Mark McCormick, PhD
Dr. Mark McCormick is a distinguished marine ecologist and the director of Northern Exposure Consultancy, following a long career as a professor at James Cook University, Australia. Dr. McCormick鈥檚 research focuses on reef restoration, climate change impacts, and the effects of anthropogenic stressors (including marine noise and microplastics) on coral reef fish populations. A founding chief investigator for the Australian Research Council Centre of Excellence for Coral Reef Studies, he has secured more than $4 million in research funding. With more than 350 publications, his work is highly influential in the scientific community. Dr. McCormick also earned the 2013 Supervisor of the Year award and has supervised 50 doctoral students.
Selected Publications
Fakan, E. P., McCormick, M. I., Dubuc, A., Motti, C. A., Mills, S. C., Berumen, M. L., & Hoey, A. S. (2026). Coral bleaching impacts cortisol levels of coral reef fishes. Coral Reefs, 1-10. doi:10.1007/s00338-026-02875-2
McCormick, M. I., Okamura, H., Fakan, E. P., Brooker, R. M., & Jimenez, L. M. V. (2026). Familiarity among kin has minor effects beyond grouping for escape response in a shoaling fish. Journal of Fish Biology, 108, 1374-1383. doi:10.1111/jfb.70340
Manera, J. L., Martin, J. M., Palacios, M. M., Mason, R. T., McCormick, M. I., & Wong, B. B. (2025). Boat noise alters individual behaviors but not communication between partners in a fish-shrimp mutualism. Behavioral Ecology, 36(5), araf110.
Moad, C., Fakan, E. P., Brooker, R. M., & McCormick, M. I. (2025). Habitat degradation alters trait-based survival in a coral reef fish. Scientific reports, 15, 38631 doi:10.1038/s41598-025-22578-y
Poulos, D. E., Brooker, R. M., & McCormick, M. I. (2025). Prior residents mediate density-dependent success in newly arriving reef fish. Coral Reefs. doi:10.1007/s00338-025-02782-y
Downie, A. T., Lefevre, S., Illing, B., Harris, J., Jarrold, M. D., McCormick, M. I., . . . Rummer, J. L. (2023). Rapid physiological and transcriptomic changes associated with oxygen delivery in larval anemonefish suggest a role in adaptation to life on hypoxic coral reefs. PLoS Biology, 21(5), e3002102. doi:https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pbio.3002102
McCormick, M. I., Fakan, E. P., Vamvounis, G., Bosshard, S., Moad, C., Smyth, E., . . . Allan, B. J. M. (2023). No effects of plasticized microplastics on the body condition and reproduction of a marine fish. ICES Journal of Marine Science, 80, 1267鈥�1276. doi:10.1093/icesjms/fsad049
Galbraith, G. F., Cresswell, B. J., McCormick, M. I., Bridge, T. C., & Jones, G. P. (2022). Contrasting hydrodynamic regimes of submerged pinnacle and emergent coral reefs. PloS one, 17(8), e0273092. doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0273092
Nedelec, S. L., Radford, A. N., Gatenby, P., Davidson, I. K., Velasquez, L., Travers, M., . . . Simpson, S. D. (2022). Reducing motorboat noise on coral reefs enhances fish reproductive success. Nature Communications, 13, 2822. doi:https://doi.org/10.1038/s41467-022-30332-5
Poulos, D. E., & McCormick, M. I. (2022). Prior residency improves the performance of a resource specialist in a degrading environment. Coral Reefs, 41, 423-433. doi:10.1007/s00338-022-02229-8
Selected Presentations
McCormick, M. I. Allan, B. M., Chivers, D., Ferrari, M, L枚nnstedt, O. (2017, 3鈥�7 July) Habitat degradation affects how fishes assess risk. 50th Symposium of the Fisheries Society of the British Isles, Exeter, UK.
McCormick, M. I., Meekan, M. G., Ferrari, M. C. O., Chivers, D. P., Radford, A., Nedelec, S., McWilliam, J., Simpson, S. D. (2016, 17-24 June) Sounds like trouble: anthropogenic sound impacts reef fish dynamics. 13th International Coral Reef Symposium, Hawaii, USA.
Research Interests
- Reef restoration methods
- Climate change impacts
- Anthropogenic stressors
- Habitat degradation
- Marine noise
- Microplastics
- Predator-prey interactions
- Stress and population regulation
Education
- PhD, Marine Ecology, James Cook University
- MSc, Zoology, Auckland University
- BSc, Zoology and Botany, Auckland University
