
Phone
06 830 1187
Areas of Teaching
Environmental management
Qualifications
PhD (MarineSc), MSc (Geoinformatics)
Profile
I am interested in using GIS (Geographic Information System) to develop maps, do spatial analysis and interpretations relate to ecology. My main areas of interest include terrestrial, marine and freshwater ecology, population and community dynamics, and species distribution modelling (habitat suitability modelling).
Teaching at EIT
ENV6.100 Freshwater Ecology and Monitoring
ITGA7.100 GIS Analytics
ENV 6.900 Geographic Information system
ENV 5.900 Introduction to ecology and biodiversity
ENV 6.700 Principles of Ecology
Examples of recent projects include:
A modelled map of the global distribution of the seagrass biome:
https://data.unep-wcmc.org/datasets/46
https://www.oceansofbiodiversity.auckland.ac.nz/2018/08/13/new-world-map-of-the-seagrass-biome/
A modelled map of the global distribution of the kelp biome:
https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0006320720308739?via%3Dihub
Where Marine Protected Areas would best represent 30% of ocean biodiversity:
https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0006320719312182?via%3Dihub
Global gap analysis: delineation of priority areas of strict marine reserves to conserve marine biomes.
Achievements
Awards
2020
The Elsevier Atlas Award for:
Zhao, Q., Stephenson, F., Lundquist, C., Kaschner, K., Jayathilake, D., & Costello, M. J. (2020). Where Marine Protected Areas would best represent 30% of ocean biodiversity. Biological Conservation, 244, 108536 https://www.elsevier.com/connect/atlas/mapping-the-oceans-biodiversity
Grants
2018
UN Environmental Programme – World Conservation Monitoring Centre (UNEP – WCMC) Marine conservation project 8198.00.R Healthy Ocean Phase 2- 2018
Honorarium
2018
The Global Biodiversity Information Facility (GBIF) “BID Capacity Enhancement Workshop: Pacific”
Media
2022
https://www.eit.ac.nz/2022/04/eit-researcher-has-work-cited-by-climate-change-report/
2018
https://www.quebecscience.qc.ca/environnement/une-carte-mondiale-de-la-vegetation-marine/
Research Outputs
Research outputs 2021
Bates, A. E., Primack, R. B., Biggar, B. S., Bird, T. J., Clinton, M. E., Jayathilake D.R.M., … & Parmelee, J. R. (2021). Global COVID-19 lockdown highlights humans as both threats and custodians of the environment. Biological conservation, 263, 109175.
Jayathilake, D. R., & Costello, M. J. (2021). Version 2 of the world map of laminarian kelp benefits from more Arctic data and makes it the largest marine biome. Biological Conservation, 257, 109099.
Research outputs 2020
Mapping the top 30% of ocean’s biodiversity https://www.oceansofbiodiversity.auckland.ac.nz/2020/04/05/mapping-the-top-30-of-oceans-biodiversity/
Jayathilake D.R.M., Costello, M.J. (2020). A modelled global distribution of the kelp biome. Biological Conservation. 252, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.biocon.2020.108815
Zhao Q, Stephenson F, Lundquist C, Kaschner K, Jayathilake DRM, Costello MJ. (2020). Where Marine Protected Areas would best represent 30% of ocean biodiversity. Biological Conservation 244, 108536. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.biocon.2020.108536
Costello, M.J., Zhao, Q., Jayathilake, D.R.M., (2020). Defining Marine Spatial Units: Realms, Biomes, Ecosystems, Seascapes, Habitats, Biotopes, Communities and Guilds. In: Goldstein, M.I., DellaSala, D.A. (Eds.), Encyclopedia of the World’s Biomes, vol. 4. Elsevier, pp. 547–555.
Jayathilake, D.R.M., Costello, M.J., (2020). Seagrass Biome. In: Goldstein, M.I., DellaSala, D.A. (Eds.), Encyclopedia of the World’s Biomes, vol. 4. Elsevier, pp. 504–508.
Jayathilake, D.R.M., Costello, M.J., (2020). The Kelp Biome. In: Goldstein, M.I., DellaSala, D.A. (Eds.), Encyclopedia of the World’s Biomes, vol. 4. Elsevier, pp. 509–513
Research outputs 2018
Jayathilake D.R.M., Costello M.J. (2018) A modelled global distribution of the seagrass biome. Available on the Ocean Data Viewer, UNEP- WCMC Website. https://data.unep-wcmc.org/datasets/46
Jayathilake, D. R., Costello, M. J., (2018). The global distribution of the seagrass biome. Biological Conservation 226. 120-126 https://doi.org/10.1016/j.biocon.2018.07.009
Jayathilake, D. R., Costello, M. J., (2018). Mapping marine biomes of the world. PeerJ Preprints. DOI10.7287/peerj.preprints.26635v1
Costello, M. J., Arifanti, T., Chaudhary, C., Jayathilake, D., et al., (2018). Mapping marine species richness and endemicity at a global scale. PeerJ Preprints. DOI10.7287/peerj.preprints.26501v1.
Research outputs 2012
Jayathilake, M.D.R.M., de Silva. R. P., (2012). Cloud computing as a novel approach to disaster management in Sri Lanka. 4th International Conference on Geo-informatics technology for natural disaster management, 247.