Dr Craig Aaron Radford

PhD (Auckland), MSc (Canterbury), BSc (Waikato)

Associate Professor

In: Marine Science » Faculty of Science

Research | Current

My research interests are varied and include sensory physiology of fish (including sharks) and crustaceans, vocal communication in fish, recruitment processes in fish and crustaceans and the biological role of underwater sound.

I am particularly interested in the sensory physiology in fish which has been the basis of two productive international collaborators Professor Dennis Higgs (University of Windsor, Canada) and Professor Allen Mensinger (Marine Biological Laboratory, USA). My other interest is in the biological role of ambient underwater sound and in particularly the role of soundscape ecology in the marine environment.

Some examples of current projects are; the role the lateral line plays in fish sound source localisation, vocalising behaviour of the New Zealand Bigeye, using passive acoustics as a environmental monitoring tool, and the role of acoustics in the competitive patch foraging between large pelagic predators.

Teaching | Current

Mar 702 Techniques in Marine Science

BioSci 329 - The biology of fish

Postgraduate supervision

Postgraduate research opportunities

Role of the lateral line in sound source localisation
Multisensory processing of sensory cues in fish
Ontogenetic hearing abilities of crustaceans
Animal acoustic communication – characterising fish sounds and their context
Effects of anthropogenic noise on the biological role of ambient underwater sounds
Using passive acoustic recording as an environmental monitoring technique
Shallow water sound propagation
Using genetics and morphology to phylogenetically characterise the family Pempheridae
Using microCT and MRI as tools to characterise sensory structures in fish

Current post-graduate projects

The contribution of anthropogenic noise to the Hauraki Gulf - Rosalyn Putland
Charactersing the effects of antibiotics of the fishes lateral line - Christine Kieble
Bigeyes or bigears: do bigeyes use their vocalisation as a contact call - Lucinda van Ooestrom MSc
Using passive acoustics as an environmental monitoring tool – Sydney Harris MSc

Past postgraduate projects

Larval settlement dynamics of snapper, Carina Sim-Smith – PhD
Influence of anthropogenic sound on crab behaviour, Matt Pine – PhD
Ontogenetic hearing development in fish, Paul Caiger - MSc
Fish Vocalisation: Understanding its biological role from temporal and spatial characteristics, Shahriman Ghazali – PhD
Ambient underwater sound: measuring the importance of spatial variability and its effect on late-stage larval crabs, Jenni Stanley – PhD
The influence of habitat type on fish recruitment to standard monitoring unitsin northern New Zealand, Philippa Kohn - MSc

Selected publications and creative works (Research Outputs)

Mensinger, A. F., Putland, R. L., & Radford, C. A. (2018). The effect of motorboat sound on Australian snapper Pagrus auratus inside and outside a marine reserve. Ecology and Evolution, 8 (13), 6438-6448. 10.1002/ece3.4002
Putland, R. L., Merchant, N., Fracas, A., & Radford, C. A. (2018). Vessel noise cuts down communication space for vocalizing fish and marine mammals. Global Change Biology, 24 (4), 1708-1721. 10.1111/gcb.13996
Putland, R. L., Ranjard, L., Constantine, R., & Radford, C. A. (2018). A hidden Markov model approach to indicate Bryde’s whale acoustics. Ecological Indicators, 84, 479-487. 10.1016/j.ecolind.2017.09.025
Other University of Auckland co-authors: Rochelle Constantine
Montgomery, J. C., & Radford, C. A. (2017). Marine bioacoustics. Current Biology, 27 (11), R502-R507. 10.1016/j.cub.2017.01.041
Other University of Auckland co-authors: John Montgomery
Putland, R., Constantine, R., & Radford, C. (2017). Exploring spatial and temporal trends in the soundscape of an ecologically significant embayment. Scientific Reports, 7.10.1038/s41598-017-06347-0
URL: http://hdl.handle.net/2292/36179
Other University of Auckland co-authors: Rochelle Constantine
Mensinger, A. F., Putland, R. L., & Radford, C. A. (2016). The use of baited underwater video to monitor fish behavior in response to boat motor noise. Proceedings of Meetings on Acoustics. 10.1121/2.0000234
Putland, R. L., Atkins, J., & Radford, C. A. (2016). Sounds of feeding 'work-ups' provide cues for food availability. Proceedings of Meetings on Acoustics. 10.1121/2.0000240
Pine, M. K., Jeffs, A. G., Wang, D., & Radford, C. A. (2016). The potential for vessel noise to mask biologically important sounds within ecologically significant embayments. Ocean & Coastal Management, 127, 63-73. 10.1016/j.ocecoaman.2016.04.007
Other University of Auckland co-authors: Andrew Jeffs