Dr Sally A. Keith
Lancaster University
Email: sally.keith@lancaster.ac.uk
Sally is a Senior Lecturer in Marine Biology in Lancaster Environment Centre and a member of the Data Science Institute at Lancaster University in the UK since March 2017. After completing a MSc on Primate Conservation and a PhD at Bournemouth Uni in the UK on plants and intertidal invertebrates, Sally moved to the ARC Centre of Excellence for Coral Reef Studies, at James Cook University, Australia as a Postdoctoral Fellow and turned her focus towards coral reefs. Three years later, she moved to the Centre for Macroecology, Evolution and Climate, at the University of Copenhagen, Denmark as an Assistant Professor for 3.5 years using coral reefs to understand the diversity and distribution of life on Earth where she was awarded a prestigious Villum Foundation Young Investigator Grant. This funding kicked started what is now her major project on the role for species interactions and animal behaviour in mediating ecological patterns at larger spatial scales, using Indo-Pacific butterflyfishes as a model system.
Research Interests
Sally is a quantitative ecologist trying to figure out why species are where they are, how they co-exist, and what might happen to these ecological patterns in the future. To do that, she combines fieldwork, stats and theoretical modelling to link ecological processes across spatial and temporal scales. In recent years, Sally has become particularly fascinated by the role for animal behaviour in generating and maintaining ecological dynamics at larger spatial scales. For more information, please see her website: sallykeith.weebly.com/
Other Profiles
Lancaster Environment Centre profile
Co-lead Biodiversity Theme, Centre of Excellence for Environmental Data Science
Nature Ecology & Evolution blog post on Blue Planet II
Blue Planet II suggests spawning corals provide hope for future reef recovery, but is it really that simple?
British Ecological Society Science Slam 2015
Selected Publications
- Roberts TE, Keith SA, Rahbek C, Bridge TCL, Caley MJ, Baird AH (2019) Testing biodiversity theory using species richness of reef-building corals across a depth gradient. Biology Letters 15
- Brakes P, Dall SRX, Aplin LM, Bearhop S, Carroll EL, Ciucci P, Fishlock V, Ford JKB, Garland EC, Keith SA, McGregor PK, Mesnick SL, Noad MJ, di Sciara GN, Robbins MM, Simmonds MP, Spina F, Thornton A, Wade PR, Whiting MJ, Williams J, Rendell L, Whitehead H, Whiten A, Rutz C (2019) Animal culture matters for conservation. Science 363(6431):1032-1034
- Early R, Keith SA (2019) Geographically variable biotic interactions and implications for species ranges. Global Ecology & Biogeography 28(1): 42-53
- Keith SA, Baird AH, Hobbs JP, Woolsey ES, Hoey AS, Fadli N, Sanders NJ (2019) Synchronous behavioural shifts in reef fishes linked to mass coral bleaching. Nature Climate Change 8: 986-991
- Connolly SR, Keith SA, Colwell RK, Rahbek C (2017) Process, mechanism and modelling in macroecology. Trends in Ecology & Evolution 32(11): 835-844
- Keith SA, Bull JW (2017) Animal culture impacts species’ capacity to realise climate change driven range shifts. Ecography 40: 296-304
- Keith SA, Maynard JA, Edwards AJ, Guest JR, Bauman AG, van Hooidonk R, Heron SF, Berumen M, Bouwmeester J, Piromvaragorn S, Rahbek C, Baird AH (2016) Coral mass spawning predicted by rapid seasonal rise in ocean temperature. Proceedings of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences 283(1830): 20160011
- Madin JS, Hoogenboom MO, Connolly SR, Darling E, Falster D, Huang D, Keith SA, Mizerek T, Pandolfi JM, Putnam H, Baird AH (2016) A trait-based approach to advance coral reef science. Trends in Ecology & Evolution 31(6): 419–428
- Keith SA, Baird AH, Madin JS, Hughes TP, Connolly SR (2013) Faunal breaks and species composition of Indo-Pacific corals: the role of plate tectonics, environment, and habitat distribution. Proceedings of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences 280: 20130818
- Keith SA, Herbert RJH, Norton P, Hawkins SJ, Newton AC (2011) Individualistic species limitations of climate-induced range expansions generated by meso-scale dispersal barriers. Diversity and Distributions 17: 275-286