Public Forum

Host:

Bernie Hobbs Bernie Hobbs is a multi-award-winning science writer and broadcaster with ABC Science Online. Her job lets her do two of the things she loves best - hear about what's new in the world of science from the people who are making it happen, and turn high-brow jargon-laden material into great stories for the rest of us. While Bernie's background is in medical science and teaching, she's also interested in how science and big ideas fit into real life - culturally, socially and environmentally. She gets to explore that territory regularly as a judge on ABC TV's The New Inventors, a new take on one of her favourite shows as a kid. When not being impressed by our country's inventors, Bernie can be heard regularly discussing science on ABC radio, and seen having way too much fun each week in the ABC's new science show for kids, the experiMENTAL!

Presenters:

	Professor John Pandolfi Video:Moreton Bay reefs: Past occurrence and future prospects Moreton Bay is southeast Queensland's marine playground, in danger of being loved to death. Paleontologist John Pandolfi is using the fossil record to examine the history and future of this important ecosystem. His unique detective-work has uncovered huge changes in the Bay since European colonization, with important implications for the future. In particular, what will Moreton Bay look like in 50 years as the effects of global climate change intensify? John Pandolfi is Professor at the Centre for Marine Studies and the School of Earth Sciences, University of Queensland and a chief investigator of the Australian Research Council's Centre of Excellence for Coral Reef Studies. He has published more than 75 scientific articles. He likes hunting for fossils because they help him to uncover the past history living coral reefs. John is currently Vice President of the Australian Coral Reef Society.
	Professor Garry Russ Video:Why do we have a Great Barrier Reef Marine Park? Multiple-use marine parks, particularly those that incorporate no-take zones, aim to conserve and restore marine ecosystems. The Great Barrier Reef is an Australian and an international icon. The Great Barrier Reef Marine Park Act was passed in 1975, with much of the park in place by the mid-1980’s.  In 2004 the park was re-zoned into the largest network of marine no-take areas in the world. This network was called the Representative Areas Program (RAP) and aimed to conserve all major bioregions of the Great Barrier Reef. The presentation will briefly reflect on why we have a Great Barrier Reef Marine Park. Professor Garry Russ is Leader of Program 3 (Marine Reserves and Connectivity) in the ARC Centre of Excellence for Coral Reef Studies at James Cook University. Garry received a prestigious Pew Fellowship in Marine Conservation (1999-2002) jointly with long-term colleague AC Alcala. Garry is one of only three Australian-born scientists to receive this award.
	Dr Alison Green Video:Rules of thumb for marine protected area design really work! Designing effective networks of marine protected areas (MPA) requires understanding how coral reef species move around among reefs. Unfortunately this information is not available for most species, and managers have been using "rules of thumb" for MPA network design (how big and how far apart the MPAs should be) to try and take this into account. Recently, scientists from the ARC CoE for Coral Reef Studies developed innovative new methods for empirically measuring the movement of coral reef fishes among reefs in a proposed MPA network in Kimbe Bay, Papua New Guinea. Results demonstrate, for the first time, that these rules of thumb for MPA network design really work! Dr Alison Green is Senior Marine Scientist for The Nature Conservancy's Asia Pacific Conservation Region, and is the Conservancy's strategy lead for designing and implementing resilient networks of marine protected areas (MPAs) in the Coral Triangle. In 2006, Alison led the design of a resilient network of MPAs in Kimbe Bay, Papua New Guinea, and she is currently involved in designing several MPA networks in Indonesia.
	Dr Morgan Pratchett Video:Homeless, hot and bothered: How do fishes cope with stresses of modern life? Climate change has significant impacts on coral reefs largely due to the extreme environmental sensitivities of reef-building corals, which increasingly bleach and die as temperatures rise. Extensive coral loss also has major ramifications for the diversity of organisms that live on coral reefs, such as coral reef fishes. This presentation will discuss the various ways in which climate change, and especially coral loss, will impact on coral reef fishes. Dr Morgan Pratchett is an Australian Research Fellow in the ARC Centre of Excellence for Coral Reef Studies at James Cook University. Morgan graduated from James Cook University in 2002, and has since published 50 papers based on research conducted throughout the South Pacific. He has just returned from the USA where he was based at the National Coral Reef Institute in Florida, supported by an American Australian Association fellowship.
	Professor Terry Hughes Video:Keeping the world habitable Coral reef scientists and managers are worried about the future, and with good reason. The world is on a conveyor belt driven by population growth, rising consumption and climate change - yet most governments and agencies are focused on maintaining the status quo, while many conservation groups would like to return to a pristine past. In a rapidly changing world, standing still or going backwards is simply not an option. The trick it to actively steer forward to a sustainable future that recognizes the importance of healthy ecosystems for human well-being. Professor Terry Hughes is the Director of the ARC Centre of Excellence for Coral Reef Studies, headquartered at James Cook University. Terry was elected a Fellow of the Australian Academy of Science in 2001 in recognition of "a career which has significantly advanced the world's store of scientific knowledge". He is ranked #1 in the world for citations in coral reef science, and in 2008, he was awarded the prestigious Darwin Medal by the International Society for Reef Studies.