University of Aberdeen

https://www.quadrat.ac.uk/wp-content/uploads/sites/15/2019/08/Douglas-Alex-UoA-300x300.png
Current Position Senior Lecturer in Biostatistics
Previous Position Statistician
Telephone +44 (0)1224 272873
Email a.douglas@abdn.ac.uk
Departments School of Biological Sciences
ECR No
Quadrat Core Themes Biodiversity, Environmental Management
Methods I Use Modelling, Omics and Informatics
Profiles

PURE   

Key Research Interests

  • DNA (meta)barcoding to detect and monitor marine invasive non-native species.
  • Statistical methods to account for imperfect detection of invasive species using occupancy modelling.
  • Using portable sequencing technology (ON MinION) for field-based monitoring and surveillance.
  • Transcriptome wide responses to environmental perturbations.
  • Nutrigenomics in farmed fish.

Recent Key Papers

  • Murray, F., Widdicombe, S., McNeill, C. L. & Douglas, A. (2017). Assessing the consequences of environmental impacts: variation in species responses has unpredictable functional effects. Marine Ecology Progress Series. 538, 35 – 47.
  • Murray, F., Solan, M. & Douglas, A. (2017). Effects of algal enrichment and salinity on sediment particle reworking activity and associated nutrient generation mediated by the intertidal polychaete Hediste diversicolor. Journal of Experimental Marine Biology and Ecology. 495, 75-82.
  • Król E., Douglas, A., Crampton, V. O., Tocher, D. R., Speakman, J. R., Secombes, C. J. & Martin, S. A. M. (2016). Differential responses of the gut transcriptome to plant protein diets in farmed Atlantic salmon. BMC Genomics, 17(1), 156.

Summary Title of Current Studentships

  • Application of DNA-based Methods: A toolkit for rapid Biodiversity Monitoring in the Marine Environment
  • Nutrigenomics in aquaculture diet development
  • Investigation of mucosal immunity in gills and skin post parasitic infestation in Atlantic salmon (Salmo salar)
  • Functional studies of mucosal gill health in Atlantic salmon (Salmo salar)
  • Transcriptomic responses of rice to alternate wetting and drying.
  • Genome-wide association studies (GWAS) for grain ionomic traits in rice (Oryza sativa L.)
  • QUADRAT DTP student, Auriel Sumner-Hempel: Monitoring marine plankton biodiversity and community dynamics using third-generation DNA metabarcoding.
  • QUADRAT DTP student, Rosie Baillie: The socioecological drivers of tourist decisions and their influence on wildlife tourism sustainability.