Research

My main research interests lie in marine evolution and ecology. Marine ecosystems are poorly understood in comparison to their terrestrial counterparts, yet strongly affected by anthropogenic impacts. Finding out more about them is therefore essential to make appropriate conservation decisions. I am particularly interested in understanding what drives biodiversity and connectivity in the oceans, especially in areas of high biodiversity such as coral reefs.

My PhD thesis focuses on the crown-of-thorns starfish (COTS) Acanthaster “planci”, infamous for its population outbreaks that have devastated coral reefs throughout the Indo-Pacific. Using molecular methods, I investigate the connectivity between COTS populations throughout its distribution, to uncover what historic, geological and oceanographic factors could have driven diversification in this organism. I also hope to understand more about larval dispersal patterns in order to reconstruct the spread of outbreaks, thus increasing our knowledge of their underlying causes, and how this affects the way we should manage this predator.

Curriculum Vitae

2006-present: PhD student at the Georg-August-Universität Göttingen and Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität Munich, Germany.
Multi-site Research and Training Network HOTSPOTS funded by the European Commission (FP6, Marie-Curie Actions). Supervisor: Prof. Gert Wörheide.

2005: Diploma in Biology at the University of Lausanne, Switzerland.
Thesis: “Low genetic differentiation in a metapopulation of the threatened European tree frog Hyla arborea”. Supervisor: Prof. Nicolas Perrin.

2004: Exchange in Environmental and Marine Biology at the University of Technology, Sydney, Australia.

2000-2005: Studies in Biology with specialisation in Ecology at the University of Lausanne, Switzerland.

Languages: English, French, Dutch, German and Swedish

Publications

Vogler C., Benzie J., Lessios H., Barber P. and Wörheide G. 2008. A threat to coral reefs multiplied? Four species of crown-of-thorns starfish. Biology Letters 4:696-699.

Scientific communications

Southeast Asian Gateway Evolution Meeting, London, UK, September 2009 (oral presentation)

International Workshop on Research in Shallow Marine and Freshwater Systems, Freiberg, Germany, May 2009 (oral presentation)

11th International Coral Reef Symposium, Fort Lauderdale, USA, July 2008 (poster).

Systematics2008, Göttingen, Germany, April 2008 (poster).

Second International Barcode of Life Conference, Taiwan, September 2007 (poster).

Fifth International Conference on Marine Bioinvasions, MIT, Boston, USA, May 2007 (oral presentation).

Biology06, Geneva, Switzerland, February 2006 (poster).

Contact details

Catherine Vogler
Palaeontology & Geobiology
Ludwig-Maximilians-University Munich
Richard-Wagner-Str. 10
80333 München
Germany

catherine.vogler@lmu.de