Narissa Bax

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Dr Narissa Bax is a researcher at the Institute for Marine and Antarctic Studies and a member of the Centre for Marine Socioecology. Her research and collaborations are multidisciplinary and extend across the globe - spanning Antarctic marine biology, the blue economy, blue carbon (the carbon stored by marine ecosystems), taxonomy, molecular biology including conservation biology, evolution and population connectivity - ‘connectivity being a unifying theme’ - having worked all over the world from Antarctica to the tropics including; Bocas del Toro (Panama), Carrie Bow Cay (Belize), Florianopolis (Brazil), Isla Madre de Dios (Chile), Hawaii, Madagascar and the Myanmar delta to name a few - providing a unique perspective on the overarching themes and nuances of marine science and how to engage with multiple groups to find common ground and understand the role of research in informing policy decisions that are place-based.

Her PhD work focused on Antarctic continental shelf and slope biodiversity, biogeography, connectivity, phylogenetics and conservation, primarily on deep-sea corals. This work extends to collaborate with the Antarctic Seabed Carbon Capture Change (ASCCC) project which aims to understand the role of polar and subpolar seafloor in the carbon cycle, particularly in response to climate change. Our work on Antarctic blue carbon is underpinned by biodiversity conservation and clarifies that nature is more efficient than the technological capacity for carbon capture. It changes how we look at biodiversity conservation and climate change mitigation - if we value marine life as blue carbon and other ecosystem services as nature-based solutions to meet decarbonisation targets (see Bax et al., 2021: https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/abs/10.1111/gcb.15392).

Dr. Narissa Bax joined the South Atlantic Environmental Research Institute (SAERI) in May 2021 as a Marine and Coastal Program Coordinator. Her role, funded by the John Ellerman Foundation, focuses on the coordination and development of research to sustainably conserve a network of Marine Management Areas (MMAs) aligned to international criteria for Marine Protected Area (MPA) designation. In 2024 she started work with Pinngortitaleriffik
Greenland Institute of Natural Resources on the project BlueCea. The BlueCea project, funded by the Faroese Research Council, aims to assess macroalgal blue carbon potential across the Greenland-Iceland-Faroe-Scotland Ridge, with a focus on carbon stock and diversity in East Greenland.

Experience

  • –present
    Marine Biologist, University of Tasmania
  • 2024–present
    Marine Ecologist, Pinngortitaleriffik Greenland Institute of Natural Resources

Education

  • 2015 
    Institute for Marine and Antarctic Studies, PhD in Antarctic Marine Science
  • 2009 
    Institute for Antarctic and Southern Ocean Studies, BSc Antarctic Studies with Honours
  • 2008 
    Victoria University of Wellington , BSc Marine Biology, Ecology and Biodiversity

Publications

  • 2021
    Warming world, changing ocean: adaptation and mitigation for resilient marine systems,
  • 2021
    Safeguarding marine life: conservation of biodiversity and ecosystems,
  • 2021
    Ecologically complex polychaete reefs in Ellis Fjord, East Antarctica,
  • 2021
    Predicting potential impacts of ocean acidification on marine calcifiers from the Southern Ocean,
  • 2021
    Ocean resource use: building the coastal blue economy,
  • 2021
    Deep aspirations: towards a sustainable offshore blue economy,
  • 2021
    Equity of our future oceans: reflections on outcomes and practice,
  • 2021
    Responses of Southern Ocean seafloor habitats and communities to global environmental changes,
  • 2021
    Innovative governance for marine-based climate mitigation. Protecting Antarctica’s coastal blue carbon: a case for international cooperation,
  • 2020
    Perspective: Increasing Blue Carbon around Antarctica is an ecosystem service of considerable societal and economic value worth protecting,
  • 2020
    Overcoming the obstacles faced by early career researchers in large-scale initiatives: perspectives from the Marine Ecosystem Assessment for the Southern Ocean,
  • 2020
    Taxonomy 2.0: computer-aided identification tools to assist Antarctic biologists in the field and in the lab,
  • 2019
    Protecting Antarctic blue carbon: as marine ice retreats can the law fill the gap?,
  • 2019
    Carbon storage by Kerguelen zoobenthos as a negative feedback on climate change,
  • 2019
    'Antarctica just has this hero factor…': Gendered barriers to Australian Antarctic research and remote fieldwork,
  • 2018
    Invertebrate diversity in the deep Great Australian Bight (200-5049 m),
  • 2014
    Stylasteridae (Cnidaria; Hydrozoa). In: DeBroyer, C., et al., Biogeographic Atlas of the Southern Ocean,
  • 2013
    Patterns, processes and vulnerability of the Southern Ocean benthos: a decadal leap in knowledge and understanding,

Grants and Contracts

  • 2018
    Data Knowledge and Decisions
    Role:
    Principle Investigator
    Funding Source:
    University of Tasmania
  • 2017
    Marine, Antarctic and Maritime Research Theme
    Role:
    Co-investigator
    Funding Source:
    University of Tasmania

Professional Memberships

  • Antarctic Seabed Carbon Capture Change (ASCCC) project
  • Australian Marine Science Association
  • State Emergency Services Search and Rescue
  • Chicago Scholars program
  • 500 women
  • The Systematics Association

Research Areas

  • Ecology (0602)
  • Ecological Impacts Of Climate Change (050101)
  • Evolutionary Impacts Of Climate Change (060306)
  • Culture, Gender, Sexuality (200205)
  • Conservation And Biodiversity (050202)
  • Biodiscovery (100201)

Contact Narissa for

  • General
  • Media request
  • Speaking request
  • Consulting / Advising
  • Research collaboration
  • Research supervision