Gretta Tatyana Pecl is an Australian

marine ecologist Marine biology is the scientific study of the biology of marine life, organisms that inhabit the sea. Given that in biology many phyla, families and genera have some species that live in the sea and others that live on land, marine biology clas ...

Australian Research Council The Australian Research Council (ARC) is the primary non-medical research funding agency of the Australian Government, distributing more than in grants each year. The Council was established by the ''Australian Research Council Act 2001'', ...

Future Fellow, and the Director of the Centre for Marine

Socioecology Socioecology is the scientific study of how social structure and organization are influenced by an organism's environment. Socioecology is primarily related to anthropology, geography, sociology, and ecology. Specifically, the term is used in hu ...

(CMS) at the

University of Tasmania The University of Tasmania (UTAS) is a public research university, primarily located in Tasmania, Australia. Founded in 1890, it is Australia's fourth oldest university. Christ College (University of Tasmania), Christ College, one of the unive ...

. Her work focuses on species and

ecosystem An ecosystem (or ecological system) is a system formed by Organism, organisms in interaction with their Biophysical environment, environment. The Biotic material, biotic and abiotic components are linked together through nutrient cycles and en ...

responses to

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 ...

, as well as using socioecological approaches to adapt

natural resource management Natural resource management (NRM) is the management of natural resources such as Land (economics), land, water, soil, plants and animals, with a particular focus on how management affects the quality of life for both present and future generati ...

for climate change. She is on the editorial board of

Springer Nature Springer Nature or the Springer Nature Group is a German-British academic publishing company created by the May 2015 merger of Springer Science+Business Media and Holtzbrinck Publishing Group's Nature Publishing Group, Palgrave Macmillan, and Macm ...

's ''Reviews in Fish Biology and Fisheries,'' and is a Subject Editor for ''

Ecography ''Ecography'' is a monthly peer-reviewed scientific journal published by Wiley on behalf of the Nordic Society Oikos covering the field of spatial ecology. It has been published since 1978, the first 14 volumes under the name ''Holarctic Ecology' ...

''.

Early life and education

Pecl is from

Tasmania Tasmania (; palawa kani: ''Lutruwita'') is an island States and territories of Australia, state of Australia. It is located to the south of the Mainland Australia, Australian mainland, and is separated from it by the Bass Strait. The sta ...

. She earned her bachelor's degree at

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 ...

in 1994, completing an undergraduate dissertation on the muscle structure and dynamics of '' Idiosepius pygmaeus''. Pecl remained at James Cook University for her doctoral studies, earning a PhD in 2000. Her doctoral thesis compared the life-history variation of two closely related

cephalopod A cephalopod is any member of the molluscan Taxonomic rank, class Cephalopoda (Greek language, Greek plural , ; "head-feet") such as a squid, octopus, cuttlefish, or nautilus. These exclusively marine animals are characterized by bilateral symm ...

species, ''

Sepioteuthis australis ''Sepioteuthis australis'', commonly known as the southern calamari or the southern reef squid, is a species of reef squid that is native to oceans off the coast of Australia and New Zealand. This species is caught commercially by trawling, as by ...

'' and ''

Sepioteuthis lessoniana ''Sepioteuthis lessoniana'', commonly known as the bigfin reef squid, tiger squid, glitter squid, oval squid, or northern calamari, is a species of Loliginidae, loliginid squid. It is one of the three currently recognized species belonging to t ...

,'' on the east coast of

Australia Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country comprising mainland Australia, the mainland of the Australia (continent), Australian continent, the island of Tasmania and list of islands of Australia, numerous smaller isl ...

. Her research continued into a

Fisheries Research and Development Corporation The Fisheries Research and Development Corporation (FRDC) is a statutory corporation that manages research and development investment by the Australian Government and the Australian fishing and aquaculture commercial, recreational and Indigeno ...

and

postdoctoral fellowship at the

, looking at the movement of ''

'' using

acoustic location Acoustic location is a method of determining the position of an object or sound source by using sound waves. Location can take place in gases (such as the atmosphere), liquids (such as water), and in solids (such as in the earth). Location can ...

and trace element analysis.

Research and career

Pecl studies the ecology of

, in particular, what happens to wildlife in warming oceans. She has primarily investigated the warming waters off the coast of

. In 2009, Pecl founded the Range Extension Database and Mapping project (Redmap), a crowdsourced map which collects public sightings of fish, after attending a workshop and listening to fishers share information about recent sightings. The project uses a team of scientists to verify submitted photographs, and can make people more aware of climate change as they notice repeated changes in their own environments. Redmap was awarded the

Royal Zoological Society of New South Wales The Royal Zoological Society of New South Wales (RZSNSW) was formed in Sydney, New South Wales, Australia in 1879 as the New South Wales Zoological Society. A Royal Charter was granted in September, 1908, leading to a change to the current name ...

Whitely Award in 2010. In 2009, Pecl was awarded a

Fulbright Program The Fulbright Program, including the Fulbright–Hays Program, is one of several United States cultural exchange programs with the goal of improving intercultural relations, cultural diplomacy, and intercultural competence between the people ...

scholarship to join the University of Alaska-Fairbanks and study how climate change had impacted the

red king crab The red king crab (''Paralithodes camtschaticus''), also called Kamchatka crab or Alaskan king crab, is a species of king crab native to cold waters in the North Pacific Ocean and adjacent seas, but also introduced to the Barents Sea. It grows ...

. The next year she was named one of the University of Tasmania's "Rising Stars". She has formed an International Global Marine Hotspots Network (GMHN) with colleagues to bring users and managers of the sea together. In 2015, Pecl was awarded an Australian Research Council Future Fellowship to study the physiological and ecological mechanisms that underpin the redistribution of species through marine systems. In 2017, Pecl studied how the redistribution of land and

fresh water Fresh water or freshwater is any naturally occurring liquid or frozen water containing low concentrations of dissolved salt (chemistry), salts and other total dissolved solids. The term excludes seawater and brackish water, but it does include ...

species due to climate change affects human health, wellbeing, and culture. These impacts include tourism, recreational fishing, and health threats such as

malaria Malaria is a Mosquito-borne disease, mosquito-borne infectious disease that affects vertebrates and ''Anopheles'' mosquitoes. Human malaria causes Signs and symptoms, symptoms that typically include fever, Fatigue (medical), fatigue, vomitin ...

. She served as

editor-in-chief An editor-in-chief (EIC), also known as lead editor or chief editor, is a publication's editorial leader who has final responsibility for its operations and policies. The editor-in-chief heads all departments of the organization and is held accoun ...

of ''Reviews in Fish Biology and Fisheries'' from 2014 to 2019 and an associate editor for ''Citizen Science: Theory and Practice'' from 2016 to 2020. She was elected to the Australian Society for Fish Biology Hall of Fame in 2016. Pecl became the Director of the Centre for Marine

at the University of Tasmania in 2018. The Centre is an

interdisciplinary Interdisciplinarity or interdisciplinary studies involves the combination of multiple academic disciplines into one activity (e.g., a research project). It draws knowledge from several fields such as sociology, anthropology, psychology, economi ...

collaboration between the

, the

CSIRO The Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation (CSIRO) is an Australian Government agency that is responsible for scientific research and its commercial and industrial applications. CSIRO works with leading organisations arou ...

and the

Australian Antarctic Division The Australian Antarctic Division (AAD) is a division of the Department of Climate Change, Energy, the Environment & Water. The division undertakes science programs and research projects to contribute to an understanding of Antarctica and the S ...

which aims to understand the interactions between the ecological and social aspects of marine conservation and management. In 2021 she created the Future Seas initiative, which aims to encourage interdisciplinary scientific collaboration to improve society's capacity to manage ocean systems as part of the

United Nations The United Nations (UN) is the Earth, global intergovernmental organization established by the signing of the Charter of the United Nations, UN Charter on 26 June 1945 with the stated purpose of maintaining international peace and internationa ...

' Decade of Ocean Science for Sustainable Development. Pecl was a lead author for the

Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) is an intergovernmental body of the United Nations. Its job is to "provide governments at all levels with scientific information that they can use to develop climate policies". The World Met ...

Sixth Assessment Report The Sixth Assessment Report (AR6) of the United Nations (UN) Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) is the sixth in a series of reports which assess the available scientific information on climate change. Three Working Groups (WGI, II, ...

, responsible for the "Great Barrier Reef", "Oceans", "Tourism", "Marine food" and "Indigenous peoples" sections of the

Australasian Australasia is a subregion of Oceania, comprising Australia, New Zealand (overlapping with Polynesia), and sometimes including New Guinea and surrounding islands (overlapping with Melanesia). The term is used in a number of different contexts, ...

chapter, and the "Fisheries on the Move", "Indigenous knowledge & climate adaptation", and "Climate change & water borne disease" cross chapter boxes within the main report. The report is due to be released in 2022.

Citizen science The term citizen science (synonymous to terms like community science, crowd science, crowd-sourced science, civic science, participatory monitoring, or volunteer monitoring) is research conducted with participation from the general public, or am ...

is a key approach to Pecl's research, and she is heavily involved in science communication and engagement. Pecl has written three articles for ''

The Conversation ''The Conversation'' is a 1974 American neo-noir mystery thriller film written, produced, and directed by Francis Ford Coppola. It stars Gene Hackman as a surveillance expert who faces a moral dilemma when his recordings reveal a potential ...

'' to communicate her research regarding species' range shifts, the effects of climate change on Australian fishery species, and citizen science. In 2020, Pecl helped develop an educational card game of Tasmanian marine species. She has been involved in numerous public outreach events to educate stakeholders and communities on the impacts of climate change. Pecl was appointed a

Member of the Order of Australia The Order of Australia is an Australian honours and awards system, Australian honour that recognises Australian citizens and other persons for outstanding achievement and service. It was established on 14 February 1975 by Elizabeth II, Monarch ...

in the

2024 King's Birthday Honours The 2024 King's Birthday Honours are appointments by some of the 15 Commonwealth realms of King Charles III to various orders and honours to reward and highlight good works by citizens of those countries. The Birthday Honours are awarded as part o ...

for "significant service to science, particularly ecological research, and to tertiary education".

Selected publications

* Pecl, G., Ogier, E., Jennings, S., van Putten, I., Crawford, C., Fogarty, H., Frusher, S., Hobday, A. J., Keane, J., Lee, E., MacLeod, C., Mundy, C., Stuart-Smith, J., & Tracey, S. (2019). "Autonomous adaptation to climate-driven change in marine biodiversity in a global marine hotspot". ''Ambio'', 48 (12): 1498–1515. doi.org/10.1007/s13280-019-01186-x *Scheffers, B. R., & Pecl, G. (2019). Persecuting, protecting or ignoring biodiversity under climate change. ''Nature Climate Change'', 9 (8): 581–586. doi.org/10.1038/s41558-019-0526-5 *Pecl, G. T., Araújo, M. B., Bell, J. D., Blanchard, J., Bonebrake, T. C., Chen, I.-C., Clark, T. D., Colwell, R. K., Danielsen, F., Evengård, B., Falconi, L., Ferrier, S., Frusher, S., Garcia, R. A., Griffis, R. B., Hobday, A. J., Janion-Scheepers, C., Jarzyna, M. A., Jennings, S., Lenoir, J., Linnetved, H. I., Martin, V. Y., McCormack, P. C., McDonald, J., Mitchell, N. J., Mustonen, T., . Pandolfi, J. M., Pettorelli, N., Popova, E., Robinson, S. A., Scheffers, B. R., Shaw, J. D., Sorte, C. J. B., Strugnell, J. M., Sunday, J. M., Tuanmu, M.-N., Vergés, A., Villanueva, C., Wernberg, T., Wapstra, E., Williams, S. E. (2017). "Biodiversity redistribution under climate change: Impacts on ecosystems and human well-being". ''Science'', 355 (6332). doi.org/10.1126/science.aai9214 *Johnson, C. R., Banks, S. C., Barrett, N. S., Cazassus, F., Dunstan, P. K., Edgar, G. J., Frusher, S. D., Gardner, C., Haddon, M., Helidoniotis, F., Hill, K. L., Holbrook, N. J., Hosie, G. W., Last, P. R., Ling, S. D., Melbourne-Thomas, J., Miller, K., Pecl, G. T., Richardson, A. J., Ridgway, K. R., Rintoul, S. R., Ritz, D. A., Ross, D. J., Sanderson, J. C., Shepherd, S. A., Swadling, K. M., Taw, N. (2011). "Climate change cascades: Shifts in oceanography, species’ ranges and subtidal marine community dynamics in eastern Tasmania". ''Journal of Experimental Marine Biology and Ecology'', 400 (1–2): 17–32. doi.org/10.1016/j.jembe.2011.02.032 *Last, P. R., White, W. T., Gledhill, D. C., Hobday, A. J., Brown, R., Edgar, G. J., & Pecl, G. (2011). "Long-term shifts in abundance and distribution of a temperate fish fauna: A response to climate change and fishing practices". ''Global Ecology and Biogeography'', 20 (1): 58–72. doi.org/10.1111/j.1466-8238.2010.00575.x

Personal life

Gretta Pecl is separated with two children. She is on the advisory board of aKIDemic life, a free resource hub for academics with caring responsibilities.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Pecl, Gretta People from Tasmania Australian women scientists Members of the Order of Australia Australian women academics Women environmentalists Academic staff of the University of Tasmania James Cook University alumni Living people Year of birth missing (living people)