Rate My Professor Ben Saunders

Ben Saunders is a Senior Lecturer and Discipline Lead for Ecology in the School of Molecular and Life Sciences within the Faculty of Science and Engineering at Curtin University. He obtained his PhD from the University of Western Australia and BSc (Hons) from the University of Wales, Aberystwyth. Prior to his appointment at Curtin, Saunders served as a Research Associate in the School of Plant Biology at the University of Western Australia from July 2011 to January 2014. In his current role, he contributes to teaching in areas such as land and water resources and supervises PhD students on topics including marine community abundance, diversity, and fish wariness in fishing impact assessments.

Saunders' research centers on fish ecology and marine ecology, examining fish assemblages, habitat use, biomass estimation, and responses to environmental changes like inverse salinity gradients, marine heatwaves, ocean warming, deoxygenation after coral spawning, and coastal upwelling. He applies cutting-edge techniques such as stereo-baited remote underwater video (stereo-BRUVs), remotely operated vehicles (ROVs), singlebeam echo-sounders for bathymetry, imaging sonars, and acoustic surveys to study ecosystems in Shark Bay's hypersaline embayments, deep submarine canyons, urban reefs, and northwestern Australian pipeline sites. Key publications include 'Quantifying Patterns in Fish Assemblages and Habitat Use Along a Deep Submarine Canyon-Valley Feature Using a Remotely Operated Vehicle' (Frontiers in Marine Science, 2021), 'The use of singlebeam echo-sounder depth data to produce high-resolution bathymetry for habitat mapping' (Ecology and Evolution, 2021), 'Sound sees more: A comparison of imaging sonars and stereo-video for surveying fish' (Fisheries Research, 2023), 'Deoxygenation following coral spawning and low-level freshwater input' (Coral Reefs, 2024), and 'Some like it salty - examining fish assemblages across an extreme salinity gradient, Shark Bay, Western Australia' (2025). With 107 publications garnering over 3,600 citations, his work impacts fisheries monitoring, conservation biology, and ecosystem vulnerability assessments. Saunders also serves on the editorial board of Estuarine, Coastal and Shelf Science.