Name: Corie Boolukos

Position: PhD Candidate

Supervisor/s: Aaron Lim, Laurence De Clippele, Paul Holloway

Office: Research Office, Ground Floor, Department of Geography

Email Address: corie.boolukos@ucc.ie

Biography

I completed an MSc in Marine Biology in 2018 at University College Cork where I completed my thesis on temporal biological change on a cold-water coral mound, offshore Ireland. During this time, I acquired a passion for and interest in studying deep-sea benthic invertebrates.

Since then, I’ve worked offshore multiple times assisting with deep-sea data collection in international waters towards a better understanding of the environmental impacts of deep-sea mining. This experience led to my most recent role with a research group at the Natural History Museum, London where I assisted with the identification and ecological study of benthic invertebrates collected from these deep-sea mining areas. I’ve also worked at a research centre in the US assisting with projects focused on the biodiversity and ecology of both deep-sea and shallow-water benthic invertebrates in the Gulf of Mexico.

Research

Although my work has focused predominantly on marine ecology, I plan to acquire a more multidisciplinary set of skills throughout the course of my postgraduate research. My project will focus on constructing 3D models of CWC reef habitats to acquire a more detailed and comprehensive understanding of these habitats (e.g. the geology, biology, ecology, hydrography, etc.) and how these factors interact with each other and vary across environmental gradients. 

Publications

Boolukos, C.M., Lim, A., O’Riordan, R.M. and Wheeler, A.J., 2019. Cold-water corals in decline - A temporal (4 year) species abundance and biodiversity appraisal of complete photomosaiced cold-water coral reef on the Irish Margin. Deep Sea Research Part I: Oceanographic Research Papers, (146) (2019), pp. 44-54.

McClain, C.R., Boolukos, C.M., Bryant, S.R.D. and Hanks, G., 2023. Sunken trees in the deep sea link terrestrial and marine biodiversity. Ecology, 104(11), p.e4168.

Wiklund, H., Rabone, M., Glover, A., Bribiesca-Contreras, G., Drennan, R., Stewart, E., Boolukos, C., King, L., Sherlock, E., Smith, C. and Dahlgren, T., 2023. Checklist of newly-vouchered annelid taxa from the Clarion-Clipperton Zone, central Pacific Ocean, based on morphology and genetic delimitation. Biodiversity Data Journal, 11, p.e86921.

Awards

Quercus Taught Masters Academic Scholarship (2017, awarded by UCC)