Dorothea is originally from Germany, where she completed her MSc in Biology at the University of Bremen. Dorothea was a PhD student at the Coral Reef Ecosystems Lab at UQ and investigated the effects of elevated sea surface temperature and ocean acidification on coral reef algae (supervisors: Sophie Dove and Guillermo Diaz-Pulido). She included various growth forms and taxa in her experiments, looked at turf algal communities as well as macroalgal responses to the changed environmental conditions.

L. intricata at Heron Island reef flat (D. Bender-Champ, CC-BY-SA)

After working as a project manager on the development of a MOOC (massive open online course) at the Global Change Institute, she re-joined the Coral Reef Ecosystems Lab in 2014 as a postdoctoral research fellow. Dorothea’s current research focuses on coral reef metabolism, mainly in terms of productivity and calcification, and how it varies between distinct reef zones. She is also interested in how coral reef metabolism will be affected by future conditions.

This YouTube video of Seaview 360 features some of our work.

Publications:

Bender D, Champ CM, Kline D, Diaz-Pulido G, Dove S (2015) Effects of “Reduced” and “Business-As-Usual” CO2 Emission Scenarios on the Algal Territories of the Damselfish Pomacentrus wardi (Pomacentridae). Plos One, 10, e0131442. Link to full text or pdf

Diaz-Pulido G, Nash MC, Anthony KRN, Bender D, Opdyke BN, Reyes-Nivia C, Troitzsch U (2014) Greenhouse conditions induce mineralogical changes and dolomite accumulation in coralline algae on tropical reefs. Nature Communications, 5. Link to full text or pdf

Reef flat community at Heron Island reef (D. Bender-Champ, CC-BY-SA)

Bender D, Diaz-Pulido G, Dove S (2014) The impact of CO2 emission scenarios and nutrient enrichment on a common coral reef macroalga is modified by temporal effects. Journal of  Phycology, 50, 203-215. Link to full text or pdf

Bender D, Diaz-Pulido G, Dove S (2014) Warming and acidification promote cyanobacterial dominance in turf algal assemblages. Mar Ecol Prog Ser 517: 271-284. Link to full text or pdf

Bender D, Diaz-Pulido G, Dove S (2012) Effects of macroalgae on corals recovering from disturbance. Journal of Experimental Marine Biology and Ecology, 429, 15-19. Link to full text or pdf

‘

Testing new equipment (G. Bernal Carillo, CC-BY-SA)

CTD at the inner reef flat site (D.Bender-Champ CC-BY-SA)