Mona Abouhaidar Andskog
Postdoc
I am a postdoctoral researcher with the Wernberg Lab at the University of Western Australia focusing on Blue Carbon. My background spans marine ecology and coastal biogeochemistry, with my research centred on how human impacts alter seagrass carbon cycling and nutrient dynamics in both the Caribbean and Australia. My current work aims to expand how we define and quantify Blue Carbon by including carbon export and sequestration processes beyond ecosystem boundaries. While most of my work has been on seagrasses, I am now also working on macroalgae, as they are key contributors to carbon export from coastlines to the deep sea globally. Ultimately, I hope that this work will help re-evaluate the carbon storage potential of coastal vegetated ecosystems and strengthen their ecological and climate mitigation value.
Qualifications
2026: PhD Seagrass biogeochemistry, Southern Cross University, Australia
2017: MSc International Studies in Aquatic Tropical Ecology, University of Bremen, Germany
2014: BSc Biology, University of Oslo, Norway
Other
2016: European Scientific Diver
2015: PADI Divemaster
Achievements and awards
2024: Evamaria Koch Student Award
2024: ECSA Charles Boyden Fund for Small Grants
2024: RISE Postgraduate Research Conference, Australia (3-minute thesis, 1st prize)
2023: RISE Postgraduate Research Conference, Australia (presentation, highly commended)
2023-2025: AINSE Postgraduate Research Award, Australia
2022: Australasian Environmental Isotope Conference, Australia (poster, 1st prize)
2020: ASSEMBLE Plus Transnational Access, Germany/Finland
2017: PADI Foundation research grant, French Polynesia
2016: ERASMUS+ scholarship, French Polynesia
Publications
Shayka, B. F., Richards, S., Andskog, M. A., Allgeier, J. E. (2025). Nutrient enrichment increases blue carbon potential of subtropical seagrass beds. Global Change Biology 31(8).
Mackenzie, D. R., Tait, D. R., Sippo, J., Ferguson, A., Ralph, C., Stewart, B., Call, M., Reading, M., Andskog, M., Laicher-Edwards, D., Maher, D. T. (2025). A novel control volume methodology to constrain ecosystem nutrient cycling within a tidal freshwater river. Estuarine, Coastal and Shelf Science, 320.
Andskog, M. A., Layman, C., & Allgeier, J. E. (2023). Seagrass production around artificial reefs is resistant to human stressors. Proc B, 290(2003), 20230803.
Buck-Wiese, H., Andskog, M. A., Nguyen, N. P., Bligh, M., Asmala, E., Vidal-Melgosa, S., Liebeke, M., Gustafsson, C., Hehemann, J.-H. (2023). Fucoid brown algae inject fucoidan carbon into the ocean. PNAS, 120(1).
Brines, E. M., Andskog, M. A., Munsterman, K. S., Layman, C. A., McCoy, M., Allgeier, J. E. (2022). Anthropogenic nutrients mitigate importance of fish-mediated nutrient supply for seagrass beds in Haiti. Marine Biology, 169(3).
Allgeier, J. E., Andskog, M. A., Hensel, E., Appaldo, R., Layman, C., Kemp, D. W. (2020). Rewiring coral: Anthropogenic nutrients shift diverse coral–symbiont nutrient and carbon interactions toward symbiotic algal dominance. Global Change Biology, 26(10), 5588-5601.
Earp, H. S., Prinz, N., Cziesielski, M. J., & Andskog, M. (2018). For a World Without Boundaries: Connectivity Between Marine Tropical Ecosystems in Times of Change. In S. Jungblut (Ed.), YOUMARES 8 (pp. 125-144): Springer International Publishing.