Lisa Goberdhan Placement – Natural Resources Wales

From March to June 2025, I undertook an ENVISION-funded placement with Natural Resources Wales (NRW), a Welsh Government sponsored body responsible for ensuring that Wales’s natural resources are managed sustainably for the benefit of people, wildlife, and the environment. My project explored how sea level rise and coastal management plans might affect biogenic reefs in Wales, with a particular focus on reefs built by the honeycomb worm (Sabellaria alveolata). These worms build tubes from sand and shell fragments, and when thousands settle together, they form striking honeycomb-like reef structures. These reefs are ecologically important, providing habitat for marine life, helping to protect coastlines from erosion, and they play a role in recycling nutrients in the sea.

Photo 1: Site visit to Aberaeron to see S. alveolata reefs at low tide.

During my placement I carried out a literature review to better understand the biology and ecology of honeycomb worm reefs and their current distribution in Wales. I then used Geographic Information Software (GIS) to map their extent around Wales and to identify the extent of reefs that might be at risk from future shoreline management decisions.

This placement was valuable not only for the findings (which will be used in a follow-up project on reef vulnerability to coastal development) but also for my own professional development. It allowed me to see how ecological research is translated into practical conservation and policy decisions, and I worked closely with natural resource managers to understand real-world challenges. It also broadened my scientific perspective: while my PhD focuses on coral reefs in tropical seas, this experience with temperate reefs deepened my ability to connect ecological principles across environments.

Photo 2: Close up of S. alveolata in the intertidal at Aberaeron.