Joe Boyle

Hey, I’m Joe. I joined the Seascape Ecology lab in 2022 as an MSc student in biodiversity, conservation & management.

My background is in ecological monitoring, and I spent several years working on outreach, engagement, and land management with RSPB Scotland and others before returning to uni. 

I’m currently working on co-constructing maps the seagrasses of Sanday, Orkney using remote sensing and local ecological knowledge. This research is a joint project between Oxford and Project Seagrass, aiming to understand spatial distribution and local perception of seagrasses and where they interface with human uses such as fishing. I’m working with Dr Lisa Wedding and Dr RJ Lilley to investigate how participatory mapping and remote sensing can inform seagrass conservation and restoration efforts. In combining space (remote sensing) and place (local ecological knowledge), I hope to create a more comprehensive view of local seagrass ecology and how and where people interact with it.

Outside of my studies, I enjoy diving, cycling, and lying down.  

Publications

Boyle JS et al. (2022) Summer and autumn temperatures – but not growing season length – influence growth of a dwarf willow in coastal Arctic tundra. Polar Biology 45(7)

Boyle JS & Copley L (2022). Co-Design and Conservation: A Case-Study from RSPB Biosecurity for LIFE in Coastal and Island Primary Schools and Youth Groups Across Scotland. Concept, 13(2)

Buchwal A et al. (2020) Divergence of Arctic shrub growth associated with sea ice decline. PNAS, 117(52)

Myers-Smith IH et al. (2019) Eighteen years of ecological monitoring reveals multiple lines of evidence for tundra vegetation change. Ecological Monographs, 89(2)