Maria Byrne (biologist)

Maria Byrne is an Australian marine biologist, and professor of marine and developmental biology at the University of Sydney and a member of the Sydney Environment Institute. She spent 12 years as director of the university's research station on One Tree Island.

Career
Byrne is the co-editor of Australian Echinoderms. She and co-author Tim O'Hara were joint winners of the 2018 Whitley Medal for the book. She has been publishing her research on Echinodermata since the early 1980s. In 2000-2002 she was the President of the Australian Marine Sciences Association.

Her research interests include the impact of climate change on marine invertebrates,   She has published on sea-urchins and  crown-of-thorns star-fish., as well as evolutionary developmental biology,  She has also published on egg-provisioning, and the use of mass-spectrometry  as well as the biology of the crown of thorns star-fish  and other echinodermata. Her most cited article (October 2020) with 966 (or 1314) citations  is "Global warming and recurrent mass bleaching of corals".

Byrne was elected Fellow of the Australian Academy of Science in 2019.

Awards

 * 2019 - Established Researcher Medal for outstanding contribution to the science and management of Australian coral reefs, Australian Coral Reef Society.
 * 2019 - Fellow, Australian Academy of Science (FAA)
 * 2015 - Silver Jubilee Award, Australian Marine Sciences Association.