecular techniques to design and assess a restoration program for the locally extinct seaweed Phyllospora comosa (see www.operationcrayweed.com).

I now lead the local Green Gravel (https://www.greengravel.org/) efforts in Western Australia. My research is developing cost effective, sustainable and easy-to-uptake techniques to restore lost underwater forests at large scales.

Qualifications

  • 2020 PhD: University of New South Wales

Selected peer reviewed publications

Full publication list: Google Scholar

  1. Wood, G., E. M. Marzinelli, A. H. Campbell, P. D. Steinberg, A. Vergés, and M. A. Coleman. 2021. Genomic vulnerability of a dominant seaweed points to future-proofing pathways for Australia’s underwater forests. Global Change Biology 27:2200-2212.
  2. Wood, G., E. M. Marzinelli, A. Vergés, A. H. Campbell, P. D. Steinberg, and M. A. Coleman. 2020. Using genomics to design and evaluate the performance of underwater forest restoration. Journal of Applied Ecology 57:1988-1998.
  3. Coleman, M. A., G. Wood, K. Filbee-Dexter, A. J. P. Minne, H. D. Goold, A. Vergés, E. M. Marzinelli, P. D. Steinberg, and T. Wernberg. 2020. Restore or Redefine: Future Trajectories for Restoration. Frontiers in Marine Science 7.
  4. Wood, G., E. M. Marzinelli, M. A. Coleman, A. H. Campbell, N. S. Santini, L. Kajlich, J. Verdura, J. Wodak, P. D. Steinberg, and A. Vergés. 2019. Restoring subtidal marine macrophytes in the Anthropocene: trajectories and future-proofing. Marine and Freshwater Research 70:936-951.
  5. Wood, G., T. P. Lynch, C. Devine, K. Keller, and W. Figueira. 2016. High-resolution photo-mosaic time-series imagery for monitoring human use of an artificial reef. Ecology and Evolution 6:6963-6968.

Selected achievements, prizes, honours and awards

  • 2022: Grant winner, Winifred V. Scott Estate Charitable Trust Fund for Conservation of Wildlife & Environment.
  • 2020: UNSW Evolution & Ecology Research Centre Outreach Award.
  • 2019: International Temperate Reefs Symposium Student Award.
  • 2018: Ecological Society of Australia Holsworth Research Endowment.
  • 2017: University of NSW Postgraduate Research Competition – 1st.
  • 2017: Ecological Society of Australia Holsworth Research Endowment.