Tim Carruthers

Director of Coastal Ecology

Tim Carruthers, Ph.D. has a strong international reputation from more than 20 years working in coastal ecology, focusing on human impacts and management. His work has focused on assessing and leveraging ecosystem conditions to enhance adaptation to coastal change. He brings specific experience in developing ecosystem health indicators and solving problems by focusing on systems analysis.

Before joining The Water Institute of the Gulf, Carruthers worked for the Secretariat of the Pacific Regional Environment Programme, as the Coastal and Marine Advisor, based in Samoa, providing marine management support to 21 Pacific Island countries and territories. A large component of this work was developing and implementing approaches for preservation or restoration of natural ecosystems to increase resilience of vulnerable coastal communities.

Carruthers has developed approaches to ecosystem condition assessment, and global syntheses of seagrass trends and processes. Synthesizing knowledge for communication to broad audiences, including coastal citizens, policy-makers and scientific colleagues, has been an ongoing focus throughout his career.

Currently, Carruthers is leading the Coastal Ecology Program in projects supporting integration of physical and ecosystem models, assessing and quantifying ecosystem function of submerged and emergent coastal habitats, and linking ecosystem functions to community needs and uses of ecosystem services.

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