Dr. Ow Yan Xiang is a Research Fellow with NUS - St John Island National Marine Laboratory and National University of Singapore. She graduated and received her bachelor’s degree in Life Sciences from the National University of Singapore. She was awarded the Ph.D. degree in Marine Biology from the James Cook University, Australia.

Her research focuses on the interaction of seagrass with their environment. Seagrasses are able to respond to and influence their environment to a certain extent. This potential for “ecosystem engineering” can be incorporated into future design concepts for coastal man-made habitats. Understanding the biology and ecology of seagrasses along altered coastlines primes future green engineering solutions to coastal urbanization.

She is experienced in performing field-based and lab-based experiments to study ecological responses (sea grasses and corals especially) to climate change and environmental degradation. She has published on the effects of climate and local water quality changes on keystone organisms in coastal ecosystems in peer-reviewed journals.

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