Javier Atalah

Javier Atalah

Team Leader – Environment Aquaculture Interactions

Role at Cawthron

Javier is a marine ecologist leading the Environment Aquaculture Interactions team. He specialises in assessing the impacts of human activities on coastal ecosystems and developing indicators and monitoring tools. His work focuses on ecological modelling to understand biodiversity changes, community dynamics, and species distribution influenced by natural and human-induced factors, including climate change and invasive species. His multidisciplinary research bridges basic biology and applied statistics across diverse aquatic systems.

Technical skills, experience and interests

  • Environment Aquaculture Interactions
  • Coastal ecology
  • Ecological modelling
  • Development of bioindicators and monitoring tools
  • Environmental Impact Assessments
  • Effects of aquaculture on benthic habitats
  • Marine biosecurity and invasive species ecology

Qualifications

  • PhD (Marine Ecology). University College Dublin, Ireland, 2009
  • MSc (Marine Science). University of Auckland, 2006
  • BSc (Hons, Marine Biology). University of Valparaíso, Chile, 2002
Javier Atalah