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Principal Investigator in Sustainable Aquaculture

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With global food security becoming more dependent on food farmed in the sea, producing that food in sustainably is becoming increasing important. My research focuses on the development of sustainable production systems for marine plants and animals.

Turning waste into a useful product is the basic premise of integrated multi-trophic aquaculture (IMTA). By using waste products from fin-fish aquaculture as food and nutrients for other organisms then we can reap the dual benefits of reduced pollution and increased productivity. The principle is simple, the practice however is complex,: ongoing research at the Scottish Marine Institute aims to overcome some of these complexities and bridge the gap between theoretical concept and industrial application. 

As part of the European Union funded project 'ENRICH' scientists at the Institute are working to commercialise the concept of IMTA through the introduction of echinoculture (sea urchin farming) alongside existing finfish fish aquaculture.

At the Scottish Marine Institute I am a member of the ...

 

I am also a regular user of the Alan Ansell Research Aquarium.

 

Career / education

    2010-present  
    		MASTS Lecturer in Sustainable Mariculture, SAMS
    2009 - 2010 Research Associate in Invertebrate Ecology, SAMS
    2006 - 2008 Post Doctoral Visiting research Scholar
    “Acquisition, Allocation and Utilization of Carbon in Bleached and Recovering Corals”
    Ohio State University and University of Texas Marine Science Institute
    2002-2006 PhD “The Role of Sea Urchin Grazing in Structuring Benthic Communities in Scotland” SAMS/UHI/Open University

    Research

    Research

    Research projects

    1. ENRICH: Enrichment of aquaculture systems by introduction of commercially underdeveloped marine species from different trophic levels
    2. SeaSeeder project - Genomia: developing technology to automate out-planting of young seaweed for cultivation
    3. Oceans 2025: Sea urchin plasticity and ecosystem functioning (part of WP 4.4): Explosive population growth by sea urchins change kelp forests into rocky barrens. Such phase shifts occur when the disturbance is of greater magnitude than the system can withstand and so the ecosystem shifts into another stability domain – the ecosystem resilience has been overcome. Once a new stability domain is entered, the presence of sea urchins can ensure that the domain persists for decades. This phase shift means that the ecosystem that juvenile urchins recruit to has dramatically changed from the one their parents recruited to. How do sea urchins shift ecosystems into new stability domains, and why do these new domains have such longevity?
    4. Interactions between marine biofuel production and phytoplankton
    5. International Research Staff Exchange Scheme "International Research Consortium for Integrated Multi-Trophic Aquaculture": A multinational collaboration in the field of integrated multitrophic aquaculture, involving the exchange of researchers between China, New Zealand, Norway and Israel.

     

    Research grants

    • June 2005  "‘The role of urchins in structuring nearshore benthic communities" OMSF 028 NERC Life Sciences Stable Isotope Facility, value £60,000.  The grant allowed the use of compound specific stable isotope analysis to examine the metabolism of fatty acids within sea urchins in order to better understand their trophic ecology.
    • October 2003 "Sea Bed Scrapers and Shapers: Urchins in control?’ 59-8/03 NERC Life Sciences Stable Isotope Facility, value £8,700. The grant allowed the study of the trophic ecology of sea urchins using stable isotopes of Carbon and Nitrogen.

     

    Publications

    List of Publications

    Book chapters

    • Kelly MS, Hughes A.D. Cook EJ (2006) The ecology of Psammechinus miliaris. In: Lawrence JM (ed) Edible Sea Urchins: Biology and Ecology 2nd Edition Elsevier Science

     

    Journal articles

    • Hughes A.D, Grottoli A.G , Pease T.K, Matsui Y. (Submitted). Acquisition and assimilation of carbon in non-bleached and bleached corals
    • Cook, E.J., Hughes, A.D., Orr, H., Kelly, M.S (2007).  Influence of diet on the lipid composition of the sea urchins Paracentrotus lividus and Psammechinus miliaris (Echinodermata).  Aquaculture.
    • Hughes A.D., Kelly M.S., Barnes D.K.A., Catarino, A.I and K. D. Black. (2006). The Dual Functions of Sea Urchin Gonads are reflected in the temporal variation of their Biochemistry. Marine Biology
    • Hughes A.D., Catarino, A.I., Kelly M.S., Barnes D.K.A., and K. D. Black. (2005). Gonad Fatty Acids and Trophic Interactions of the echinoid Psammechinus miliaris. Marine Ecology Progress Series
    • Hughes, A., & S.M. White. 2002. The use of Volunteers to Monitor Andros’ Marine Resources. The Bahamas Journal of Science

     

    Conference proceedings

    • Andréa G. Grottoli,  Adam D. Hughes Tamara K. Pease, Christopher L. Osburn (Submitted)  The effect of bleaching on dissolved organic carbon (DOC) production in three species of Hawaiian corals. 2010 Ocean Sciences Meeting, February 2010, Portland, Oregon
    • Levas S, Grottoli AG, Hughes AD, Pease T  Energy balance and growth in bleached Porites lobata and Pocillopora meandrina corals. 11th International Coral Reef Symposium, Ft. Lauderdale, FL
    • Grottoli AG, Hughes AD, Pease TK  Acquisition and allocation of carbon in bleached Hawaiian corals. 11th International Coral Reef Symposium, Ft. Lauderdale, FL
    • Hughes AD, Grottoli AG, Pease TK (2008) Recovery from bleaching: autotrophic and heterotrophic carbon acquisition in two Hawaiian corals during recovery from thermally induced bleaching. 2008 American Society of Limnology and Oceanography and American Geophysical Union Ocean Sciences Meeting, Orlando, FL
    • Grottoli AG, Hughes AD, Pease TK (2008) Acquisition and allocation of carbon in bleached Hawaiian corals. 2008 American Society of Limnology and Oceanography and American Geophysical Union Ocean Sciences Meeting, Orlando, FL
    • Hurley L, Hughes AD, Grottoli AG, Pease TK (2008) Variability in the lipid class and isotopic compositions of the Hawaiian coral Porites compressa, and it’s symbiotic zooxanthellae. 2008 American Society of Limnology and Oceanography and American Geophysical Union Ocean Sciences Meeting, Orlando, FL
    • Hurley L, Hughes AD, Grottoli AG, Pease TK (2007) Spatial variability of δ15N and δ13C in tissues of the Hawaiian coral Porites compressa. Estuarine Research Federation, Providence RI, Nov 2007
    • Hughes AD, Grottoli AG, Pease TK (2007) Thermally induced bleaching alters carbon flow between host, symbiont and skeleton in two Hawaiian corals. Estuarine Research Federation, Providence RI,
    • Hughes AD, Kelly M, Barnes DKA (2004) Sea bed scrapers and shapers: the role of urchins in regulating hard substrate communities of Scottish sea lochs” 39th European Marine Biology Symposium, Genoa
    • Cumming, R.L., Toscano, M.A., Lovell, E.R., Carlson, B.A., Dulvy, N.K., Hughes, AD., Koven, J.F., Quinn, N.J., Sykes, H.R., Taylor, O.J.S., and D. Vaughn.(2000) Mass coral bleaching in the Fiji Islands, 2000. Proc. 9th Int. Coral Reef Symp., Bali, Indonesia

     

    Teaching

    Education activities

    I currently coordinate the third year of the SAMS undergraduate BSc (Hons) Marine Science degree programme.

    I also lecture on the following modules in the programme:

    • Principles of Biology (Year 1)
    • Marine Biology (Year 2)
    • Aquaculture (Year 3)

     
     
    My contact details

    Dr Adam Hughes SAMS

    Dr Adam Hughes

    E: adam.hughes@sams.ac.uk

    T: +44 (0)1631 559 208

    F: +44 (0)1631 559 001

    Scottish Marine Institute

    Oban, Argyll PA 37 1QA

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