The 'Nina' effect
Becoming a parent has reinforced prize-winning scientist Dr Amelia Wenger's resolve to improve the world's marine environment.
Australia’s 2020 ASPIRE Prize nominee and marine conservationist Dr Amelia Wenger has always been passionate about her work – but since having baby Nina two years ago, that passion has only intensified as she realises its impact on her daughter’s future.
Dr Wenger with daughter Nina.
Dr Wenger with daughter Nina.
“If I have to take time away from Nina, I want to be doing something worthwhile and meaningful,” the UQ Centre for Biodiversity and Conservation Science (CBCS) research fellow and Wildlife Conservation Society (WCS) associate conservation scientist says.
Fortunately, she considers helping to improve the world’s marine environment through better managing coastal development activities to be a worthy cause.
Specifically, Dr Wenger's work entails identifying and assessing conservation solutions to benefit marine ecosystems and the people who depend on them.
“I’ve always had the philosophy that we have to be realistic when balancing commercial interests and their impact on the environment – particularly on our oceans, which are really important ecosystems that help improve our quality of life,” she says.
“Development will always be happening, so how can we put safeguards in place to avoid damaging nature? That’s a real-world challenge, especially with the rapid development of coastal areas: we can’t ignore it – we have to manage it and manage it well.”
Dr Wenger has long been interested in how land-based threats can affect marine environments, and has lately been focused on understanding what interventions actually work and how to improve upon the ones that don’t.
“Management activities such as reducing development in steep areas, ensuring riparian vegetation remains intact, and minimising the total amount of land clearing in the area can make a real difference for the marine environment,” she says.
Riparian vegetation (photo credit: Getty Images).
Riparian vegetation (photo credit: Getty Images).
"Riparian vegetation – the plant community next to rivers and streams – is one of Earth’s terrestrial biomes, and provides many benefits such as filtering nutrients and sediments before they are released into waterways.
"This means cleaner rivers with less run-off, and ultimately cleaner oceans."
Over the years, Dr Wenger has conducted many environmental projects – ranging from an undergraduate summer volunteer program in Honduras, where she studied the impact of land run-off on coral reefs, to a three-year project in Western Australia investigating how to best manage invasive species – and has learnt how to negotiate across multiple sectors.
She believes we need to establish what ‘success’ means (for example, abundant fish and birdlife) and build our metrics and biodiversity goals from there.
“If I look ahead to 2030, I’d like to think I could take my daughter scuba diving in the ocean and see beautiful, healthy coral reefs supporting fish and other marine life, which in turn support the livelihoods of coastal dwellers and broader society," she says.
“There would be good fisheries management practices with no overfishing, water quality would be high, and good wastewater and land-use management policies would be in place to protect the ocean ecosystem and subsequent human health.”
Dr Wenger’s work is motivated by hope, both for the world’s future and for Nina’s.
“So many aspects of our life on land affect the ocean – land-clearing and deforestation, waste disposal and excessive use of plastic, to name just a few."
"I remember how it just blew my mind when my collaborators and I discovered particles of baby formula in oysters on coral reefs in Myanmar – we were even able to identify the formula brand,” she says.
"And this was just one of the 78 different human-derived microdebris materials we identified. Coastal urbanisation certainly increases contamination in seafood.
“If we want to protect our marine environment, we need to be aware of what we consume, how we manage waste, and where our different products come from.
"I see a push to use paper straws over plastic ones, for instance, but the paper from that straw is still coming from somewhere and is being thrown away after a single use.”
This message of working in harmony with nature while sustainably managing development is perhaps the key reason Dr Wenger’s application struck a chord with the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation Science Prize for Innovation, Research and Education (ASPIRE Prize) judges, who chose her as Australia’s 2020 nominee (fellow UQ researcher Dr Jeremy Simmonds was one of two runners-up).
This annual award, valued at US$25,000, recognises young scientists from APEC economies who have demonstrated a commitment to both excellence in scientific research – as evidenced by scholarly publication – and cooperation with scientists from other APEC member economies. Dr Wenger has certainly achieved both.
In less than a decade, she has contributed to two book chapters and 39 peer-reviewed journal articles, as well as writing her PhD thesis on the effects of suspended sediment on coral reef fishes. She also works with scientists across the globe in her role with the WCS.
“I spend a lot of time in Zoom meetings!” she laughs.
Her work with WCS is what keeps Dr Wenger hopeful about the future.
“I feel so fortunate to interact with and learn from marine conservation practitioners from several coral reef countries and see the amazing work being done on the ground," she says.
"Communities reliant on coral reefs are really committed to protecting their environment and it certainly motivates me to do my part."
Her current research agenda focuses on ridge to reef decision-making, improving coastal and marine management outcomes, and understanding the links between ecosystem health and human health. This project is one of four from UQ to have been named a finalist in the 2020 Australian Museum Eureka Prizes.
She combines her role as a mother with her role as a scientist and, although she sometimes misses the remote fieldwork she used to do, is now very happy to spend much of her time closer to home researching and ‘number-crunching’.
As a Non-Governmental Organisation (NGO) scientist, Dr Wenger provides technical resources and analytical capacity to the WCS’s projects funded through the Vibrant Oceans initiative. As a CBCS research fellow, she produces knowledge and tools for communities and governments to balance conservation and development goals.
“I find my work really inspiring and my daughter motivates me to do all I can to help improve our oceans," Dr Wenger says.
"I'm currently working on a range of biodiversity-enhancing projects that will benefit our coral reefs and look forward to exploring both the reefs and my work on them with Nina one day.”
To learn more about Dr Wenger's work, visit her
UQ Researchers profile.
Opening video and image: Getty images. Words by Suzanne Parker.
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