Mark John Costello
Professor
Faculty of Biosciences and Aquaculture
Areas of expertise
Biodiversity, Biogeography, Ecology, Marine conservation, Freshwater conservation, Climate change, Sea-lice, Biodiversity informatics, Marine reserves, Marine Protected Areas (MPA)
My interests are in biodiversity, biogeography and ecology, especially in the ocean, with applications in relation to nature conservation, climate change, invasive species, and aquaculture.
I am from Kildare in Ireland. I studied in Galway (BSc Hon. Zoology NUIG) and Cork (PhD UCC), followed by postdoc's at the Marine Biological Association Plymouth, and jointly with the Marine Laboratory Aberdeen and Napier University Edinburgh (where I was based at Poolewe, a remote field station on the west coast). After being a lecturer in Trinity College Dublin for 6 years my group set up a research and consulting company called EcoServe (Ecological Consultancy Services Ltd) of which I was Managing Director. I was Executive Director of the Huntsman Marine Science Centre in St Andrews, New Brunswick, Canada for almost 4 years, and then became a professor at the University of Auckland, New Zealand until joining Nord University in 2020.
I coordinate the following courses:
MSc course Aquaculture and the Environment and associated PhD course
MSc course Biodiversity and Biogeography and associated PhD course
PhD course Topics in Ecology
Videos:
an interview about the origins of the World Register of Marine species
public lectures about the oceans and need for Marine Reserves and my research journey.
Current international projects:
See my Research Group website for information on recent research and tips for graduate students (and things I should also remember) and other web links.
Google Scholar profile for publications.
I post a daily news item to the Facebook page for Marine Reserves.
I manage the email lists MARINE-B (marine biodiversity for the International Association for Biological Oceanography), and Caligus on sea-lice biology and control.
2024
The cumulative impacts of climate change and fishing on marine communities 2024, Nord universitet: Costello, Mark John; Reiss, Henning; Lavin, Charles Patrick
Overcome imposter syndrome: Contribute to working groups and build strong networks 2024, Biological Conservation: Volum 293 Bates, Amanda E.; Davies, Megan A.; Stuart-Smith, Rick D.; Lazzari, Natali; Ling, Scott D.; Mellin, Camille
Fungi species description rates confirm high global diversity and suggest half remain unnamed 2024, Frontiers of Biogeography: Volum 16 Cunningham, Janine A.; Padamsee, Mahajabeen; Wilson, Simon; Costello, Mark John
Frontiers of Biogeography relaunched with Pensoft Publishers 2024, Frontiers of Biogeography: Volum 17 Whittaker, Robert J.; Franklin, Janet; Costello, Mark John
Systematic planning shows more than half of the most species-rich ocean region is needed to include all species in representative protected areas 2024, Global Ecology and Conservation: Volum 53 Zhao, Qianshuo; Huang, Huimin; Costello, Mark John
Future trends of marine fish biomass distributions from the North Sea to the Barents Sea 2024, Nature Communications: Volum 15 Gordo Vilaseca, Francesc; Costello, Mark John; Coll, Marta; Jueterbock, Alexander; Reiss, Henning; Stephenson, Fabrice
2023
Numbers of fish species, higher taxa, and phylogenetic similarity decrease with latitude and depth, and deep-sea assemblages are unique 2023, PeerJ: Volum 11 s. 1-24 Lin, Han-Yang; Wright, Shane; Costello, Mark John
Fishery catch is affected by geographic expansion, fishing down food webs and climate change in Aotearoa, New Zealand 2023, PeerJ: Volum 11 s. 1-27 Lavin, Charles Patrick; Pauly, Daniel; Dimarchopoulou, Donna; Liang, Cui; Costello, Mark John
Over 20% of marine fishes shifting in the North and Barents Seas, but not in the Norwegian Sea 2023, PeerJ: Volum 11 Gordo Vilaseca, Francesc; Pecuchet, Laurene Anne Marie; Coll, Marta; Reiss, Henning; Jueterbock, Alexander; Costello, Mark John
Progress in the discovery of isopods (Crustacea: Peracarida)—is the description rate slowing down? 2023, PeerJ: Volum 9 s. 1-24 Hartebrodt, Lena; Wilson, Simon; Costello, Mark John
Widespread support for a global species list with a formal governance system 2023, Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America (PNAS): Volum 120 Lien, Aaron M.; Banki, Olaf; Barik, Saroj K.; Buckeridge, John S.; Christidis, Les; Cigliano, María Marta
The universal evolutionary and ecological significance of 20 °C 2023, Frontiers of Biogeography: Volum 15 Costello, Mark John; Corkrey, Ross; Bates, Amanda E.; Burrows, Michael T.; Chaudhary, Chhaya; Edgar, Graham J.
Marine biodiversity exposed to prolonged and intense subsurface heatwaves 2023, Nature Climate Change: Volum 13 s. 1114-1121 Fragkopoulou, Eliza; Sen Gupta, Alex; Costello, Mark John; Wernberg, Thomas; Araújo, Miguel B.; Serrão, Ester A.
Rising snow line: Ocean acidification and the submergence of seafloor geomorphic features beneath a rising carbonate compensation depth 2023, Marine Geology: Volum 463 s. 1-17 Harris, Philip David; Westerveld, Levi; Zhao, Qianshuo; Costello, Mark John
Three decades of increasing fish biodiversity across the northeast Atlantic and the Arctic Ocean 2023, Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America (PNAS): Volum 120 s. 1-8 Gordo Vilaseca, Francesc; Stephenson, Fabrice; Coll, Marta; Lavin, Charles Patrick; Costello, Mark John
Oceanographic connectivity explains the intra-specific diversity of mangrove forests at global scales 2023, Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America (PNAS): Volum 120 Gouvêa, Lidiane P.; Fragkopoulou, Eliza; Cavanaugh, Kyle; Serrão, Ester A.; Araújo, Miguel B.; Costello, Mark John
Hurdles and opportunities in implementing marine biosecurity systems in data-poor regions 2023, BioScience: Volum 73 s. 494-512 Carvalho, Susana; Shchepanik, Hailey; Aylagas, Eva; Berumen, Michael L; Costa, Filipe O; Costello, Mark John
Climate change adaptation through an integrative lens in Aotearoa New Zealand 2023, Journal of the Royal Society of New Zealand: s. 1-32 Lawrence, Judy; Wreford, Anita; Blackett, Paula; Hall, David; Woodward, Alistair; Awatere, Shaun
2022
Global biodiversity patterns of marine forests of brown macroalgae 2022, Global Ecology and Biogeography: Volum 31 s. 636-648 Fragkopoulou, Eliza; Serrão, Ester A.; De Clerck, Olivier; Costello, Mark John; Araújo, Miguel B.; Duarte, Carlos M.
Marine species turnover but not richness, peaks at the Equator 2022, Progress in Oceanography: Volum 210 Chaudhary, Chhaya; Costello, Mark John
Pandemic shows that global climate and biodiversity science assessments need to be annual 2022, Climate Research (CR): Volum 87 s. 199-202 Costello, Mark John; Kelly, Katherine Susan
Hotspots of Cenozoic Tropical Marine Biodiversity 2022, Oceanography and Marine Biology: An Annual Review: Volum 60 s. 243-300 Yasuhara, Moriaki; Huang, Huai-Hsuan May; Reuter, Markus; Tian, Skye Yunshu; Cybulski, Jonathan D.; O'Dea, Aaron
Warm and cold temperatures limit the maximum body length of teleost fishes across a latitudinal gradient in Norwegian waters 2022, Environmental Biology of Fishes: Volum 105 s. 1415-1429 Lavin, Charles Patrick; Gordo Vilaseca, Francesc; Costello, Mark John; Shi, Zhiyuan; Stephenson, Fabrice; Grüss, Arnaud
Biodiversity data synthesis is critical for realizing a functional post-2020 framework
2022, Biological Conservation: Volum 274 Orr, Michael C.; Hughes, Alice C.; Costello, Mark John; Qiao, Huijie
Six steps for building a technological knowledge base for future taxonomic work 2022, National Science Review: Volum 9 Orr, Michael C.; Feijó, Anderson; Chesters, Douglas; Vogler, Alfried P.; Bossert, Silas; Ferrari, Rafael R.
Climate change projections show shrinking deep-water ecosystems with implications for biodiversity and aquaculture in the Northwest Pacific 2022, Science of the Total Environment: Zhao, Qianshuo; Huang, Huimin; Costello, Mark John; Chu, Jiansong
Warmer temperature decreases the maximum length of six species of marine fishes, crustacean, and squid in New Zealand 2022, Environmental Biology of Fishes: Lavin, Charles Patrick; Gordo Vilaseca, Francesc; Stephenson, Fabrice; Shi, Zhiyuan; Costello, Mark John
2021
The distribution of benthic amphipod crustaceans in Indonesian seas 2021, PeerJ: Volum 9 Arfianti, Tri; Costello, Mark John
Conserving threatened marine species and biodiversity requires 40% ocean protection 2021, Biological Conservation: Volum 264 Jefferson, Tamlin; Costello, Mark John; Zhao, Qianshuo; Lundquist, Carolyn J.
Global warming is causing a more pronounced dip in marine species richness around the equator 2021, Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America (PNAS): Volum 118 s. 1-6 Chaudhary, Chhaya; Richardson, Anthony J.; Schoeman, David S.; Costello, Mark
Earth's coastlines GIS For Science : Maps for saving the planet 2021, ESRI Press: s. 4-27 Sayre, Roger; Martin, Madeline; Cress, Jill; Butler, Kevin; Graafeiland, Keith Van; Breyer, Sean
Not all biodiversity rich spots are climate refugia 2021, Biogeosciences: Volum 18 s. 6567-6578 Kocsis, Ádám T.; Zhao, Qianshuo; Costello, Mark John; Kiessling, Wolfgang
Synergies between COVID-19 and climate change impacts and responses 2021, Journal of Extreme Events: Volum 8 Pelling, Mark; Kerr, Rachel Bezner; Biesbroek, Robert; Caretta, Martina Angela; Cissé, Guéladio; Costello, Mark John
Towards a global list of accepted species V: the devil is in the detail. Organisms 2021, Organisms Diversity & Evolution: Volum 21 s. 657-675 Pyle, Richard L.; Barik, Saroj K.; Christidis, Les; Conix, Stijn; Costello, Mark John; van Dijk, Peter Paul
Introducing the World Register of Introduced Marine Species (WRiMS). 2021, Management of Biological Invasions: Volum 12 s. 792-811 Costello, Mark John; Dekeyzer, Stefanie; Galil, Bella S.; Hutchings, Pat; Katsanevakis, Stelios; Pagad, Shyama
Towards a global list of accepted species I. Why taxonomists sometimes disagree, and why this matters. 2021, Organisms Diversity & Evolution: Volum 21 s. 615-622 Thiele, Kevin R.; Conix, Stijn; Pyle, Richard L.; Barik, Saroj K.; Christidis, Les; Costello, Mark John
Towards a global list of accepted species III. Independence and stakeholder inclusion. 2021, Organisms Diversity & Evolution: Volum 21 s. 631-643 Conix, Stijn; Garnett, Stephen T.; Thiele, Kevin R.; Christidis, Les; van Dijk, Peter Paul; Bánki, Olaf S.
Global COVID-19 lockdown highlights humans as both threats and custodians of the environment. 2021, Biological Conservation: Volum 263 Bates, Amanda E.; Primack, Richard B.; Biggar, Brandy S.; Bird, Tomas J.; Clinton, Mary E.; Command, Rylan J.
Endemism increases species’ climate change risk in areas of global biodiversity importance. 2021, Biological Conservation: Volum 257 Manes, Stella; Costello, Mark John; Beckett, Heath; Debnath, Anindita; Devenish-Nelson, Eleanor; Grey, Kerry-Anne
The Asia‐Pacific Biodiversity Observation Network: 10‐year achievements and new strategies to 2030. 2021, Ecological Research: Volum 36 s. 232-257 Takeuchi, Yayoi; Muraoka, Hiroyuki; Yamakita, Takehisa; Kano, Yuichi; Nagai, Shin; Bunthang, Touch
Sampling biases shape our view of the natural world 2021, Ecography: Costello, Mark John
Towards a global list of accepted species IV: Overcoming fragmentation in the governance of taxonomic lists. 2021, Organisms Diversity & Evolution: Volum 21 s. 645-655 Lien, Aaron M.; Conix, Stijn; Zachos, Frank E.; Christidis, Les; van Dijk, Peter Paul; Bánki, Olaf S.
A global ecological classification of coastal segment units: To complement marine biodiversity observation network assessments 2021, Oceanography: Volum 34 s. 120-129 Sayre, Roger; Butler, Kevin; Graafeiland, Keith Van; Breyer, Sean; Wright, Dawn; Frye, Charlie
Towards a global list of accepted species II. Consequences of inadequate taxonomic list governance 2021, Organisms Diversity & Evolution: Volum 21 s. 623-630 Thomson, Scott A.; Thiele, Kevin; Conix, Stijn; Christidis, Les; Costello, Mark John; Hobern, Donald
Biogeography of polychaete worms (Annelida) of the world 2021, Marine Ecology Progress Series: Volum 657 s. 147-159 Pamungkas, Joko; Glasby, Chris; Costello, Mark
2020
Past and future decline of tropical pelagic biodiversity. 2020, Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America (PNAS): Volum 117 s. 12891-12896 Yasuhara, Moriaki; Wei, Chih-Lin; Kucera, Michal; Costello, Mark; Tittensor, Derek P.; Kiessling, Wolfgang
Taxonomy as the key to life. 2020, Megataxa: Costello, Mark
A modelled global distribution of the kelp biome 2020, Biological Conservation: Volum 252 Costello, Mark; Jayathilake, Dinusha R.M.
Quantifying sample completeness and comparing diversities among assemblages. 2020, Ecological Research: Volum 35 s. 292-314 Chao, Anne; Kubota, Yasuhiro; Zelený, David; Chiu, Chun-Huo; Li, Ching-Feng; Kusumoto, Buntarou
Principles for creating a single authoritative list of the world's species 2020, PLoS Biology: Volum 18 s. 1-10 Garnett, Stephen T.; Christidis, Les; Conix, Stijn; Costello, Mark; Zachos, Frank E.; Bánki, Olaf S.
Time machine biology: cross-timescale integration of ecology, evolution, and oceanography 2020, Oceanography: Volum 33 s. 16-28 Yasuhara, Moriaki; Huang, Huai-Hsuan May; Hull, Pincelli; Rillo, Marina C.; Condamine, Fabien L.; Tittensor, Derek P.
Where Marine Protected Areas would best represent 30% of ocean biodiversity. 2020, Biological Conservation: Volum 244 Zhao, Qianshuo; Stephenson, Fabrice; Lundquist, Carolyn; Kaschner, Kristin; Jayathilake, Dinusha R.M.; Costello, Mark John
2023
Author Correction: A global biodiversity observing system to unite monitoring and guide action (Nature Ecology & Evolution, (2023), 10.1038/s41559-023-02171-0) 2023, Nature Ecology and Evolution: Gonzalez, Andrew; Vihervaara, Petteri; Balvanera, Patricia; Bates, Amanda E.; Bayraktarov, Elisa; Bellingham, Peter J.
A global biodiversity observing system to unite monitoring and guide action 2023, Nature Ecology and Evolution: Gonzalez, Andrew; Vihervaara, Petteri; Balvanera, Patricia; Bates, Amanda E.; Bayraktarov, Elisa; Bellingham, Peter J.
Correction to: Warm and cold temperatures limit the maximum body length of teleost fishes across a latitudinal gradient in Norwegian waters (Environmental Biology of Fishes, (2022), 105, 10, (1415-1429), 10.1007/s10641-022-01270-4) 2023, Environmental Biology of Fishes: Lavin, Charles Patrick; Gordó-Vilaseca, Cesc; Costello, Mark John; Shi, Zhiyuan; Stephenson, Fabrice; Grüss, Arnaud
Social media data should be integrated, but treated with great care 2023, Biological Conservation: Volum 281 s. 1-2 Orr, Michael C.; Qiao, Huijie; Costello, Mark John; Hughes, Alice C.
INTRODUCTION TO FRONTIERS IN OCEAN OBSERVING 2023, Oceanography: Volum 36 s. 1 Kappel, Ellen S.; Costello, Mark John; Galgani, Luisa; Gordó-Vilaseca, Cesc; Govindarajan, Annette; Kouhi, Soroush
Modeling Aquaculture Suitability in a Climate Change Future 2023, Oceanography: Volum 36 s. 34-35 Mackintosh, Amy Leigh; Hill, Griffin Goldstein; Costello, Mark John; Jüterbock, Alexander Oliver; Assis, Jorge
2022
Achieving global biodiversity goals by 2050 requires urgent and integrated actions 2022, One Earth: Leadley, Paul; Gonzalez, Andrew; Obura, David; Krug, Cornelia B.; Londoño-Murcia, Maria Cecilia; Millette, Katie L.
2021
Version 2 of the world map of laminarian kelp benefits from more Arctic data and makes it the largest marine biome. 2021, Biological Conservation: Volum 257 Jayathilake, Dinusha R.M.; Costello, Mark John
2020