Romain Chaput

Victoria University of Wellington - Te Herenga Waka, Postdoctoral Research Fellow

I hold a MSc in Oceanography and Marine Environment from the University Pierre et Marie Curie (Paris - France), and I did my PhD in Ocean Science at the Rosenstiel School of Marine and Atmospheric Science of the University of Miami (Miami - USA). 

My research focuses on the impact of larval behaviors on the dispersal of marine organisms. During my PhD, I studied the early life behaviors of coral reef fish larvae using a multi-disciplinary approach combining in-situ observations, behavioral experiments, and numerical modeling. 

In the Moana team, I am participating in the development of biophysical dispersion models used to estimate the population connectivity of the rock lobsters, the paua, and the green lipped mussels. The goal is to implement species-specific larval behaviors in the models to better explain the population connectivity observed with genetic tools.