Miss Laura Bachmaier
Profiles

Miss Laura Bachmaier

Doctoral Teaching Assistant

School of Biological and Marine Sciences (Faculty of Science and Engineering)

Biography

Biography

Current role - Doctoral Teaching Assistant and PhD Student 
Project Title: Reconfiguring seascapes in the Anthropocene: Assessing how connectivity pathways maintain biodiversity
I recently started my role as a Doctoral Teaching Assistant in January 2023, during which I am working towards a PhD in Marine Sciences and teaching at the University of Plymouth part-time. 
The aim of my PhD is to model the dispersal pathways of coastal marine communities in the North Atlantic to improve predictions of community assembly and feed into marine spatial planning. 
I obtained my academic and ecological foundations at the University of Sussex where I obtained my B.Sc. and undertook a pilot study in the Ecuadorian Chocó rainforest studying the behaviour, diet, distribution and local perception of the neotropical river otter. For my postgraduate thesis at Imperial College London, I shifted my focus from freshwater to marine systems and collated a large dataset containing global carbon measurements from seagrass sites. The project focused on linking high carbon storage sites with a range of environmental parameters using a machine learning algorithm. After obtaining my M.Sc., I joined Imperial College London as a research assistant and worked on a second project comparing intra and inter-site variability between a high and low carbon storage seagrass meadow in Plymouth. This work was supported by the Ocean Conservation Trust and an Imperial College FSRF grant. 
I have also worked within the media and communications sector and support work and have an interest in the terrestrial and marine outdoors being a keen hiker, trail runner and cyclist as well as a swimmer and scuba diver.

Qualifications

BSc (Hons) Ecology, Conservation and the Environment, University of Sussex, 2017-2021
MSc Ecology, Evolution and Conservation, Imperial College London, 2021-2022

Professional membership

Marine Biological Association - Professional member
Research

Research

Research interests

Spatial Planning
Nature-based Solutions 
Community Assembly 
Marine Rewilding
Blue Carbon
Publications

Publications

Reports
COPROT INFORME FINAL DE LA TEMPORADA (2021-2022)

Sethna, J., Font Coll, B., Bachmaier, L., Guilford-Pearce, B., Narshi, T., Hull, D., Marion, M., Barrantes, K. and Exley, L. (2022) Annual Report of Nesting Activity: Playas Carate, Rio Oro and Pejeperro. Communidad Protectora de Tortugas de Osa.