Professor Stephen Maberly

Current work

I work on the ecology of lakes and rivers. This includes the long-term monitoring of Cumbrian lakes and the Ribble Source-to-Sea observatory. Laboratory work involves studies on macrophyte and algal eco-physiology as a way of producing a mechanistic understanding of ecological success and distribution. I am also leading the NERC-funded EHFI project on the impact of climate change on "whole-lake responses to species invasion mediated by climate change". Another distinct area relates to the factors controlling CO2 in freshwaters and their flux to the atmosphere.

My work contributes mainly to WA2.3 (assessing responses of river, lake and wetland ecosystems to ecohydrological drivers) and WA2.4 (food webs, trophic interactions and freshwater ecosystem functions and services) and I am the CEH champion for the latter objective.

Research interests

I am the head of the Lake Ecosystem Group at Lancaster and have worked in aquatic ecology for about 30 years, specialising in the ecophysiology of aquatic plants with a particular interest in inorganic carbon as an ecological factor. I also analyse long-term datasets to understand the effects of climate change and nutrient enrichment on lake function, research into the effect of nitrogen as a limiting nutrient in freshwaters, the link between catchment processes and lake function and understanding how the behavioural ecology of flagellates control ecological distribution.

Brief CV

• BSc Botany and Zoology joint honours (First class, Reading University, 1978)
• PhD: "The nature of competition between macrophytes and phytoplankton in freshwaters" (St. Andrews University, 1981)
• I have worked in laboratories in Italy, USA and Denmark at Aarhus University, where I spent six months as a visiting professor
• I was a visiting professor at the Chinese Academy of Sciences Botanic Garden at Wuhan, PRC from 2004 to 2006
• Received the Luigi Provasoli Award from the American Phycological Society in 1992 for the best paper published in Journal of Phycology in 1990
• I have been involved in a number of national thematic programmes (TIGER, LOIS, GANE, M&FMB and RELU) and EU-funded projects including CLIMFRESH- studying the effects of CO2 increase on freshwater and projects concerning the effect of climate change on lakes: REFLECT, CLIME and Euro-limpacs
• I serve on the editorial boards of Aquatic Botany and Freshwater Biology and am an associate editor for the new SIL journal Inland Waters, and have served on the advisory boards of a number societies and charities
• I have been appointed a Chinese Academy of Science Senior International Visiting Professor for two years from January 2011
• I am also Visiting Professor in the School of Biological & Chemical Sciences at Queen Mary, University of London

Selected publications

See also the NERC Open Research Archive and a fuller list here.

Avilan L., Maberly S.C., Mekhalfi M., Plateau J., Puppo C. & Gontero B. Regulation of glyceraldehyde-3-phosphate dehydrogenase in the eustigmatophyte Pseudocharaciopsis ovalis is intermediate between a chlorophyte and a diatom. European Journal of Phycology in press.

Dong X., Bennion H., Maberly S.C., Sayer C.D., Simpson G.L. & Battarbee R.W. Nutrients provide a stronger control than climate on diatom communities in Esthwaite Water: Evidence from monitoring and palaeolimnological records over the past 60 years.  Freshwater Biology in press.

Norton L.R., Elliott J.A., Maberly S.C. & May L.M. Using models to bridge the gap between land use and algal blooms: an example from the Loweswater catchment, UK.  Environmental Modelling and Software, in press.

Raven J.A., Giordano M., Beardall J. & Maberly S.C. (2012). Algal evolution in relation to atmospheric CO₂: Carboxylases, carbon concentrating mechanisms and carbon oxidation cycles.  Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society B 367, 493-507.

Reynolds C.S., Maberly S.C., Parker J.E. & De Ville M.M. (2012). Forty years of monitoring water quality in Grasmere (English Lake District): sensitivity of phytoplankton to environmental forcing in an environmentally-sensitive area.  Freshwater Biology 57, 384-399.

Foley B. Jones I.D., Maberly S.C. & Rippey B. (2012). Long-term changes in oxygen depletion within a small temperate lake: Effects of climate change and eutrophication.  Freshwater Biology 57, 278-289.

McGowan S., Barker P.A., Haworth E.Y., Leavitt P.R. Maberly S.C. & Pates J. (2012). Local, regional and global drivers of algal community change in Windermere since 1850 as determined by palaeolimnology and archival sources.  Freshwater Biology 57, 260-277.

Maberly S.C. & Elliott J.A. (2012). Insights from long-term studies in the Windermere catchment: external stressors, internal interactions and the structure and function of lake ecosystems. Freshwater Biology 57, 233-243.

Meis S., Spears B.M., Maberly S.C. O’Malley M.B. & Perkins R.G. (2012). Sediment amendment with Phoslock® in Clatto Reservoir (Dundee, UK): Investigating changes in sediment elemental composition and phosphorus fractionation. Journal of Environmental Management 93, 185-193.

Maltby E., Ormerod S., Acreman M., Blackwell M., Durance I., Everard M., Morris J., Spray C., Biggs J., Boon P., Brierley B., Brown L., Burn A., Clarke S., Diack I., Duigan C., Dunbat M., Gilvear D., Gurnell A., Jenkins A., Large A., Maberly S., Moss B., Newman J., Robertson A., Ross M., Rowan J., Shepherd M., Skinner A., Thompson J., Vaughan I. & Ward R. (2011). Freshwater-openwaters, wetlands and floodplains. IN: The UK National Ecosystem Assessment Technical Report. UK National Ecosystem Assessment, UNEP-WCMC, Cambridge.

Raven J.A., Giordano M., Beardall J. & Maberly S.C. (2011). Algal and aquatic plant carbon concentrating mechanisms in relation to environmental change.  Photosynthesis Research 109, 281-296.

Klavsen S.K. Madsen T.V. & Maberly S.C. (2011). Carbon concentrating mechanisms (CCM) in freshwater plants: a review with emphasis on Crassulacean Acid Metabolism (CAM).  Photosynthesis Research 109, 269-279.

Durand P., Breuer L., Johnes P.J., Billen G., Butturini A., Pinay G., van Grinsven H., Garnier J., Rivett M., Reay D.S., Curtis C., Siemens J. Maberly S., Kast Ø., Humborg C., Loeb R., de Klein J., Hejzlar J, Skoulikidis N., Kortelainen P., Lepistö A. & Wright R. (2011). Nitrogen processes in aquatic ecosystems. pp.126-146 In: The European Nitrogen Assessment: Sources, Effects and Policy Perspectives. Ed. Sutton M.A., Howard C.M., Erisman J.W., Billen G., Bleeker A., Grennfelt P., van Grinsven H. & Grizzetti B. Cambridge University Press, Cambridge.

Strong C. & Maberly S.C. (2011). The influence of atmospheric wave dynamics on the surface temperature of lakes in the English Lake District.  Global Change Biology 17, 2013-2022.