Rachael Morgan

Rachael Morgan is a researcher at the Department of Biological Sciences (UiB). She completed her master’s degree at UiB and obtained her PhD from NTNU (2020). Before starting her TMF Starting Grant project, she was a postdoctoral fellow first at the University of Glascow and then at the Department of Biological Sciences, UiB. 

Rachael Morgan is an ecophysiologist interested in how fish cope with climate change, particularly rising temperatures and fluctuations in oxygen levels. Warming oceans are increasingly leading to reduced oxygen levels, and while both factors affect fish in various ways, little is known about their impact on a fish’svision and the ability to detect and react to threats. In her project “Beyond known climate effects in fish: combining vision, fear and energetics,” Morgan will investigate whether high temperature and low oxygen slow down visual processing which may  result in a loss of color perception and blurred images, making it harder to detect a predator attack. Her research combines laboratory and field studies, aiming to increase ecological realism in lab experiments. One way she aims to acheive this is using a novel virtual reality setup that recreates realistic scenarios, causing fish to perceive simulated predator attacks as genuine. The project aims to answer questions such as: do fish expend more energy when frightened? Do they eat less? How are growth and survival affected? The results will provide new insights into how climate change influences fish physiology and behavior and what this could mean for our fish stocks.

Morgan’s research group will comprise two PhD candidates and the projects benefits from close collaborations with researchers at the University of Bergen, Aarhus University, Aix-Marseille University and CRIOBE in Frech Polynesia, providing complementary expertise and strengthening connections both internationally and within UiB.

Ingress photo: Helge Skodvin