Current research

Iain Suthers was the first to compare larval growth and lipid indices from the same individuals and to recognise that condition indices should be classified ecologically rather than by technique.  Using this approach he has shown the biological significance of dispersal from spawning areas, of estuarine plume fronts, island wakes and sewage plumes.  Growth is the currency of survival, and this research goes to the core of the "Bigger is Better" debate (Suthers 1998; 2000).

We have investigated the biological effects of nutrient addition on larval growth and the zooplankton size distribution into the nutrient starved East Australian Current.  The hallmark of this investigation has been the multidisciplinary approach, particularly with physical oceanographers.

Iain is one of the few biological oceanographers in Australia who trains biological postgraduates on research vessels and in temperate coastal areas (supervised to graduation 10 PhD students in 13 years).  For example recent papers using stable isotope analysis and coastal oceanography have established that red tides off the Sydney coast are generated by upwelling 300 km north, and not from Sydney's new, deepwater ocean outfalls.  Stable isotope signatures of sewage are evident in local planktivorous fish - a surprising result considering the dilution in coastally dynamic waters.

A recent paper in Limnology & Oceanography describes a fundamental process in the biological structure of certain island wakes - that of erosion and entrainment.

New insights have come about by examining biological phenomena within the context of a dynamic moving platform, rather than assuming a static ocean.  His use of the 2-3 daily record of growth recorded in the earstone, or otolith, just prior to capture has been the most controversial (plenary talk at the 2nd World Age and Growth Symposium).

Enhanced growth has now been linked to stable isotopes in my invited presentation for the 3rd World A&G symposium in 2004.  One of his most important recent contributions has been a larval age and growth analysis of the Icelandic cod stock, revealing the potential sub stock structure.