Miss Ali Bloomfield

Biography/ Background

After completing her undergraduate degree Ali worked briefly for the University of Adelaide and SARDI Aquatic Sciences as a Research Assistant. She then gained a position in the Coast and Marine Conservation Branch, of the Department for Environment and Heritage South Australia, as a Research Officer for Marine Parks. This gave her experience in policy and research as part of a large and diverse team, before returning to university to undertake her PhD.

Qualifications

Bachelor of Environmental Science (Ecology) with First Class Honours, University of Adelaide (1998-2002)

Research Interests

Stable isotopes, in particular those of carbon and nitrogen, have the potential to be very powerful tools for studying food webs and ecosystems. They have been used to trace autotrophic sources (using delta-13C) and anthropogenic inputs of nitrogen (using delta-15N) through food webs. They have also been used to investigate trophic interactions and settlement times of larval fish.

Ali is interested in the sources of variation affecting fractionation, or the difference in isotope concentration between diet and animal, and how this can be applied to food web studies. In particular she is interested in how dietary composition affects fractionation. For her PhD Ali will focus on estuarine environments and two omnivorous fish species found in South Australia, black bream (Acanthopagrus butcheri) and yellow-eye mullet (Aldrichetta forsteri).

Publications

Bloomfield AL and Gillanders BM (2005) Fish and invertebrate assemblages in seagrass, mangrove, saltmarsh, and nonvegetated habitats. Estuaries 28: 63-77

Jones, GK, RM Connolly and AL Bloomfield (2008). Ecology of fish in seagrass. Natural History of Gulf St Vincent. SA Shepherd, S Bryars, I Kirkegaard, P Harbison and JT Jennings. Adelaide, Australia, Royal Society of South Australia Inc: 148-161.

Community Engagement

Ali is a member of the Reef Watch Steering Committee, a community organisation involved in monitoring reefs in South Australia.

Entry last updated: Tuesday, 27 May 2008