Alexandra is originally from Austria, but always spent parts of her childhood summers at the Mediterranean Sea either in Italy, Greece or Tunisia, where she discovered her passion for the ocean. After completing her Bachelor’s degree in Ecology and Evolution at the University of Salzburg, she moved to Vienna for her Master’s degree in Marine Science (University of Vienna), with the focus on the effects of hypoxia on marine benthic macrofauna. Afterwards, she moved to Mallorca (UIMP-IMEDEA), Spain, to conduct her PhD with the main focus on the concurrent effects of hypoxia and elevated pCO2 on marine biota in the Mediterranean Sea, the Baltic Sea and the coastline of Chile. Alexandra joined KAUST University as a postdoc beginning of 2018 and the Reef Ecology Lab in early 2019.

 

At KAUST, Alexandra will continue working on effects of multiple stressors on marine biota and human activities in the Red Sea marine environment. She is investigating how single and multiple stressors affect biodiversity and functioning, and ultimately the health and resilience of Red Sea coastal ecosystems. As effects from climate change and local anthropogenic impacts often co-occur, she is particularly interested in the evaluation of ecosystem response to the different stressors, either isolated or combined, and recovery after exposure to such impacts. Alexandra started expanding her interests and is currently also working on Ecosystem Services and MPA designs. Specifically, she received a Synthesis Project grant on MPAs on a global and local scale for which she is currently leading a working group with fellow scientists and postdocs in the centre.

 

Find her on Twitter @SteckbauerA and Linkedin:

https://www.linkedin.com/in/alexandra-steckbauer-48454880/​