DNA reveals the past and future of coral reefs
New DNA techniques are being used to understand how coral reacted to the end of the last ice age in order to better predict how they will cope with current changes to the climate. James Cook Univer
From 2005 to 2022, the main node of the ARC Centre of Excellence for Coral Reef Studies was headquartered at James Cook University in Townsville, Queensland (Australia)
My PhD research will address the major factors that influence scheduling of conservation action over time. This task is common practice in conservation because fully implementing multiple conservation actions requires human and monetary resources that are rarely available at one time. Therefore, conservation planners are required to set priorities for conservation, selecting what to protect first and what to leave for the future. However, several simplifications are commonly made when setting priorities. These simplifications regard both the socio-economic and the ecological aspects of biodiversity conservation. In my PhD project, I will first identify the most common assumptions made in dynamic conservation planning. Secondly, I will examine how to address these assumptions by explicitly considering the complexities ignored in conservation decision-making. My focus will be on assumptions related to the value of considering future patterns of human-driven habitat loss and fragmentation, the biodiversity responses to habitat loss and fragmentation, and the emerging properties of reserve networks that arise when addressing both habitat loss and connectivity. My research will have important implications in both theory and practice. By testing different hypotheses and assumptions regarding the behaviour of existing conservation planning strategies and suggesting new approaches for environmental decision-making, I will contribute to the theoretical advancement of the discipline. At the same time, I will derive rules of thumb and recommendations on optimal priority setting for conservation practitioners, which are likely to have important practical consequences for conservation decisions at local to global scales.
New DNA techniques are being used to understand how coral reacted to the end of the last ice age in order to better predict how they will cope with current changes to the climate. James Cook Univer
A new study on the effects of climate change in five tropical countries has found fisheries are in more trouble than agriculture, and poor people are in the most danger. Distinguished Profess
James Cook University researchers have found brightly coloured fish are becoming increasingly rare as coral declines, with the phenomenon likely to get worse in the future. Christopher Hemingson, a
Researchers working with stakeholders in the Great Barrier Reef region have come up with ideas on how groups responsible for looking after the reef can operate more effectively when the next bleaching
Abstract: As marine species adapt to climate change, their heat tolerance will likely be under strong selection. Individual variation in heat tolerance and its heritability underpin the potential fo
Abstract: The Reef Ecology Lab in KAUST’s Red Sea Research Center explores many aspects of movement ecology of marine organisms, ranging from adult migrations to intergenerational larval dispersal
Abstract: Macroalgal meadows are a prominent, yet often maligned component of the tropical seascape. Our work at Ningaloo reef in WA demonstrate that canopy forming macroalgae provide habitat for ad
Abstract: Sharks are generally perceived as strong and fearsome animals. With fossils dating back at least 420 million years, sharks are not only majestic top predators but they also outlived dinosa
Abstract: Connectivity plays a vital role in many ecosystems through its effects on fundamental ecological and evolutionary processes. Its consequences for populations and metapopulations have been
Abstract: Evolution of many eukaryotic organisms is affected by interactions with microbes. Microbial symbioses can ultimately reflect host’s diet, habitat range, and even body shape. However, how
Abstract: The past few years have seen unprecedented coral bleaching and mortality on the Great Barrier Reef (GBR) but the consequences of this on biodiversity are not yet known. This talk will expl
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