Special Recent Posts
Global biodiversity loss: stop worrying and start panicking
WHEN: Monday, 27th of May 2013; 12:00 to 13:00 hrs - Camilo Mora, University of Hawaii. In this talk, Camilo will describe his work towards describing global biodiversity patterns and their underlying processes. He also analyzes the effectiveness of biodiversity protection and the future of biodiversity in light of looming environmental threats.
Double seminar: Coral reef research goes viral: determining the role of viruses in coral reefs.
WHEN: Thursday, 23rd of May 2013; 12:00 to 13:00 hrs - Karen Weynberg and Elisha Wood-Charlson, Australian Institute of Marine Science. Viruses are often seen as harmful pathogens, but they can also be beneficial for the reef ecosystems. Their function and importance are still poorly understood. This double seminar will present an overview of the current research on viruses in the marine environment.
Exploring Social-Ecological Interactions in Hawaiian Coral Reefs: Implications for Managing Towards Sustainability
WHEN: Friday, 17th of May 2013; 12:00 to 13:00 hrs - John N. Kittinger, Center for Ocean Solutions, Stanford University. In this talk, John will provide an overview of social-ecological relationships, with a focus on coral reefs in the Hawaiian Islands. He will also share novel methods and findings from participatory fishery assessments and recent efforts to quantitatively link fisheries ecology, ecosystem services, and community wellbeing at the local level.
Negotiating the Future of Local ‘Backwaters’: Participatory Marine Conservation amongst the Islanders in Eastern Indonesia
WHEN: Friday, 10th of May 2013; 12:00 to 13:00 hrs - Dirk J. Steenbergen, Asia Research Centre, Murdoch University. Dirk deconstructs the collaboration between an Indonesian marine conservation NGO and small island communities, and shows how within a single community a conservation program can gain support from specific groups while inciting resistance from others, and how this impacts the way conservation ideas are ultimately perceived and valued.
Dynamics of seawater carbonate chemistry, production, and calcification of a coral reef flat, Central Great Barrier Reef.
WHEN: Thursday, 9th May 2013; 12:00 to 13:00 hrs - Rebecca Albright, AIMS. Rebecca will present how natural variations in seawater carbonate chemistry affect the rate of calcification of coral reef.
High-resolution benthic survey using Autonomous Underwater Vehicles
WHEN: Thursday, 2nd of May 2013; 10:00 to 11:00 hrs - Stefan Williams, Australian Centre for Field Robotics, University of Sydney. Stefan will examine current developments in the area of benthic habitat mapping using Autonomous Underwater Vehicles (AUVs) and give an overview of Australia's Integrated Marine Observing System (IMOS) program and the role that the IMOS AUV Facility is playing in conducting repeated surveys at sites around Australia.
Multiple stressor effects on coral reef ecosystems
WHEN: Wednesday, 1st of May 2013; 09:00 to 10:00 hrs - Stephen Ban, ARC Centre of Excellence for Coral Reef Studies, James Cook University. Stephen explores the issue of multiple stressors on coral reefs and whether their combined effects are more than the sum of their parts. His research highlights that considerable uncertainty still exists regarding the prevalence of synergistic effects, and that the evidence for these effects may be as sensitive to the method of analysis as to the experimental context.
Sexy corals: The molecular bases of sex determination and germ cell differentiation
WHEN: Thursday, 2nd May 2013; 12:00 to 13:00 hrs - Susanne Sprungala, James Cook University. Susie will present her research projects in which she tries to decipher the molecular mechanisms of sex determination in corals by comparing the well characterised model A. millepora and the less studied, but not less fascinating family Fungiidae.
Western Australian true sea snakes: an evaluation of their taxonomy, population connectivity, distribution, abundance and diet
WHEN: Friday, 26th April 2013; 10:00 to 11:00 hrs - Blanche D'Anastasi, ARC Centre of Excellence for Coral Reef Studies, James Cook University. Blanche's research aims to evaluate the relationship between ecological specialisation and connectivity of sea snakes and how this influences their vulnerability to decline.
People and fish: reflections on a decade of social-ecological systems research
WHEN: Tuesday 16th of April, 2013; 14:00 to 15:00 hrs - Jessica L. Blythe, University of Victoria, Canada. Based on an understanding that today’s coastal communities are the product of centuries of interactive restructuring between people and natural environments and drawing on social science research methods, Jessica's research explores the ways in which three communities are experiencing and responding to multiple sources of change along the Mozambican coast.
The coral reefs of the Pacific: current patterns, recent trends, future trajectories
WHEN: Thursday, 18th April 2013; 12:00 to 13:00 hrs - Andrew Chin, Centre for Sustainable Tropical Fisheries and Aquaculture, James Cook University. Andrew will introduce the new reporting approach used by the Global Coral Reef Monitoring Network and provide a regional scale view of the main status and trends of the Pacific’s reefs, the factors affecting them, and their prospects for their future.
Understanding Marine Conservation Processes and Outcomes: Organizations, Conservation Professionals and Local Communities
WHEN: Tuesday, 16th April 2013; 15:30 to 16:30 hrs - Catherine Benson Wahlén. Catherine will present her research on the role of organizations, conservation professionals and local communities in shaping marine conservation processes and outcomes. She will also discuss future research directions, including on individual agency and organizational innovation in marine conservation.
Inter- and intra-specific variation in coral bleaching
WHEN: Thursday, 4th April 2013; 14:00 to 15:00 hrs - Dominique McCowan, James Cook University. Dominique's research explores both intrinsic and extrinsic causes of variation in bleaching susceptibility within and among coral species, which is the first step in understanding the capacity of species to withstand ongoing climate change.
Function and significance of submerged and deep-water coral reefs
WHEN: Wednesday, 27th March 2013; 9:00 to 10:00 hrs - Tom Bridges, James Cook University. Tom will provide an overview of current knowledge on deep-water coral reefs, and identify research gaps that must be addressed to provide a more complete view of coral reef ecosystem function across their full depth range.
Fear of fishers: anti-predator behaviour of coral reef fishes and its relevance to fisheries management and conservation
WHEN: Monday, 25th March 2013; 10:00 to 11:00 hrs - Fraser Januchowski-Hartley, James Cook University. Fraser research suggests that changes in fish behaviour in response to fishing and protection from fishing can play an important role in the delivery of fishery benefits from Marine Protected Areas.
Integrating social theory and ecosystem services
WHEN: Friday, 22nd March 2013; 11:00 to 12:00 hrs - Christina Hicks, James Cook University. Christina research aims to develop a better understanding of how people value ecosystem services, and how these values influence the way in which people are likely to respond to environmental or policy change.
Confirmation seminar: Disentangling the causes of vulnerability to fishing in aggregating reef fishes
WHEN: Thursday, 21st March 2013; 12:00 to 13:00 hrs - Jan Robinson, James Cook University. My PhD aims to disentangle the mechanisms and factors that influence catchability in reef fishes that aggregate. This aim will be achieved through four research questions.
Serious gaming simulations for visualization, learning, and raising public awareness about conserving the Great Barrier Reef
WHEN: Thursday, 14th March 2013; 12:00 to 13:00 hrs - Tim Marsh, James Cook University. Tim will present on-going research in serious gaming simulations that aim to allow everyone to intuitively learn about and help raise awareness of how sensitive ecosystems operate in the Great Barrier Reef and the impacts humans have on them.
Action research on the ecosystem approach to small-scale tropical fisheries
WHEN: Thursday, 7th March 2013; 12:00 to 13:00 hrs - Louisa Evans, ARC Centre of Excellence for Coral Reef Studies, James Cook University. The ecosystem approach to fisheries management is gaining credence in fisheries policy and practice. Louisa will present preliminary insights from an action research project to apply and ‘critique’ an ecosystem approach to fisheries management in four countries: Indonesia, Philippines, Solomon Islands, and Tanzania.
Recent advances and knowledge gaps in crown-of-thorns sea star
WHEN: Thursday, 28th February 2013; 12:00 to 13:00 hrs - Jairo Rivera, ARC Centre of Excellence for Coral Reef Studies, James Cook University. Outbreaks of the crown-of-thorns sea star (COTS) represent one of the most significant biological disturbances on coral reefs and remain one of the principal causes of widespread decline in live coral cover in the GBR. Control of COTS outbreaks may be the most immediate and effective mechanism by which to reverse sustained declines in the abundance of live coral cover.
Public lecture: The Accelerating Universe
WHEN: 6pm – 7pm, Tuesday, 19 February 2013 - Professor Brian Schmidt. Medical Lecture Theatre, Building DB045-002, James Cook University, Townsville. The 2011 Nobel Laureate for Physics, Brian Schmidt, leader of the High-Redshift Supernova Search Team, will describe this discovery and explain how astronomers have used observations to trace our universe's history back more than 13 billion years, leading them to ponder the ultimate fate of the cosmos.
Back-to-back seminars: marine connectivity and conservation planning
WHEN: Friday, 22nd February 2013; 12:00 to 13:30 hrs - Eric Treml, University of Melbourne & Maria Beger, Research Fellow in the ARC Centre of Excellence for Environmental Decisions at the University of Queensland. Connectivity among reefs is a keystone component for reef persistence and is often highlighted as a key factor to inform conservation decisions. In these back-to-back seminars, Eric and Maria will describe a spatially-explicit biophysical model of larval dispersal and explore the benefits of incorporating dispersal connectivity for multiple different life histories into conservation prioritisation in the Coral Triangle.
Private rights, co-management and the stewardship of natural resources
WHEN: Thursday, 21st February 2013; 12:00 to 13:00 hrs - Patrick Gilmour, The University of Melbourne, Victoria, Australia. Patrick will present five cases of co-management from abalone fisheries. His work highlights opportunities for policy interventions and raise questions about how property rights are specified in modern commercial fisheries.
Microgradient - Calcifier Interactions
WHEN: Thursday, 21st February 2013; 9:00 to 10:00 hrs - Martin Glas, Max Planck Institute for Marine Microbiology, Bremen, Germany. Martin will present his work on the extracellular microenvironment surrounding corals and foraminifera, and how his approach could apply to coral/disease, coral/sediment and coral/lesion interactions.
Next-generation Sequencing and Bioactive Peptides: Platforms for understanding Invertebrate Neuroendocrinology
WHEN: Tuesday, 19th February 2013; 11:30 to 12:30 hrs - NOTE : Seminar at AIMS, Lecture Theatre. Michael Stewart, University of the Sunshine Coast, QLD, Australia. Michael will present his work about the role of neuroendocrine communication in marine invertebrates and his future projects in order to adapt a similar approach to understand the underlying mechanisms of crown-of-thorns outbreaks.
Understanding the functional role of coral-associated microbes
WHEN: Tuesday, 19th February 2013; 10:00 to 11:00 hrs - NOTE : Seminar at AIMS, Lecture Theatre. Jean-Baptiste Raina, AIMS /James Cook University, Townsville. The ecological and functional roles of coral-associated bacterial communities are still poorly understood. Jean-Baptiste will present his multidisciplinary approach - genomics, metabolomics, chemistry and advanced imaging techniques - to study these roles, especially focussing on the production of DMSP.
Back-to-back seminars: Surf’s up! Waves affect escape performance in juvenile coral reef fishes and shape intraspecific variation in a widespread damselfish
WHEN: Friday, 15th February 2013; 12:00 to 13:00 hrs - Dominique Roche and Sandra A. Binning, ARC Centre of Excellence for Coral Reef Studies, the Australian National University. Wave-driven water flow is a major environmental factor limiting the distribution and abundance of marine organisms in shallow aquatic habitats. In these back-to-back seminars, Dominique and Sandra will explore how complex, wave-driven water flows can influence the outcome of predator-prey relationships and describe the intraspecific adaptations that allow reef fish to persist across a diversity of flow environments.
Managing social-ecological systems: coral reef fisheries
WHEN: Thursday, 14th February 2013; 11:00 to 12:00 hrs - Christina C. Hicks, ARC Centre of Excellence for Coral Reef Studies, James Cook University. By integrating fisheries management, ecosystem services, and social context Christina has developed an understanding of which management tools are most effective, how different aspects of the ecosystem benefit different sectors of society, and how management can be targeted to fit the socio-cultural context.
Marine invertebrates: vulnerability and resilience to ocean acidification
WHEN: Thursday, 14th February 2013; 09:00 to 11:00 hrs - Sue-Ann Watson, ARC Centre of Excellence for Coral Reef Studies, James Cook University. Ocean acidification, elevated seawater carbon dioxide and decreasing saturation states in our oceans may affect the persistence of marine invertebrates. In this talk, Sue-Ann focus on non-coral benthic invertebrates and discuss how baseline data from equatorial to polar latitudes might highlight potential vulnerability or resilience for certain groups. Then focusing on tropical and coral reef marine molluscs, she will discuss effects of ocean acidification on ecologically-relevant characteristics.
The Great Barrier Reef World Heritage Area Strategic Assessment: Adaptive Management in practice
WHEN: Thursday, 7th February 2013; 12:00 to 13:00 hrs - Laurence McCook, Director of Climate Change and Science at the Great Barrier Reef Marine Park Authority. Laurence will give an overview and update on the strategic assessment of the Great Barrier Reef World Heritage Area and the adjacent coastal zone.
Body-size-based methods of population, community and ecosystem analysis
WHEN: Friday, 1st February 2013; 12:00 to 13:00 hrs - Simon Jennings, Centre for Environment, Fisheries and Aquaculture Science (Cefas), Lowestoft, UK. Simon will describe recent developments in methods of size-based analysis, their strengths and weaknesses and their role in assessing the effects of fishing and climate change.
Tropical Island Conservation: The expectations and motivations
WHEN: Tuesday, 22 January 2013; 11:00 to 12:00 hrs - Jana Brotankova, Czech University of Life Sciences. Jana will introduce her current research and show some examples of the use of programming platforms, data visualisation, and linking a model with an experiment. She will discuss the main features of the operational model and interactive software required for the Tropical Island Conservation research project (optimization and risk analysis).
Perceptions, preferences, and planning: managing coral reefs for people and biodiversity
WHEN: 9.30am - 10.30am, Friday 7 Dec 2012 - Lydia Teh, Fisheries Centre, University of British Columbia, Canada. Effective coral reef governance is built on understanding human-environment relationships, and people’s ability to adapt to changes in marine socio-ecological systems.
Inter-temporal trade-offs and reef fisheries sustainability
WHEN: 12.00-1.00pm, Friday 7 December 2012 - Louise Teh, Fisheries Centre, University of British Columbia, Canada. This presentation quanties economic benefits derived from coral reef fisheries at local and global scales and provides an empirical study on reef fishers’ discount rates.
The contribution of locally managed marine areas to small-scale fisheries management and food security - a Solomon Islands case study
WHEN: 3 - 4pm, Thursday 29 Nov 2012 - Philippa Cohen, ARC Centre of Excellence for Coral Reef Studies, James Cook University. I present a Solomon Islands case study to address the overarching question; are co-managed marine areas (termed LMMAs in the Pacific) contributing to small-scale fisheries management and food security?
Developing an Ecosystem Approach to Fisheries Management for Large Aggregating Groupers in the Coral Triangle
WHEN: 12 - 1pm, Thursday, 29 Nov 2012 - Peter Waldie, ARC Centre of Excellence for Coral Reef Studies, James Cook University. This study will address major knowledge gaps currently impeding the effective implementation of EAFM on species that aggregate to spawn by quantifying juvenile habitat requirements, delineating catchment areas (i.e. the total area from which all individuals are drawn to an aggregation), and directly measuring larval dispersal patterns for two threatened species of grouper, Epinephelus fuscoguttatus and E. polyphekadion.
PhD pre-completion seminar: The ecology and dynamics of coral reef communities in an extreme marginal reef environment
WHEN: 12 - 1 pm, Tuesday 27 Nov 2012 - Andrew Bauman, ARC Centre of Excellence for Coral Reef Studies, James Cook University. Central to understanding how coral reef ecosystems will cope with future global climate change is knowledge of how coral communities persist in marginal environments.
PhD confirmation seminar: Distribution and characterisation of chromerids and apicomplexans associated with coral reefs
WHEN: 10-11 am, Friday 23 Nov 2012 - Amin R. Mohamed Esmail, ARC Centre of Excellence for Coral Reef Studies, James Cook University. This study aims to use ecological genomics and next-gen DNA sequencing tools to provide the baseline knowledge on the bio-geographic distribution of chromerids and apicomplexans on the Great Barrier Reef (GBR), their association with different coral hosts, and their role in coral health and disease
PhD pre-completion seminar: Spatial and temporal variation in coral demographic traits
WHEN: 12-1pm Tuesday 20 Nov 2012 - James Tan, ARC Centre of Excellence for Coral Reef Studies, James Cook University. n this study, I document spatial and temporally variation in mortality, growth and reproduction in the scleractinian coral, Acropora millepora, at two sites each three regions separated by 5° latitude along the Great Barrier Reef: the Palm Islands (18°N), the Whitsundays (20°N) and the Keppels (23°N).
PhD pre-completion seminar: Variation in population dynamic of reef building corals
WHEN: 12 – 1pm, Thursday 1 Nov 2012- Melanie Trapon, ARC Centre of Excellence for Coral Reef Studies, James Cook University. Patterns and processes affecting early post-settlement scleractinian corals have received very little attention due to difficulties associated with detecting recently settled corals on natural substratum.
