Harriet L Paterson Australian Marine Sciences Association 2025 Conference

Harriet L Paterson

Dr. Paterson has worked in tertiary education since 1992 at Southampton Institute in the UK. She completed her PhD in 2007, investigating microzooplankton grazing in waters off Perth, Western Australia. Her interest in small organisms moved to Antarctica, where she spent a year researching the dynamics of viruses and bacteria in annual sea ice. Her work has now shifted to investigating the dynamics of plastics on the south coast of Western Australia. This includes understanding the impact of plastics on the biology of the system. This has led to research on biofouling on a wave energy device deployed in King George Sound in 2025. This work will also investigate the likely occurrence of plastic in the biofouling. Researching on the south coast is important due to its strategic location between the Indian and Pacific Oceans and its relationship to the potential super-convergence that exists between these two oceans. The connection is not only crucial for the transportation of plastic but also for the movement of organisms.