Dr Mark J. Costello

Current Scientific Activities

• Founding Chair of World Register of Marine Species at www.marinespecies.org(2007-) and Chief Editor of the European Register of Marine Species 2.0 (2004-)
• Secretary General of the International Association for Biological Oceanography (www.iabo.org, 2002-) a member of the International Union of Biological Sciences
• Chair of Council of the Society for the Management of European Biodiversity Data (www.smebd.eu, 2004-), Secretary (1999-2004)
• Ocean Biogeographic Information System (www.iobis.org): Member of the Governing Board (2008-); First Chairman of the OBIS International Committee
• Scientific Committee of Diversitas bioDiscovery core project (www.diversitas-international.org, 2007-2009)
• Council of New Zealand Marine Sciences Society (http://nzmss.rsnz.org/, 2004-2009)
• Encyclopaedia of Life Institutional Council (www.eol.org, 2007-)
• Founder and Manager of email lists for Marine Research Information Network on Biodiversity (MARINE-B, 570 subscribers), sealice (Caligus, 260 subscribers), and environmental sciences in Ireland (EnviroNet, 580 subscribers) since late 1990’s (https://listserv.heanet.ie).

Current Graduate Students

• Candace Rose-Taylor, on habitat mapping and the ecology of crustaceans in the Ross Sea, Antarctica
• Senoveva Mauli, using local knowledge and mapping of marine habitats in the Solomon Islands to aid conservation of ecosystem goods and services

Areas of interest for graduate student projects

• Biogeography of marine taxa using the Ocean Biogeographic Information System, including biogeographic boundaries across oceans and with depth.
• Marine Reserves, including benthic productivity and trophic structure, and design and evaluation of Marine Protected Area networks using biogeographic data.
• Marine invasive species ecology and use of biogeographic modeling in invasive species risk assessment.
• Ectoparasites of marine fish.
• Ecology, biogeography and taxonomy of amphipod crustaceans, including those around New Zealand, Europe and globally.
• Use of drop-down, surface linked, video to map seabed habitats and study fish behaviour.

Recent Publications

• Publications List (May09) (128kB)
• Costello M.J. 2009 Motivation of online data publication. BioScience 59 (5), 418-427. PDF (296kB)
• Costello M.J. 2009. The global economic cost of sea lice to the salmonid farming industry. Journal of Fish Diseases 32, 115-118.
• Ash N, Jürgens N, Leadley P, Alkemade R, Araújo MB,. Asner GP, Bachelet D, Costello MJ, Finlayson M, Lavorel S, Mace G, Mooney HA, Parr T, Scholes R, Soberon J, Turner W, Prieur‐Richard A‐H, Larigauderie A, and Walther BA. 2009. bioDISCOVERY: Assessing, monitoring and predicting biodiversity. DIVERSITAS, Paris.
• Andrefouet S, Costello MJ, Faith DP, Ferrier S, Geller GN, Höft R, Jürgens N, Lane MA, Larigauderie A, Mace G, Miazza S, Muchoney D, Parr T, Pereira HM, Sayre R, Scholes RJ, Stiassny MLJ, Turner W, Walther BA and Yahara T. 2008. The GEO Biodiversity Observation Network Concept Document. GEO - Group on Earth Observations, Geneva, Switzerland. 45 pages.
• Andréfouet S, Costello MJ, Rast M, Sathyendranath S. 2008 Earth observations for marine and coastal biodiversity. Remote Sensing of Environment 112 (8), 3297-3299.
• Atalah J., Otto S., Anderson M., Costello M.J., Lenz M, Wahl M. 2007 Temporal variance of disturbance did not affect diversity and structure of a marine fouling community in north-eastern New Zealand. Marine Biology 153 (2), 199-211.
• Atalah J., Costello M.J., Anderson M. 2007 Temporal variability and intensity of grazing: a mesocosm experiment. Marine Ecology Progress Series 341, 15-24.
• Costello M.J. 2006. Ecology of sea lice parasitic on farmed and wild fish. Trends in Parasitology 22 (10), 475-483.
• Quinn B., Gagné F, Blaise C., Costello M.J., Wilson J.G., Mothersill C. 2006 Evaluation of the lethal and sub-lethal toxicity and potential endocrine disrupting effect of nonylphenol on the zebra mussel (Dreissena polymorpha). Comparative Biochemistry and Physiology Part C 142, 118-127.
• Costello, M.J., Vanden Berghe E. 2006. "Ocean Biodiversity Informatics" enabling a new era in marine biology research and management. Marine Ecology Progress Series 316, 203-214. http://www.int-res.com/abstracts/meps/v316/
• Costello, M.J., Emblow C.S., Bouchet P. and Legakis A. 2006. European marine biodiversity inventory and taxonomic resources: state of the art and gaps in knowledge. Marine Ecology Progress Series 316, 257-268. http://www.int-res.com/abstracts/meps/v316/
• Mora, C., Andréfouët S., Costello M.J., Kranenburg C., Rollo A., Veron J., Gaston K.J., Myers R.A. 2006. Coral reefs and the global network of Marine Protected Areas. Science 312, 1750-1751. Supporting online material www.sciencemag.org/cgi/content/full/312/5781/1750/DC1
  

Career Synopsis

• Two post-doctoral fellowships Plymouth, Aberdeen and Edinburgh, UK. Lecturing positions at Trinity College University of Dublin, and University of Auckland. CEO positions as Managing Director of Ecological Consultancy Services Ltd Ireland, and Executive Director of The Huntsman Marine Science Centre Canada
• 5 PhD and 27 MSc students graduated, and supervised 41 research assistants including 5 post-docs. Lectured in marine ecology (including estuarine, pollution, conservation), biodiversity informatics, marine reserves, ecotoxicology, aquaculture-environment interactions, project planning, scientific communication, Crustacea, Mollusca.
• Published 81 peer-reviewed papers, and over 100 other publications. Edited 17 special issues of journals and books. Fiv e keynote presentations amongst 42 invitations to speak at international conferences and workshops in 16 countries. Organised over 25 conferences and workshops.
• M Costello CV (Jun09) (77kB)