Corals light the way to a healthy partnership
Corals know how to attract good company. New research finds that corals emit an enticing fluorescent green light that attracts the mobile microalgae, known as Symbiodinium, that are critical to the e
ARC Centre of Excellence for Coral Reef Studies
James Cook University Townsville
Queensland 4811 Australia
Phone: 61 7 4781 4000
Email: info@coralcoe.org.au
Jaap A. Kaandorp received his MS, with distinction, in biology (main subject marine biology) in 1985 and a PhD (subject modelling growth and form of marine organisms) in computer science and mathematics in 1992, both from the University of Amsterdam. He has worked from 1985 -1987 as a researcher at the Centre of Computer Science and Mathematics in Amsterdam. In 1992 he did research as a postdoctoral fellow, on a Government of Canada Award, at the Department of Computer Science of the University of Calgary in Canada. Currently he works as an associate professor at the Section Computational Science of the Faculty of Mathematics, Computer Science, Physics & Astronomy of the University of Amsterdam. His research interests are: morphogenesis, marine sessile organisms, evolutionary processes, modelling and simulation of developmental regulatory networks and metabolic pathways, modelling and simulation of growth and form, and biomechanics. Jaap has done some groundbreaking work on modelling the growth of coral colonies, and has written two books: “Fractal modelling growth and form in biology” (Springer, 1994) and “The algorithmic beauty of seaweeds, sponges and corals” (Springer, 2001). Jaap’s work is both unique and biologically relevant, and he is an expert in presenting his work to largely non-mathematical audiences.
Within the metazoans, sponges and cnidarians represent the phyla with the simplest body plan and a relatively simple regulatory network controlling the development. This makes these organisms an excellent case study for understanding morphogenesis and the physical translation of the genetic information into a growth form, using a combination of biomechanical models of growth and form and a model of the spatial and temporal expression of developmental genes. During this talk we will give an overview of the ongoing work at the Section Computational Science on modelling and simulation of growth and form in scleractinian corals. For modelling growth and form of corals it is required to combine models at very different spatio-temporal scales: gene regulation and cellular level, calcification, physiology (respiration and photosynthesis), growth of the coral skeleton and the impact of the physical environment (water movement and availability of light). We will briefly discuss:
Corals know how to attract good company. New research finds that corals emit an enticing fluorescent green light that attracts the mobile microalgae, known as Symbiodinium, that are critical to the e
A study led by researchers at the ARC Centre of Excellence for Coral Reef Studies at James Cook University found fish become anxious and more cautious when water quality is degraded by sediment, an e
Queensland’s coastal shark numbers are continuing a 50-year decline, in sharp contradiction of suggestions of ‘exploding’ shark populations, according to an analysis of Queensland Shark Control
The future of the world’s coral reefs is uncertain, as the impact of global heating continues to escalate. However, according to a study published today in Nature Climate Change, the response of the
Who: Julian Cribb Where: JCU HY002, UQ CMS Meeting Room When: Monday 20 March 2006, 11.00am-12.00pm
The Lizard Island Doctoral Fellowships Program provides financial support for field-intensive coral reef research at Lizard Island Research Station on the Great Barrier Reef by outstanding PhD student
Who: Go Suzuki, Kyoto University Where: ARC Centre of Excellence Conference Room, James Cook University, Townsville with video link to Centre for Marine Studies, UQ, Brisbane When: 1.00pm Monday 23
Who: Lead by Meir Sussman Where: ARC Centre of Excellence Conference Room, JCU, Townsville with video link to Centre for Marine Studies, UQ, Brisbane When: 4.00pm, Thursday 26 April 2007
Dr. Frank Thomalla is a Research Fellow at the Stockholm Environment Institute (SEI) where he leads the Stockholm-based group of the “Risk, Livelihoods and Vulnerability Programme” and at the re
Dr Troy Day is a theoretical evolutionary ecologist at Queen’s University, Kingston, Canada (http://www.mast.queensu.ca/~tday/index.html). His primary research interests are in the evolution of in
Who: Lead by Dr Sophie Dove Where: Video link ARC Centre of Excellence Conference Room, JCU, Townsville and Centre for Marine Studies, UQ, Brisbane When: 4.00pm, Thursday 10 May 2007
Who: Lead by Professor Terry Hughes Where: Video link ARC Centre of Excellence Conference Room, JCU, Townsville and JCU Cairns, Room B1.108 When: 12.00pm, Monday 14 May 2007
ARC Centre of Excellence for Coral Reef Studies
James Cook University Townsville
Queensland 4811 Australia
Phone: 61 7 4781 4000
Email: info@coralcoe.org.au