Markus Huettel  Department of Earth, Ocean and Atmospheric Science, Florida State University, Florida

Research of Markus Huettel focuses on the ecology of coastal and shelf environments with emphasis on processes in the sediments and at the sediment-water interface. In the past years they have investigated sediment-water exchange processes in the Northern Gulf of Mexico and the consequences of these fluxes for the biological, chemical and physical processes in the deposits and the overlying water column.

Tiziana Luisetti The Centre for Social and Economic Research on the Global Environment (CSERGE), School of Environmental Sciences University of East Anglia, UK

Dr Tiziana Luisetti is an environmental economist with a special interest on adaptation measures to climate change, sustainable development, and intergenerational equity. In her research, an interdisciplinary approach that combines natural and social sciences is applied focusing mainly on marine and coastal ecosystem services valuation and coastal zone management. Tiziana has several years of relevant experience on environmental valuation in a number of interdisciplinary projects in Britain and across Europe. Parallel research areas of interest are behavioural and happiness economics, and more recently marine alien invasive species.

Carl Leonetto Amos National Oceanography Centre, University of Southampton, UK

Research interests of Carl Leonetto Amos over the last 40 years have largely centred on sediment dynamics in the coastal zone, and the characterisation of sediment mobility in coastal/estuarine waters through in situ measurement. This has led to the development of instrumentation such as the benthic lander – RALPH, and the benthic flume – Sea Carousel as well as models such as SEDTRANS. His early career was focussed on cohesive sediments that are largely found in intertidal mudflat settings. More recently, the focus has shifted to the movement of sands in the benthic boundary layer of tidal environments and in particular, tidal inlets. Most recently, his attention has shifted to the changes in sea surface temperature in the coastal realm, and the impact of such changes on sedimentation patterns. Evidence is mounting to show that coastal water masses are warming at rates up to 10 times that of the deep sea and those reported by the IPCC (2007). The local warming is anthropogenic and appears linked to coastal urban development. Future work will attempt to link more closely the factors controlling this warming and the knock-on effect in terms of habitat impact.