Professor Michael Heath

Mathematics and Statistics

Personal statement

Having graduated with a joint honors degree in Marine Biology and Oceanography, I completed a PhD on cell division phasing under light-dark cycles in populations of micro-algae, involving laboratory culturing and mathematical modelling of cell stage demography. Then in 1982 I obtained a post at the Scottish Office Marine Laboratory in Aberdeen. Initially I was researching and modelling migrations of herring using parasite fauna as natural tags, designed to improve stock assessments of herring. During the following years I led field and modelling programmes on thedispersal and survival of fish larvae, observational and modelling projects on nutrient dynamics in coastal ecosystems, and led a sequence of EU and NERC funded programmes on the population dynamics of zooplankton in the North Atlantic. These projects were designed to advise the Scottish Government on the impacts of aquaculture nutrient release on the environment, impacts of climate change on fisheries, and latterly on human and climate impacts on indices of ecosystem status.

During my time at the Marine Laboratory in Aberdeen I developed strong links with the Statistics and Modelling Science Department at Strathclyde, and in 2010 I was successful in obtaining a research post at the University funded by the Marine Alliance for Science and Technology Scotland (MASTS), which is a SFC science pooling initiative. My current research interests are the mathematical and statistical modelling of fish populations and fisheries, and the dynanics of ecosystems.

Prizes and awards

Royal Society of Edinburgh, Sir James Black Medal: Recipient; 6/8/2017

More prizes and awards

Publications

Spatio-temporal variation in the zooplankton prey of lesser sandeels : species and community trait patterns from the continuous plankton recorder: Olin Agnes B, Banas Neil S, Johns David G, Heath Michael R, Wright Peter J, Nager Ruedi G; ICES Journal of Marine Science Vol 79, pp. 1649-1661 (2022); https://doi.org/10.1093/icesjms/fsac101
Unconstrained coevolution of bacterial size and the latent period of plastic phage: Bonachela Juan A, Choua Melinda, Heath Michael R; PLOS One Vol 17 (2022); https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0268596
The onset of the spring phytoplankton bloom in the coastal North Sea supports the Disturbance Recovery Hypothesis: González-Gil Ricardo, Banas Neil S, Bresnan Eileen, Heath Michael R; Biogeosciences Vol 19, pp. 2417-2426 (2022); https://doi.org/10.5194/bg-19-2417-2022
Synthetic shelf sediment maps for the Greenland Sea and Barents Sea: Laverick Jack H, Speirs Douglas C, Heath Mike R; Geoscience Data Journal (2022); https://doi.org/10.1002/gdj3.154
The response of North Sea ecosystem functional groups to warming and changes in fishing: Thorpe Robert B, Arroyo Nina Larissa, Safi Georges, Niquil Nathalie, Heath Michael, Pace Matthew C, Lynam Christopher P; Frontiers in Marine Science Vol 9 (2022); https://doi.org/10.3389/fmars.2022.841909
Modelling seabed sediment physical properties and organic matter content in the Firth of Clyde: Pace Matthew C, Bailey David M, Donnan David W, Narayanaswamy Bhavani E, Smith Hazel J, Speirs Douglas C, Turrell William R, Heath Michael R; Earth System Science Data Vol 13, pp. 5847–5866 (2021); https://doi.org/10.5194/essd-13-5847-2021

More publications

Research interests

Research interests - modelling of marine ecosystems

Professional activities

Fisheries Innovation Scotland Annual Conference: Keynote/plenary speaker; 22/8/2016
DEFRA (Department for the Environment, Food and Rural Affairs) (External organisation): Advisor; 23/2/2016
MASTS Annual Science Meeting 2015: Speaker; 2/10/2015
MASTS Annual Science Meeting 2015: Speaker; 1/10/2015
ICES Annual Science Conference 2015: To be assigned; 22/9/2015
Scottish Government (External organisation): Member; 6/2015

More professional activities

Projects

Ecosystem Change, Offshore Wind, Net Gain and Seabirds (ECOWINGS): Speirs, Douglas (Principal Investigator) Banas, Neil (Co-investigator) Heath, Mike (Co-investigator) Laverick, Jack (Researcher); 01-Jan-2022 - 31-Jan-2026
Art of Mapping Ocean Change: Banas, Neil (Principal Investigator) Heath, Mike (Co-investigator); 25-Jan-2021 - 01-Jan-2022
Shaping ecosystem based fisheries management (SEAwise): Heath, Mike (Principal Investigator) Speirs, Douglas (Co-investigator) Laverick, Jack (Researcher); 01-Jan-2021 - 30-Jan-2025
How does phytoplankton diversity affect primary production in the ocean?: Chen, Bingzhang (Principal Investigator) Banas, Neil (Co-investigator) Heath, Mike (Co-investigator); 01-Jan-2021 - 31-Jan-2024
Mission Atlantic. Towards the Sustainable Development of the Atlantic Ocean: Speirs, Douglas (Principal Investigator) Heath, Mike (Co-investigator) Laverick, Jack (Researcher); 01-Jan-2020 - 31-Jan-2024
Aggregation, production and spill-over: what are the cumulative effects of manmade structures on North Sea fish?: Speirs, Douglas (Principal Investigator) Heath, Mike (Co-investigator); 01-Jan-2020 - 31-Jan-2024

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Address

Mathematics and Statistics
Livingstone Tower

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