Faculty

Profile

College / Department

Department of Biology, Chemistry and Environmental Sciences

Teaching areas

Human Biology for non-majors, Introduction to Biology I and II for majors, Ecology, Evolution and Biodiversity, Marine Biology, Ichthyology, Senior Projects, Genetics (in the past).

Research areas

Coral and coral reef fish communities of the UAE, artificial reefs and ecoengineering, predator /prey / habitat complexity relations, environmental management systems , Tenebrionid beetle ecology and behavior, UAE coastal plant communities

Education

PhD, Marine Science / Ecology, College of William and Mary, United States, 2001

BS, Biology / Marine Science, University of Miami, United States, 1994

Professional experience

Biology Professor, Biology, Chemistry And Environmental Science, American University of Sharjah, Sharjah, United Arab Emirates, 2002 - Present

Post-doctoral Researcher, National Marine Fisheries Service, Florida, United States, 2001 - 2002

Contact

[email protected]

+971 6 515 2416

Dr. Aaron Bartholomew

Professor

PhD, College of William and Mary, United States

I graduated from Ithaca High School, Ithaca NY in 1991 with honors. I graduated with a BSc. dual degree in Marine Science and Biology, with a minor in Chemistry from the University of Miami in 1994. I graduated from the University of Miami cum laude with general honors and a 3.99 / 4 GPA. I graduated with a PhD. degree in Marine Science (specializing in Marine Ecology) from the College of William and Mary (Virginia Institute of Marine Science) in 2001 with a 3.94 / 4 GPA. I joined the National Marine Fisheries Service, Miami FL as a post-doc in 2001. I joined AUS in 2002.

Publications

Jeneen Hadj-hammou, Aaron Bartholomew, Rita Bento, Fatima Mohamed, Georgenes Cavalcante And John Burt. Bleaching impacts on the last remaining Acropora dominated reefs in the United Arab Emirates, Diversity

Aurelien De Jode, Andrea Quattrini, Tommaso Chiodo, Marymegan Daly, Catherine Mcfadden, Michael Berumen, Christopher Meyer, Suzanne Mills, Ricardo Beldade, Aaron Bartholomew, Anna Scott, James Reimer, Kensuke Yanagi, Takuma Fuji, Estefanía Rodríguez And Benjamin Titus. Phylogenomics reveals coincident divergence between giant host sea anemones and the clownfish adaptive radiation, Molecular Phylogenetics And Evolution

Dana Hammoud, Aaron Bartholomew And Sabina Ahmed. Description of unique defensive behaviours of the Radiant Sun Beetle Prionotheca coronata (Tenebrionidae), Zoology In The Middle East, 2 April (2nd Quarter/Spring) 2024

Geórgenes Cavalcante, Filipe Vieira, Rita Bento, Aaron Bartholomew And John Burt. Oceanographic Variability in Sir Bu Nair Island (Arabian/Persian Gulf) based on In Situ Observations, Journal Of Coastal Research, 20 December 2024

Louise Firth, Jessica Bone, Aaron Bartholomew, Melanie Bishop, Ana Bugnot, Fabio Bulleri, Su-yin Chee, Louw Claassens, Katherine Dafforn, Tom Fairchild, Alice Hall, Mick Hanley, Valeriya Komyakova, Anaëlle Lemasson, Lynette Loke, Mariana Mayer-pinto, Rebecca Morris, Larissa Naylor, Matthew Perkins, Sylvain Pioch, Francesca Porri, Kathryn O'shaughnessy, Nina Schaefer, Elisabeth Strain, Jason Toft, Nathan Waltham, Moises Aguilera, Laura Airoldi, Franz Bauer, Paul Brooks, John Burt, Charley Clubley, Jeffery Cordell, Free Espinosa, Ally Evans, Veronica Farrugia-drakard, William Froneman, ...

Meera Bin Kalban, Aisha Al Hammadi And Aaron Bartholomew. Vegetation reduces the foraging efficiency of desert ants Cataglyphis urens, and they prefer unvegetated microhabitats, Journal Of Arid Environments, February 2024

Marie-france Waxin, Aaron Bartholomew, Fang Zhao, Sandra Knuteson And Areej Makda. Environmental Management Systems in Public Sector, 16 November 2023

Marie-france Waxin, Aaron Bartholomew, Fang Zhao And Ayesha Siddiqi. Drivers, Challenges and Outcomes of Environmental Management System Implementation in Public Sector Organizations: A Systematic Review of Empirical Evidence, Sustainability, 28 April (2nd Quarter/Spring) 2023

Aaron Bartholomew, John Burt And Louise Firth. Artificial reefs in the Arabian Gulf: Benefits, challenges and recommendations for policy-makers, Regional Studies In Marine Science, November 2022

Paloma Leandro, Sandra Knuteson And Aaron Bartholomew. The Vegetation of the United Arab Emirates Gulf Coast: Description and Analysis, Journal Of Coastal Research, July (3rd Quarter/Summer) 2022

John Burt, Aaron Bartholomew And Louise Firth. Policy and Management Considerations for Artificial Reefs in the Arabian Gulf, Al Qasimi Foundation, October (4th Quarter/Autumn) 2021

Omar Ismail And Aaron Bartholomew. Increased preference of darkling beetles Akis subtricostata Redtenbacher, 1850 and Trachyderma philistina Reiche and Saulcy, 1857 (Coleoptera, Tenebrionidae) for vegetation with increasing temperature, Bulletin Of The Iraq Natural History Museum, 24 June 2020

Marie-france Waxin, Sandra Knuteson And Aaron Bartholomew. Outcomes and key factors of success for ISO 14001 certification: evidence from an emerging Arab Gulf country, Sustainability, 28 December 2019

Benjamin Titus, Charlotte Benedict, Robert Laroche, Luciana Gusmão, Vanessa Van Deusen, Tommaso Chiodo, Christopher Meyer, Michael Berumen, Aaron Bartholomew, Kensuke Yanagi, James Reimer, Takuma Fujii, Marymegan Daly And Estefanía Rodríguez. Phylogenetic relationships among the clownfish-hosting sea anemones, Molecular Phylogenetics And Evolution, October (4th Quarter/Autumn) 2019

John Burt And Aaron Bartholomew. Towards more sustainable coastal development in the Arabian Gulf: Opportunities for ecological engineering in an urbanized seascape, Marine Pollution Bulletin, May 2019

Marie-france Waxin, Sandra Knuteson And Aaron Bartholomew. Drivers and challenges for implementing ISO 14001 environmental management systems in an emerging Gulf Arab country, Environmental Management, April (2nd Quarter/Spring) 2019

Aaron Bartholomew And Jeanine El Moghrabi. Seasonal preference of darkling beetles (Tenebrionidae) for shrub vegetation due to high temperatures, not predation or food availability, Journal Of Arid Environments, September 2018

Aaron Bartholomew, Shirin Hafezi And Solmaz Karimi. Effects of habitat complexity on the abundance, species richness and size of darkling beetles (Tenebrionidae) in artificial vegetation, Journal Of Arid Environments, June 2016

Aaron Bartholomew And John Burt. Both decreasing interstructural space size and increasing total cover increase shrimp abundance on artificial structures deployed in a UAE seagrass bed, Marine And Freshwater Behaviour And Physiology, 1 January (1st Quarter/Winter) 2015

David Feary, John Burt, Andrew Bauman, Al Hazeem, Shaker, Mohamed Abdel-moati, Khalifa Al-khalifa, Donald Anderson, Carl Amos, Andrew Baker, Aaron Bartholomew, Rita Bento, Georgenes Cavalcante Segundo, Chaolun Chen, Steve Coles, Koosha Dab, Ashley Fowler, David George, Edwin Grandcourt, Ross Hill, David John, David Jones, Shashank Keshavmurthy, Huda Mahmoud, Tapeh, Mandi Moradi Och, Pargol Mostafavi, Humood Naser, Michel Pichon, Sam Purkis, Bernhard Riegl, Kaveh Samimi-namin, Charles Sheppard, Jahangir Samiei, Christian Voolstra And Joerg Wiedenmann. Critical research needs for ...

John Burt, Aaron Bartholomew And David Feary. Man-Made Structures as Artificial Reefs in the Gulf, 2012

Aaron Bartholomew. Space size relative to prey width and total cover in an area both influence the habitat choices of freshwater angelfish Pterophyllum scalare in mesocosms, Marine And Freshwater Behaviour And Physiology, 1 January (1st Quarter/Winter) 2012

David Feary, John Burt And Aaron Bartholomew. Artificial marine habitats in the Arabian Gulf: Review of current use, benefits and management implications, Ocean And Coastal Management, October (4th Quarter/Autumn) 2011

John Burt, Aaron Bartholomew And Peter Sale. Benthic development on large-scale engineered reefs: A comparison of communities among breakwaters of different age and natural reefs, Ecological Engineering, February 2011

Aaron Bartholomew And Karim Ebeid. Habitat Complexity Influences the Microhabitat Choices of Desert Beetles, Israel Journal Of Ecology And Evolution, 6 May 2011

John Burt, Aaron Bartholomew, Andrew Bauman, Abdulla Saif And Peter Sale. Coral recruitment and early benthic community development on several materials used in the construction of artificial reefs and breakwaters, Journal Of Experimental Marine Biology And Ecology, May 2009

John Burt, Aaron Bartholomew, Paolo Usseglio, Andrew Bauman And Peter Sale. Are artificial reefs surrogates of natural habitats for corals and fish in Dubai, United Arab Emirates?, Coral Reefs, 1 January (1st Quarter/Winter) 2009

Aaron Bartholomew, J Bohnsack, S Smith, J Ault, D Harper And D Mcclelland. Influence of reserve size and boundary length on the initial response of exploited reef fishes in the Florida Keys National Marine Sanctuary, USA, Landscape Ecology, 1 January (1st Quarter/Winter) 2008

John Burt, Aaron Bartholomew And Paolo Usseglio. Recovery of corals a decade after a bleaching event in Dubai, United Arab Emirates, Marine Biology, 1 January (1st Quarter/Winter) 2008

Aaron Bartholomew And Roland Shine. Space size relative to prey width (Sp/Py) influences macrofaunal colonization of artificial structures, Marine Ecology Progress Series, 1 January (1st Quarter/Winter) 2008

Aaron Bartholomew And James Bohnsack. A Review of Catch-and-Release Angling Mortality with Implications for No-take Reserves, Reviews In Fish Biology And Fisheries, February 2005

Aaron Bartholomew. Key to the polychaetes of Chesapeake Bay and coastal Virginia, January (1st Quarter/Winter) 2004

Aaron Bartholomew. Faunal colonization of artificial seagrass plots: The importance of surface area versus space size relative to body size, Estuaries, October (4th Quarter/Autumn) 2002

Aaron Bartholomew. Total cover and cover quality: Predicted and actual effects on a predator's foraging success, Marine Ecology Progress Series, 1 January (1st Quarter/Winter) 2002

Kevin Hovel, Aaron Bartholomew And Romuald Lipcius. Rapidly Entrainable Tidal Vertical Migrations in the Salt Marsh Snail Littoraria irrorata, Estuaries, December 2001

Robert Orth, Matthew Harwell, Aaron Bartholomew And Six Additional Authors. A review of issues in seagrass seed dormancy and germination: Implications for conservation and restoration, Marine Ecology Progress Series, 1 January (1st Quarter/Winter) 2000

Aaron Bartholomew, Robert Diaz And Giancarlo Cicchetti. New dimensionless indices of structural habitat complexity: Predicted and actual effects on a predator's foraging success, Marine Ecology Progress Series, 1 January (1st Quarter/Winter) 2000

Conference Presentations

The Individual Antecedents of Waste Separation Behavior Among Students in the UAE: Preliminary Results",, The 10th Business & Entrepreneurial Economics – Bee 2025, 28 May 2025

Bleaching impacts on the last remaining Acropora dominated reefs in the United Arab Emirates, 53rd Annual Benthic Ecology Meeting, April 2025

Quantifying Habitat Complexity: Implications for Predator-Prey Dynamics and Artificial Reef Design, Bce Departmental Seminar, April 2025

Description of the unique defensive behaviors of the radiant sun beetle Prionotheca coronata, Entomological Society Of America, November 2023

Vegetation interferes with Cataglyphis sp. foraging, and these ants prefer open microhabitats, Entomological Society Of America, November 2023

DRIVERS, CHALLENGES AND OUTCOMES OF ENVIRONMENTAL MANAGEMENT SYSTEMS IMPLEMENTATION IN PUBLIC SECTOR ORGANIZATIONS: A REVIEW OF EMPIRICAL EVIDENCE, 42nd Ebes Conference - Lisbon, 2023, 12 January 2023

Education and Environment in the Gulf, The Gulf Environment Conference, January 2020

Commercial Fishes in Sir Bu Nair Island, UAE. Preliminary Results., Arabian Coral Reefs Conference, 2019

Increasing temperature leads to increased preference of darkling beetles Akis subtricostata and Trachyderma philistina for vegetation, Entomological Society Of America, November 2019

Seasonal preference of darkling beetles (Tenebrionidae) for shrub vegetation due to high temperatures, not predation or food availability, Entomological Society Of America, November 2018

Corals in the Gulf, March 2018

Dimensionless indices of habitat complexity: 20 years of results, Benthic Ecology Meeting, March 2018

Habitat complexity affects darkling beetle abundance, species richness and size, International Society For Behavioral Ecology, 2016

Both decreasing interstructural space size and increasing total cover increase shrimp abundance on artificial structures deployed in a seagrass bed, Benthic Ecology Meeting, 2014

Artificial marine habitats in the Arabian Gulf: Review of current use, benefits and management implications, Coral Reefs Of The Gulf Conference, 2012

Science and religion: Creation, Evolution and being in science, the Quran and the Bible, 2012

Artificial marine habitats in the Arabian Gulf: Review of current use, benefits and management implications, 2011

Space-size relative to prey width (Sp/Py) and total cover in an area (Ct/At) influence the habitat choices of freshwater angelfish Pterophyllum scalare in the laboratory, Ecological Society Of America Meeting, 2011

Are artificial reefs surrogates of natural reefs in Dubai, United Arab Emirates?, Benthic Ecology Meeting, 2010

Space size relative to prey width (Sp/Py) influences faunal colonization patterns of artificial structures, Benthic Ecology Meeting, 2007

Dimensionless indices of structural habitat complexity: Predicted and actual effects on a predator's foraging success, 2006

A review of catch-and-release mortality and implications for no-take marine reserves, American Fisheries Society Meeting, 2005

Recovery of exploited fish species in Florida Keys "no-take" reserves; do reserve size and placement matter?, 2005

Dimensionless indices of structural habitat complexity: Predicted and actual effects on a predator's foraging success, 2002

Recovery of exploited fish species in Florida Keys "no-take" marine sanctuaries: the importance of sanctuary size, American Fisheries Society Meeting, 2002

Factors affecting the colonization of artificial seagrass plots: The importance of habitat structure and water flow speed, Epa Star Fellowship Conference, 2000

New dimensionless indices of structural habitat complexity: Predicted and actual effects on a predator's foraging success, Benthic Ecology Meeting, 1999

New dimensionless indices of structural habitat complexity: Predicted and actual effects on a predator's foraging success, Epa Star Fellowship Conference, 1999

New dimensionless indices of structural habitat complexity, Benthic Ecology Meeting, 1998

The relative importance of nutrient loading vs. grazing to macroalgae in Waquoit Bay, Massachusetts, 1994

Grants and sponsorships

Grant, AUS travel grant, AUS, April 2025 - April 2025

Grant, AUS travel grant, November 2023 - November 2023

Grant, The importance of hydrodynamic variability in maintaining Sharjah’s diverse coral reefs, American University of Sharjah, 1 June 2021 - 31 May 2023

Grant, AUS student travel grant, AUS, April 2019 - April 2019

Grant, AUS travel grant, AUS, November 2018 - November 2018

Grant, AUS Travel Grant, AUS, April 2018 - April 2018

Grant, AUS Travel Grant, AUS, 2016 - 2016

Grant, AUS Travel Grant, AUS, 2014 - 2014

Grant, Travel Grant, NYU Abu Dhabi, 2012 - 2012

Grant, AUS Travel Grant, AUS, 2011 - 2011

Grant, Sabbatical Leave, one semester with full pay, AUS, 2011 - 2011

Grant, AUS Travel Grant, AUS, 2010 - 2010

Grant, AUS Travel Grant, AUS, 2007 - 2007

Grant, AUS Travel Grant, AUS, 2005 - 2005