Abstract:
Professor Rummer's research is focused on the physiological performance and resilience of fishes in the face of environmental extremes. By integrating laboratory-based experiments and fieldwork across the Indo-Pacific, including studies on the Great Barrier Reef and in the shark sanctuaries of French Polynesia, she has explored how a wide range of species, from larval coral reef fishes to epaulette sharks, adapt to fluctuating and challenging conditions. These systems provide critical insights into survival strategies and thresholds as ocean warming, acidification, and deoxygenation intensify.

This seminar will highlight key findings from her career, including the swimming performance and energy budgets of larval fishes pre- and post-metamorphosis, the bioindicator potential of epaulette sharks across their life cycle, and the ecological roles of newborn blacktip reef sharks in French Polynesia. These studies span molecular, physiological, and ecological scales, shedding light on the mechanisms that underpin resilience in extreme environments. She will connect the lessons learned from these species and life stages to pressing conservation challenges, emphasising how understanding physiological limits informs management of marine protected areas and global biodiversity hotspots in a rapidly changing ocean.

Bio:
Prof. Jodie Rummer’s background is in marine biology and comparative physiology. Over the course of her career, she has researched fish buoyancy, exercise, and is a leading authority on the evolution of oxygen transport and how fish maintain performance during stress. Today, Jodie’s team combines physiology, ecology, and evolution to address issues important to conservation, such as the effects of climate change and other anthropogenic stressors on coral reef fishes, sharks, and rays and the potential for adaptation. Jodie has published >150 peer-reviewed journal articles, book chapters, and editorials, and has presented at more than 120 professional conferences and public events. She is a Professor of Marine Biology at James Cook University (JCU), is on the editorial board for three scientific journals, and is part of the UNESCO Intergovernmental Oceanographic Committee advisory panel on global deoxygenation, which is part of the United Nations Decade ofOcean Science for Sustainable Development program. Jodie is also currently the incoming President of the Australian Coral Reef Society.

Dr. Rummer has accolades for her research as well as her capacity to communicate and connect her findings to broad and diverse audiences. She received the highly prestigious UNESCO-L’Oréal Women in Science Fellowship for Australia and New Zealand in 2015-2016. In 2016, Jodie was awarded the Society for Experimental Biology’s President’s Medal and named one of Australia’s top 5 scientists under the age of 40 by the Australian Broadcasting Corporation and Radio National. Jodie presented a TEDx talk (“Athletes of the Great Barrier Reef”), gave a Planet Talk at WOMADelaide in 2019, and spoke at the World Science Festival in Brisbane in 2019.