Introduction | Symposium videos | Presenters | Public Forum Videos

Public Forum

	*Dr Janice Lough* Coral history books: new chapters from Western Australian reefs Coral reefs contain their own history books in annually banded massive coral skeletons. Cores from such corals provide perspectives on past coral reef climates and environmental impacts - beyond the range of instrumental observations. New WA coral reef cores are now sharing their secrets. Dr Janice Lough is a Senior Principal Research Scientist leading the Responding to Climate Change Team at the Australian Institute of Marine Science and a Partner Investigator with the ARC Centre of Excellence for Reef Studies. Trained as a climatologist at the Climate Research Unit (UK), her research interests focus on understanding the nature, causes and impacts of climate variability and climate change in tropical marine environments. She also specializes in obtaining historical perspectives on coral reefs and the significance of currently observed changes using the rich archive of proxy environmental information contained in long-lived massive coral skeletons.
	Professor Malcolm McCulloch The coral record of impacts of European settlement on the river catchments of the Great Barrier Reef Professor Malcolm McCulloch is a Deputy Director of the ARC Centre and the Western Australian Premier's Fellow at the University of Western Australia. Malcolm's research interests focus on the modern part of the geologic record using isotopic and trace element geochemical methods to determine how climate and anthropogenic processes have influenced both past and present environments with particular emphasis on coral reefs. Malcolm has received a number of prestigious awards, most recently in 2010 he was elected as a Fellow to The Royal Society. In 2009 he was awarded the Jaeger Medal for his career achievement in the Earth Sciences and has Fellowships of the Australian Academy of Science (2004), the Geological Society of Australia (2007), the Geochemical Society (2008) and the American Geophysical Union (2002). His 228 scientific papers have been published in leading international journals including 23 in Science or Nature.
	Dr Natalie Ban The changing nature of marine protected areas Marine protected areas have been getting much attention recently in Australia. Why do we need them? This presentation provides a global overview of the need for marine protected areas, how they work, and their changing nature. Natalie Ban is an ARC Postdoctoral Fellow in Program 6 (Conservation Planning for a Sustainable Future) at the ARC Centre of Excellence for Coral Reef Studies at James Cook University. Natalie's broad research interests include incorporating dynamics into conservation planning, marine protected area design that includes ecological and socioeconomic objectives, and human uses and impacts on the marine environment (including ecosystem services). Her postdoctoral research will comprehensively assess the role of an important and hitherto largely ignored set of biodiversity processes, patch dynamics, in conservation planning. She recently (November 2008) completed her PhD at the University of British Columbia, Canada.
	*Dr Laurence McCook* The Great Barrier Reef: a globally significant demonstration of the benefits of marine reserve networks Dr Laurence McCook manages ecosystem health and resilience for the Great Barrier Reef Marine Park Authority, and has been responsible for the strategic coordination of the scientific information needed to protect the Great Barrier Reef. Laurence has extensive scientific experience, including the ecological processes underlying coral reef resilience and degradation and the effects of marine reserve networks. He has strong interests in the application of science to environmental management, including public perceptions of scientific uncertainty, burden of proof, shifting baselines, and the interface between environmental and economic values. In 2005, Laurence was awarded an international Pew Fellowship in Marine Conservation, focused on the resilience of coral reefs under climate change, and has recently run a series of workshops on coral reef management for reef managers and communities across Indonesia.
	Professor David Bellwood Humans on coral reefs: cooking the golden goose David’s talk will look at the way humans interact with ecosystems and asks if there any hope for the future of coral reefs. David’s world contains fishes and all the other things. His goal is to see a world where fishing is a healthy activity for humans and coral reefs. Professor David Bellwood is a Chief Investigator in the ARC Centre of Excellence for Coral Reef Studies and a Professor in the School of Marine and Tropical Biology at James Cook University. He has broad research interests in the evolution and ecology of coral reefs fishes, with over 130 articles in leading international journals. Through a series of influential papers (eight in Science or Nature), he has pioneered the application of ecosystem function approaches to the study of reef fishes and in the evaluation of ecosystem impacts of biodiversity. In the last few years his primary goal has been to identify critical functional groups and the key reef processes that underpin coral reef resilience.