Rate My Professor Rebecca McLeod

Dr. Rebecca McLeod serves as Senior Research Fellow in the Department of Geology, Division of Sciences, at the University of Otago. She obtained her PhD in Marine Science from the University of Otago in 2008. Subsequently, she undertook postdoctoral fellowships in Chemistry at the University of Otago and Biology at Stanford University. Her career also encompasses roles as Lead Scientist at a forensic science-based startup and Science Advisor to New Zealand's Antarctic Science Programme. Currently based in Ōtepoti Dunedin, Aotearoa New Zealand, she leads the Fiordland Marine Carbon Sink Programme, investigating carbon sequestration in New Zealand's southern fjords.

McLeod's research centers on marine ecology, particularly Fiordland marine ecosystems, energy flux, and linkages between marine and terrestrial ecosystems. Her expertise extends to sustainability and resources, including marine management, blue carbon and marine carbon sequestration, climate change impacts on marine ecosystems, and science-policy interfaces in marine contexts. She has been a Fiordland Marine Guardian since 2012, chairing this governmental advisory board for the past eight years, actively bridging science and policy in coastal marine management. In recognition of her early career achievements, she received the MacDiarmid Young Scientist of the Year award in 2008. Notable publications include 'Mitigating the threat of invasive marine species to Fiordland: New Zealand's first pathway management plan' (2019), 'The invasive kelp Undaria pinnatifida hosts an epifaunal assemblage similar to native seaweeds with comparable morphologies' (2017), 'Importance of the invasive macroalga Undaria pinnatifida as trophic subsidy for a beach consumer' (2017), 'Do native subtidal grazers eat the invasive kelp Undaria pinnatifida?' (2015), 'Contributions of an annual invasive kelp to native algal assemblages: Algal resource allocation and seasonal connectivity across ecotones' (2015), and 'Mechanisms and ecological role of carbon transfer within coastal seascapes' (2013). Her scholarly work has accumulated over 1,100 citations, contributing significantly to understanding invasive species, trophic dynamics, and carbon processes in coastal environments.