Mathilde Bénézech
Position: Visiting Research Masters Student (completed 2018)
Education: Agrocampus Ouest University, Rennes, France
Masters Project: "Indirect effect of cleaner presence on the benthos material collected"
The objective of my project was to test the hypothesis of whether the manipulated presence of cleaner fish over 13-15 years, indirectly affects the benthic community. The idea being that since cleaner fish affect the abundance of many fishes, including ones that interact with the benthos – like grazing herbivores, that this could result in an indirect effect of cleaners on the benthos. This involved processing samples from a longterm experiment involving much sampling of the reef benthos, using pavers on reefs for 2 years, on which benthic organisms grow. After 2 years, the pavers were collected and the material removed and dried. In the laboratory analysis of these preserved coral reef benthic samples, I re-hydrated them and quantifed them by indentifying the organisms under the microscope, and classifying them into percent of benthic types, and chemically treating (with bleach) them afterwards to obtain their organic biomass.
Education: Agrocampus Ouest University, Rennes, France
Masters Project: "Indirect effect of cleaner presence on the benthos material collected"
The objective of my project was to test the hypothesis of whether the manipulated presence of cleaner fish over 13-15 years, indirectly affects the benthic community. The idea being that since cleaner fish affect the abundance of many fishes, including ones that interact with the benthos – like grazing herbivores, that this could result in an indirect effect of cleaners on the benthos. This involved processing samples from a longterm experiment involving much sampling of the reef benthos, using pavers on reefs for 2 years, on which benthic organisms grow. After 2 years, the pavers were collected and the material removed and dried. In the laboratory analysis of these preserved coral reef benthic samples, I re-hydrated them and quantifed them by indentifying the organisms under the microscope, and classifying them into percent of benthic types, and chemically treating (with bleach) them afterwards to obtain their organic biomass.
