Contact
Biography
Chris moved to Nottingham Malaysia in January 2017 to take up the post as Head of the newly formed School of Environmental and Geographical Sciences. Prior to this he was a Senior Lecturer at the University of Aberdeen (Scotland), working within the Northern Rivers Institute. He was based in Aberdeen for 17 years, following his PhD (1993-1996) and Post-doctoral research (1996-1998) working on environmental flow projects on rivers in Northern England.
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Expertise Summary
River ecology; human impacts on river ecosystems; environmental flows; river restoration science
Teaching Summary
My specialist teaching covers freshwater ecology, hydrology and sustainable catchment management. Introductory level teaching includes biogeography, hydrology and data analysis.I convene the Ecology… read more
Research Summary
I am a hydro-ecologist with research focussed on understanding the links between physical habitat conditions and biota in freshwater ecosystems. Applied aspects of my research include assessment of… read more
Recent Publications
MARTEAU, BAPTISTE, BATALLA, RAMON J, VERICAT, DAMI'A and GIBBINS, CHRIS, 2018. Asynchronicity of fine sediment supply and its effects on transport and storage in a regulated river 2614-2633
BIGGS, H.J., NIKORA, V.I., GIBBINS, C.N., CAMERON, S.M., PAPADOPOULOS, K., FRASER, S., STEWART, M., VETTORI, D., SAVIO, M., GREEN, D.R., and HICKS, D.M., 2018. Characterisation of aquatic vegetation: from the statistics of macrophyte patch sizes to highly-resolved flow structure. Proceedings of the 12th International Symposium on Ecohydraulics, Tokyo, Japan.
MARTEAU, B., GIBBINS, C.N., BATALLA, R.J. and VERICAT, D., 2018. Good practice in managing riverbank instability and erosion.
Current Research
I am a hydro-ecologist with research focussed on understanding the links between physical habitat conditions and biota in freshwater ecosystems. Applied aspects of my research include assessment of human impacts on aquatic organisms and the sustainable management of rivers and their catchments. Specific areas of interest are: (i) interactions between river flow hydraulics, sediments and biota (chiefly invertebrates and fish), (ii) impacts of flow and thermal habitat modification on river ecosystems, and (iii) sustainable river management, including the development of ecologically acceptable flow regimes and river restoration. My teaching covers freshwater ecology, biogeography and sustainable catchment and water resources management. I am an Honorary Professor at University of Aberdeen (Scotland) and a Visiting Professor at University of Lleida (Spain).
Current major funded research projects
1. Hydrogeomorphic status of the Baleh River, Sarawak. This project has recently been awarded and represents a baseline assessment, against which future changes in the river following completion of a major dam can be compared. It focuses on understanding the river's flow regime, coarse and fine sediment dynamics, and the dynamics of hydraulic habitat. The project is funded by Sarawak Energy.
2. Sustainable management of the River Trusan catchment. This project is funded by WWF and aims to help resolve river erosion and flooding issues in a remote catchment in Sarawak, Borneo.
3. Impacts of thermal mismatches on invertebrate fitness across life-stages. This project is funded by grants from NERC (CASE), The Royal Society (UK) and UNMC. It focusses on how dams impact river thermal regimes and how such thermal modification affects insect populations. It is the first project of its type to link across life stages and use genetic and population modelling approaches to understand how the thermal regimes experienced by larvae influence their fitness (fecundity and dispersal ability) once they become adults. In collaboration with Lesley Lancaster, Zoology, Aberdeen.
4. River Ehen (NW England) Restoration Initiative. This ongoing collaboration has funded 2 PhD students to-date, and a new Research Assistant started on the project in September 2017 to continue the work until 2022. The restoration involves the reconnection of a formerly diverted tributary, with the aim of re-naturalising flow regimes and fluvial dynamics and so improving habitat in the river for the endangered freshwater pearl mussel Margaritifera margaritifera. Funded by Environment Agency and United Utilities.
5. Morphpeak. This 3 year project was awarded funds by the Spanish Ministry of Science in September 2016. It aims to understand the impacts of hydropeaking flow regimes on the fluvial dynamics and ecology of Mediterranean rivers. PI is Dr Damia Vericat of the University of Lleida; I am a co-investigator and lead supervise one of the two PhD students working on the project.
Recent projects indicative of my research
1. HYTECH. This Marie Curie Training Network grant funds two Aberdeen-based PhD students who worked jointly between myself and Prof. Vladimir Nikora in the School of Engineering, University of Aberdeen. These two students were working on flow-biota interactions and form part of the network that funded 15 PhD students and 2 Post-docs across Europe.
2. Morphsed. This project was based in Spain and aimed to understand the impact of instream gravel mining on fluvial processes and invertebrate communities. It was led by University of Lleida and funded by the Spanish Ministry of Science. I was a co-investigator, and lead supervised one of the three PhD students working on the project. See www.morphsed.es for details.
3. BIOMA (Biology of intermittent streams on Mallorca). This project was based on Mallorca (led by Dr Celso Garcia) and aimed to understand how water abstraction impacts the hydrology and ecology of the island's temporary stream ecosystems. The project was funded by the Government of the Balearic Islands and employed a Research Assistant based on Mallorca; it was in collaboration with University of the Balearic Islands, the University of Lleida and University of Vigo.
Other previous research projects have been funded by a variety of agencies, including the EU, Royal Society, Marine Scotland Science, Leverhulme Trust, Scottish Environment Protection Agency and English Nature, along with various water companies and Scottish Fishery Boards. My main current international collaboration is with the University of Lleida (Spain) where I am a Visiting Professor.