Jennifer Freer

Marine Ecosystems Modeller

Jennifer Freer

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Jennifer Freer

Biography

I am an ecological modeller working within the Ecosystems Team at the British Antarctic Survey. I am interested in how environmental change influences the biogeography of species at ecological and evolutionary timescales. I typically approach this subject using species distribution models (SDMs) which allow me to characterise and predict species-environment relationships under past, present and future conditions. I combine SDMs with techniques including phylogenetic analyses, field sampling and climate modelling.

My research has focused on several important polar species including lanternfish, copepod crustaceans, and Antarctic Krill. For example, work carried out during my PhD allowed the first predictions of how climate change will impact the distribution of Southern Ocean lanternfish, revealing which species are likely to lose or gain habitat by the end of the century. During a post-doctoral position for the Changing Arctic Ocean DIAPOD project, our models predicted that Calanus finmarchicus, a vital species in the Subarctic food web, has expended its range north in the last 30 years most likely due to the effects of reduced summer sea-ice. Most recently, I have worked with BAS and Norwegian colleagues to develop a model to predict the abundance of krill around the South Orkney Island Archipelago. This model will contribute to a risk assessment of the krill fishery as part of a new management strategy endorsed by the Commission of Antarctic Marine Living Resources.

I am also a passionate science communicator and was involved in developing the podcast If Oceans Could Speak together with colleagues from the EU4Ocean Coalition for Ocean Literacy.

Research interests

  • Understanding the physical and biological drivers of species distributions
  • Predicting species responses to climate change
  • The ecology and evolution of mesopelagic fishes
  • marine species distribution model / ecological niche model methodologies
  • Carbon sequestration by high latitude zooplankton
  • Conservation and management of marine living resources

Publications from NERC Open Research Archive

2024

Vasiliadis, Michaelis, Freer, Jennifer J. ORCIDORCID record for Jennifer J. Freer, Collins, Martin A. ORCIDORCID record for Martin A. Collins, Cleary, Alison Clare ORCIDORCID record for Alison Clare Cleary. (2024) Assessing the trophic ecology of Southern Ocean Myctophidae: the added value of DNA metabarcoding. Canadian Journal of Fisheries and Aquatic Sciences, 81. 11 pp. 10.1139/cjfas-2023-0079

2023

Langbehn, Tom J., Aarflot, Johanna M., Freer, Jennifer J. ORCIDORCID record for Jennifer J. Freer, Varpe, Øystein. (2023) Visual predation risk and spatial distributions of large Arctic copepods along gradients of sea ice and bottom depth. Limnology and Oceanography, 68. 18 pp. 10.1002/lno.12354

Freer, Jennifer J. ORCIDORCID record for Jennifer J. Freer, Tarling, Geraint A. ORCIDORCID record for Geraint A. Tarling. (2023) Assessing key influences on the distribution and life-history of Arctic and boreal Calanus: are online databases up to the challenge?. Frontiers in Marine Science, 10. 13 pp. 10.3389/fmars.2023.908112

Belcher, Anna ORCIDORCID record for Anna Belcher, Freer, Jennifer J. ORCIDORCID record for Jennifer J. Freer, Dornan, Tracey ORCIDORCID record for Tracey Dornan, Saunders, Ryan A. ORCIDORCID record for Ryan A. Saunders. (2023) Illuminating the Living Lanterns of Antarctica. Frontiers for Young Minds, 11. 7 pp. 10.3389/frym.2023.926063

2022

Trathan, P.N. ORCIDORCID record for P.N. Trathan, Fielding, S. ORCIDORCID record for S. Fielding, Warwick-Evans, V. ORCIDORCID record for V. Warwick-Evans, Freer, J. ORCIDORCID record for J. Freer, Perry, F.. (2022) Seabird and seal responses to the physical environment and to spatio-temporal variation in the distribution and abundance of Antarctic krill at South Georgia, with implications for local fisheries management. ICES Journal of Marine Sciences, 79. 2373-2388. 10.1093/icesjms/fsac168

Freer, Jennifer J. ORCIDORCID record for Jennifer J. Freer, Collins, Rupert A., Tarling, Geraint A. ORCIDORCID record for Geraint A. Tarling, Collins, Martin A. ORCIDORCID record for Martin A. Collins, Partridge, Julian C., Genner, Martin J.. (2022) Global phylogeography of hyperdiverse lanternfishes indicates sympatric speciation in the deep sea. Global Ecology and Biogeography, 31. 2353-2367. 10.1111/geb.13586

Reisinger, Ryan R., Brooks, Cassandra M., Raymond, Ben, Freer, Jennifer J. ORCIDORCID record for Jennifer J. Freer, Cotté, Cédric, Xavier, Jose C. ORCIDORCID record for Jose C. Xavier, Trathan, Philip N. ORCIDORCID record for Philip N. Trathan, Bornemann, Horst, Charrassin, Jean-Benoit, Costa, Daniel P., Danis, Bruno, Hückstädt, Luis, Jonsen, Ian D., Lea, Mary-Anne, Torres, Leigh, Van de Putte, Anton, Wotherspoon, Simon, Friedlaender, Ari S., Ropert-Coudert, Yan, Hindell, Mark. (2022) Predator-derived bioregions in the Southern Ocean: Characteristics, drivers and representation in marine protected areas. Biological Conservation, 272. 11 pp. 10.1016/j.biocon.2022.109630

Grigor, Jordan J., Freer, Jennifer J. ORCIDORCID record for Jennifer J. Freer, Tarling, Geraint A. ORCIDORCID record for Geraint A. Tarling, Cohen, Jonathan H., Last, Kim S.. (2022) Swimming activity as an indicator of seasonal diapause in the copepod Calanus finmarchicus. Frontiers in Marine Science, 9. 11 pp. 10.3389/fmars.2022.909528

Tarling, Geraint A. ORCIDORCID record for Geraint A. Tarling, Belcher, Anna ORCIDORCID record for Anna Belcher, Blackwell, Mayleen, Castellani, Claudia, Cook, Kathryn Barbara ORCIDORCID record for Kathryn Barbara Cook, Cottier, Finlo R., Dewar-Fowler, Victoria, Freer, Jennifer J. ORCIDORCID record for Jennifer J. Freer, Gerrish, Laura ORCIDORCID record for Laura Gerrish, Johnson, Magnus L., Last, Kim S., Lindeque, Penelope Kate, Mayor, Daniel J. ORCIDORCID record for Daniel J. Mayor, Parry, Helen E., Stowasser, Gabriele ORCIDORCID record for Gabriele Stowasser, Wootton, Marianne. (2022) Carbon and lipid contents of the copepod Calanus finmarchicus entering diapause in the Fram Strait and their contribution to the boreal and Arctic lipid pump. Frontiers in Marine Science, 9. 18 pp. 10.3389/fmars.2022.926462

Tarling, Geraint A. ORCIDORCID record for Geraint A. Tarling, Freer, Jennifer J. ORCIDORCID record for Jennifer J. Freer, Banas, Neil S., Belcher, Anna ORCIDORCID record for Anna Belcher, Blackwell, Mayleen, Castellani, Claudia, Cook, Kathryn B. ORCIDORCID record for Kathryn B. Cook, Cottier, Finlo R., Daase, Malin, Johnson, Magnus L., Last, Kim S., Lindeque, Penelope K., Mayor, Daniel J. ORCIDORCID record for Daniel J. Mayor, Mitchell, Elaine, Parry, Helen E., Stowasser, Gabriele ORCIDORCID record for Gabriele Stowasser, Wootton, Marianne. (2022) Can a key boreal Calanus copepod species now complete its life-cycle in the Arctic? Evidence and implications for Arctic food-webs. Ambio, 51. 333-344. 10.1007/s13280-021-01667-y

Freer, Jennifer J. ORCIDORCID record for Jennifer J. Freer, Daase, Malin, Tarling, Geraint A. ORCIDORCID record for Geraint A. Tarling. (2022) Modelling the biogeographic boundary shift of Calanus finmarchicus reveals drivers of Arctic Atlantification by subarctic zooplankton. Global Change Biology, 28. 429-440. 10.1111/gcb.15937

2020

Freer, Jennifer ORCIDORCID record for Jennifer Freer, Tarling, Geraint ORCIDORCID record for Geraint Tarling, Collins, Martin ORCIDORCID record for Martin Collins, Partridge, J.C., Genner, M.J.. (2020) Estimating circumpolar distributions of lanternfish using 2D and 3D ecological niche models.. Marine Ecology Progress Series, 647. 15 pp. 10.3354/meps13384

Birkmanis, Charlotte A., Freer, Jennifer ORCIDORCID record for Jennifer Freer, Simmons, Leigh W., Partridge, Julian C., Sequeira, Ana M. M.. (2020) Future Distribution of Suitable Habitat for Pelagic Sharks in Australia Under Climate Change Models.. Frontiers in Marine Science, 7. 11 pp. 10.3389/fmars.2020.00570

Freer, Jennifer J. ORCIDORCID record for Jennifer J. Freer, Hobbs, Laura. (2020) DVM: The World’s Biggest Game of Hide-and-Seek. Frontiers for Young Minds, 8. 10.3389/frym.2020.00044

Hastings, Reuben, Rutterford, Louise A., Freer, Jennifer ORCIDORCID record for Jennifer Freer, Collins, Rupert A, Simpson, Stephen D., Genner, Martin J.. (2020) Climate change drives poleward increases and equatorward declines in marine species. Current Biology, 30. 1572-1577. 10.1016/j.cub.2020.02.043

2019

Freer, Jennifer J. ORCIDORCID record for Jennifer J. Freer, Tarling, Geraint A. ORCIDORCID record for Geraint A. Tarling, Collins, Martin A. ORCIDORCID record for Martin A. Collins, Partridge, Julian C., Genner, Martin J. (2019) Predicting future distributions of lanternfish, a significant ecological resource within the Southern Ocean. Diversity and Distributions, 25. 1259-1272. 10.1111/ddi.12934

Pre-2019

Freer, J.J. (2018) Ecological Niches and Geographic Distributions of Lanternfishes, University of Bristol, PhD thesis.

Freer, J.J., Partridge, J.C., Tarling, G.A., Collins, M.A., and Genner, M.J. (2018). Predicting ecological responses in a changing ocean: The effects of future climate uncertainty, Marine Biology, 165:7. doi: 10.1007/s00227-017-3239-1

Shechonge, A., Ngatunga, B.P., Bradbeer, S.J., Day, J.J., Freer, J.J., Ford, A.G.P., Kihedu, J., Richmond, T., Mzighani, S., Smith, A.M., Sweke, E.A., Tamatamah, R., Tyers, A.M., Turner, G.F., and Genner, M.J. (2018) Widespread colonisation of Tanzanian catchments by introduced Oreochromis tilapia fishes: the legacy from decades of deliberate introduction. Hydrobiologia, 832:235-253. doi:10.1007/s10750-018-3597-9

Bach, L.L., Freer, J.J., Kamenos, N.A. (2018). Photosynthetic acclimatization of tropical coralline algae to increased thermal variation, Frontiers in Marine Science, 4:212. doi: 10.3389/fmars.2017.00212

Genner, M.J., Freer, J.J., and Rutterford, L. (2017) Future of the Sea: biological responses to ocean warming, for the Government Office of Science: Foresight Future of the Sea Evidence Report. https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/future-of-the-sea-biological-responses-to-ocean-warming

Freer, J.J., Mable, B.K., Clucus, G., Rogers, A.D., Polito, M., Dunn, M., Naveen, R., Levy, H.L., Hart, T. (2015) Limited genetic differentiation among chinstrap penguin (Pygoscelis antarctica) colonies in the Scotia Arc and Western Antarctic Peninsula, Polar Biology, 38:1493–1502. doi: 10.1007/s00300-015-1711-2

DIAPOD : Mechanistic understanding of the role of diatoms in the success of the Arctic Calanus complex and implications for a warmer Arctic (NERC)
CHASE : Chronobiology of changing Arctic Sea Ecosystems (NERC)
Learn more about the Changing Arctic Ocean