The SwARS project will be taking on a multi-disciplinary approach to study the effect of shipwrecks on marine communities by incorporating marine biology, oceanography, maritime archaeology, and the social sciences. This is an opportunity to strengthen scientific relations between Germany and Sri Lanka and cooperate on a novel field of research. As an international team of scientists, we will explore and build on our understanding of shipwrecks as artificial reef structures and approach the existing knowledge gap on their role in the marine environment.
The Research Team
Anjleen Hannak
Project Leader
Anjleen is a marine biologist and scientific diver, working with tropical reef systems. Her research focuses mainly on shipwrecks and artificial reefs in the Indian Ocean. In 2014, she conducted her first research with shipwrecks in Sri Lanka on the succession of biodiversity of benthic communities. She enjoys exploring the underwater world as well as pursuing creative science communication with comic art.
Contact Information
Anjleen Hannak
anjleendiver@gmail.com
Nishan Perera
Nishan is a marine ecologist specializing in reef fish and coral reef ecology. He has worked extensively in Sri Lanka for over 25 years studying the impacts of climate change on coral reefs and factors impacting reef fish assemblages on natural and artificial habitats. His work also includes MPAs, sustainable fisheries and resource management. He currently heads the Coral Reef Programme at Blue Resources Trust (BRT), a Sri Lankan research and conservation organization. Nishan is also an avid diver and underwater photographer.
Dr. Oscar Puebla
Oscar is a scientific diver and marine ecologist. His work focuses on the ecological and evolutionary processes in tropical fishes and population genomics. He is interested in investigating fish assemblages and trophic structures of marine communities on shipwrecks in Sri Lanka. He is the leader of the program area one at the Leibniz Centre for Tropical Marine Research (ZMT) in Bremen and a professor with the Institute for Chemistry and Biology of the Marine Environment (ICBM), University of Oldenburg.
Dr. Andreas Kunzmann
Andreas is a fisheries ecologist and scientific diver. He specializes in sustainable aquaculture and reef ecology in tropical regions. Andreas is interested in further examining the shipwrecks in Sri Lanka by applying photogrammetry to map the wrecks’ structures and study the complexity of these artificial habitats. He is head of the working group Ecophysiology and Experimental Aquaculture at the Leibniz Centre for Tropical Marine Research (ZMT) and a consultant for international development programs.
Dr. Michael Schmid
Michael is a biological oceanographer, scientific diving instructor and head of the scientific diving center at Leibniz Centre for Tropical Marine Research (ZMT). His main interest in diving supported research lies in photogrammetric mapping of coral reefs and secondary hard substrates like shipwrecks in high resolution to identify and quantify macro benthic assemblages and analyze their interactions.
