Elaine Fileman is a very experienced plankton ecologist currently working in the Marine Ecology & Biodiversity group (MEB) at PML. She is a Plymouth biological sciences graduate with a MPhil from the University of Southampton.
Elaine’s early work specifically focused on the trophic role of microzooplankton in the marine food web; her published research has examined the relationships between these planktonic predators and their prey in a range of ecosystems including oceanic (NE Atlantic, Indian Ocean, Bellingshausen Sea), continental shelf (Celtic Sea, Iberian upwelling) and coastal waters (Plymouth). She has since broadened her interests to include zooplankton feeding, their response to UV and their interactions with microplastic particles in the marine environment.
In 2012, Elaine lead the development of the PML FlowCam facility which is mainly used for automated imaging of plankton from the Western Channel Observatory’s time series stations. The facility has been further used extensively by PhD & Masters students, visiting co-workers and for commercial applications. Elaine’s most recent activities have involved pioneering image recognition and machine learning approaches to the classification of plankton and she played a key role in PML’s recent successful bid to build an automated offshore plankton imaging facility. In this PML will be acquiring two novel in-situ camera systems for plankton visualisation that will bring new capability and visibility to PML and Smart Sound Plymouth.
- Clark, JR, Cole, M, Lindeque, PK, Fileman, E, Blackford, J, Lewis, C, Lenton, TM and Galloway, TS. 2016. Marine microplastic debris: a targeted plan for understanding and quantifying interactions with marine life. Frontiers in Ecology and the Environment, 14(6), 317-324.
- Cole, MJ, Lindeque, P, Fileman, ES, Halsband, C, Goodhead, R, Moger, J, Galloway, TS. 2013. Microplastic ingestion by zooplankton. Environmental Science & Technology 47 (12), 6646-6655
- Cole, MJ, Lindeque, PK, Fileman, ES, Halsband, C, Galloway, TSG. 2015. The impact of polystyrene microplastics on feeding, function and fecundity in the marine copepod Calanus helgolandicus. Environmental Science & Technology, 49 (2). 1130-1137. 10.1021/es504525u
- Fileman, ES, White, DA, Harmer, RA, Aytan, Ü, Tarran, GA, Smyth, T and Atkinson, A. 2017. Stress of life at the ocean’s surface: latitudinal patterns of UV sunscreens in plankton across the Atlantic. Progress in oceanography, 158, 171-184.
Recent publications
- Atkinson, A; Rossberg, AG; Gaedke, U; Sprules, G; Heneghan, RF; Batziakas, S; Grigoratou, M; Fileman, ES; Schmidt, K; Frangoulis, C; 2024. Steeper size spectra with decreasing phytoplankton biomass indicate strong trophic amplification and future fish declines. Nature Communications.
- McEvoy, AJ; Atkinson, A; Airs, RL; Brittain, R; Brown, IJ; Fileman, ES; Findlay, HS; McNeill, CL; Ostle, C; Smyth, TJ; Somerfield, PJ; Tait, K; Tarran, GA; Thomas, S; Widdicombe, CE; Woodward, EMS; Beesley, A; Conway, DVP; Fishwick, J; Haines, H; Harris, C; Harris, RP; Helaouët, P; Johns, DG; Lindeque, PK; Mesher, T; McQuatters-Gollop, A; Nunes, J; Perry, F.; Queiros, AM; Rees, AP; Ruhl, S; Sims, DW; Torres, R; Widdicombe, S; 2023. The Western Channel Observatory: a century of physical, chemical and biological data compiled from pelagic and benthic habitats in the western English Channel. Earth System Science Data.
- Harris, JL; Embling, CB; Alexander, G; Curnick, DJ; Roche, R; Froman, N; Stuhr, M; Fileman, ES; Hilbourne, S; Carter, R; Murray, A; Savage, J; Stevens, GMW; 2023. Intraspecific differences in short- and long-term foraging strategies of reef manta ray (Mobula alfredi) in the Chagos Archipelago. Global Ecology and Conservation.
- Lehtiniemi, M; Fileman, ES; Hällfors, H; Kuosa, H; Lehtinen, S; Lips, I; Setala, O; Suikkanen, S; Tuimala, J; Widdicombe, CE; Woodson, B; 2021. Optimising sampling frequency for monitoring heterotrophic protists in a marine ecosystem. ICES Journal of Marine Science.
- Atkinson, A; Lilley, MKS; Hirst, AG; McEvoy, AJ; Tarran, GA; Widdicombe, CE; Fileman, ES; Woodward, EMS; Schmidt, K; Smyth, TJ; Somerfield, PJ; 2020. Increasing nutrient stress reduces the efficiency of energy transfer through planktonic size spectra. Limnology and Oceanography.