Ceridwen Fraser is a

biogeographer Biogeography is the study of the distribution of species and ecosystems in geographic space and through geological time. Organisms and biological communities often vary in a regular fashion along geographic gradients of latitude, elevation, ...

, currently serving as a Professor in the Department of Marine Science at the

University of Otago The University of Otago () is a public university, public research university, research collegiate university based in Dunedin, Otago, New Zealand. Founded in 1869, Otago is New Zealand's oldest university and one of the oldest universities in ...

Dunedin Dunedin ( ; ) is the second-most populous city in the South Island of New Zealand (after Christchurch), and the principal city of the Otago region. Its name comes from ("fort of Edin"), the Scottish Gaelic name for Edinburgh, the capital of S ...

, New Zealand. She focuses her studies on

ecology Ecology () is the natural science of the relationships among living organisms and their Natural environment, environment. Ecology considers organisms at the individual, population, community (ecology), community, ecosystem, and biosphere lev ...

evolution Evolution is the change in the heritable Phenotypic trait, characteristics of biological populations over successive generations. It occurs when evolutionary processes such as natural selection and genetic drift act on genetic variation, re ...

climate change Present-day climate change includes both global warming—the ongoing increase in Global surface temperature, global average temperature—and its wider effects on Earth's climate system. Climate variability and change, Climate change in ...

, and how they are all significant to the southern hemisphere, specifically at higher latitudes such as

Antarctica Antarctica () is Earth's southernmost and least-populated continent. Situated almost entirely south of the Antarctic Circle and surrounded by the Southern Ocean (also known as the Antarctic Ocean), it contains the geographic South Pole. ...

Early life and career

Fraser was born in

Canberra Canberra ( ; ) is the capital city of Australia. Founded following the Federation of Australia, federation of the colonies of Australia as the seat of government for the new nation, it is Australia's list of cities in Australia, largest in ...

. While in

primary school A primary school (in Ireland, India, the United Kingdom, Australia, New Zealand, Trinidad and Tobago, Jamaica, South Africa, and Singapore), elementary school, or grade school (in North America and the Philippines) is a school for primary ...

, she had a teacher who was a marine biologist and collected organisms from the ocean and displayed them in a tank in the classroom. Fraser was often distracted and amazed at these small animals, and by the age of 11, Fraser knew that she wanted to become a marine biologist. However, many adults in her life advised her that this would be a risky career choice, and therefore her first

undergraduate degree An undergraduate degree (also called first degree or simply degree) is a colloquial term for an academic degree earned by a person who has completed undergraduate courses. In the United States, it is usually offered at an institution of higher ed ...

was in the studies of conserving cultural materials, more specifically paper conservation, at the

University of Canberra The University of Canberra (UC) is a public university, public research university with its main campus located in Bruce, Canberra, Australian Capital Territory. The campus is from Belconnen Town Centre, and from Canberra's Civic, Australian ...

. After earning this degree, Fraser completed her second undergraduate degree in marine science at

Macquarie University Macquarie University ( ) is a Public university, public research university in Sydney, New South Wales, Australia. Founded in 1964 by the New South Wales Government, it was the third university to be established in the Sydney metropolitan area. ...

, after having transferred from

James Cook University James Cook University (JCU) is a public university in North Queensland, Australia. The second oldest university in Queensland, JCU is a teaching and research institution. The university's main campuses are located in the tropical cities of Cair ...

(because she could not handle the climate of

Townsville The City of Townsville is a city on the north-eastern coast of Queensland, Australia. With a population of 201,313 as of 2024, it is the largest settlement in North Queensland and Northern Australia (specifically, the parts of Australia north of ...

). After graduating from Macquarie University, Fraser spent a year studying

polychaete worm Polychaeta () is a paraphyletic class of generally marine annelid worms, commonly called bristle worms or polychaetes (). Each body segment has a pair of fleshy protrusions called parapodia that bear many bristles, called chaetae, which are ma ...

ecology at the

Australian Museum The Australian Museum, originally known as the Colonial Museum or Sydney Museum. is a heritage-listed museum at 1 William Street, Sydney, William Street, Sydney central business district, Sydney CBD, New South Wales. It is the oldest natural ...

with Pat Hutchings. She earned her PhD from the Department of

Zoology Zoology ( , ) is the scientific study of animals. Its studies include the anatomy, structure, embryology, Biological classification, classification, Ethology, habits, and distribution of all animals, both living and extinction, extinct, and ...

at the

. Fraser became a lecturer at the

Australian National University The Australian National University (ANU) is a public university, public research university and member of the Group of Eight (Australian universities), Group of Eight, located in Canberra, the capital of Australia. Its main campus in Acton, A ...

in 2012, where she worked at and mainly conducted her research at up until 2019. In that same year, she received, and took the opportunity, to move her lab group and continue her research at the University of Otago, where she continues to be a professor.

Research

Fraser's research has expanded to several different parts of the world. After receiving her doctorate, Fraser worked at two different locations as a postdoctorate fellow. The first of these occupations was at the University of Otago with the Allan Wilson Centre for

Molecular Ecology Molecular ecology is a subdiscipline of ecology that is concerned with applying Molecular genetics, molecular genetic techniques to ecological questions (e.g., population structure, phylogeography, conservation, speciation, hybridization, biodive ...

, and the second being located in

Université Libre de Bruxelles The (French language, French, ; lit. Free University of Brussels; abbreviated ULB) is a French-speaking research university in Brussels, Belgium. It has three campuses: the ''Solbosch'' campus (in the City of Brussels and Ixelles), the ''Plain ...

Belgium Belgium, officially the Kingdom of Belgium, is a country in Northwestern Europe. Situated in a coastal lowland region known as the Low Countries, it is bordered by the Netherlands to the north, Germany to the east, Luxembourg to the southeas ...

with the Biological Control and Spatial Ecology group at this university. With her undergraduate and doctorate degrees, Fraser focused her research on understanding the patterns of global

biodiversity Biodiversity is the variability of life, life on Earth. It can be measured on various levels. There is for example genetic variability, species diversity, ecosystem diversity and Phylogenetics, phylogenetic diversity. Diversity is not distribut ...

through both

molecular biology Molecular biology is a branch of biology that seeks to understand the molecule, molecular basis of biological activity in and between Cell (biology), cells, including biomolecule, biomolecular synthesis, modification, mechanisms, and interactio ...

and

earth sciences Earth science or geoscience includes all fields of natural science related to the planet Earth. This is a branch of science dealing with the physical, chemical, and biological complex constitutions and synergistic linkages of Earth's four spheres ...

. She uses this specific field of research mostly at high latitudes in the southern hemisphere, and she has expressed a great interest in the continent of Antarctica not only due to the scientific discoveries one can make there, but also the discoveries one is able to make about themselves. In one of Fraser's most cited research papers, she and a group of scientists sets out to ultimately deduce the extent to which the

ice sheets In glaciology, an ice sheet, also known as a continental glacier, is a mass of glacial ice that covers surrounding terrain and is greater than . The only current ice sheets are the Antarctic ice sheet and the Greenland ice sheet. Ice sheets ...

in the southern hemisphere extended during the

last glacial maximum The Last Glacial Maximum (LGM), also referred to as the Last Glacial Coldest Period, was the most recent time during the Last Glacial Period where ice sheets were at their greatest extent between 26,000 and 20,000 years ago. Ice sheets covered m ...

(LGM) by examining several types of bio-organisms, specifically the Southern Bull Kelp. By examining DNA sequences, Fraser and the others discovered that the recolonization of the southern hemisphere waters by this wildlife has occurred more recently than previously thought, and it is being seen in lower latitudes than originally thought. The scientists used these results as a conclusion that the ice sheets in the LGM reached lower latitudes than previously thought by the scientific community. In other words, the amount of ice has decreased even more since the LGM than thought, pointing towards an effect that

has had on ice levels in the southern hemisphere. Several of Frasers most highly cited papers discuss similar topics, with each one making an important contribution to the scientific community.

Awards and honours

Ceridwen Fraser has received several individual awards that are given to young or "early-career" scientists. These awards and recognitions include: *2014 ARC Discovery Early Career Research Career *2016 ACT Scientist of the Year award *2018

Australian Academy of Science The Australian Academy of Science was founded in 1954 by a group of distinguished Australians, including Australian Fellows of the Royal Society of London. The first president was Sir Mark Oliphant. The academy is modelled after the Royal Soci ...

Fenner Medal *2019 The MacArthur & Wilson Award

Publications

A small list of some of Fraser's most cited works is below: * * * * *

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Fraser, Ceridwen 1979 births Living people University of Canberra alumni Macquarie University alumni Academic staff of the University of Otago Academic staff of the Australian National University Australian ecologists Australian women ecologists Date of birth missing (living people) Biogeographers Recipients of Marsden grants