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
Tom is one of a few Australian Citizens in the ARC Centre of Excellence for Coral Reef Studies pursuing a PhD. He arrived here after completing his undergraduate degree and honors’ at the University of Queensland. As a child Tom spent most of his free time fishing on headlands in southern New South Wales and as a deckhand for his father, a commercial abalone diver at the time. During this period, his foraging techniques evolved from picking table fish out of rock pools with his hands to setting many lines with many hooks in the hope of catching enough for dinner, and witnessed the collapse of the valuable New South Wales abalone fishery. This, combined with historical ecology research with Professor John Pandolfi is the probable catalyst for his passion to understand how people either succeed or fail to sustain natural resources. He has been fortunate enough to see most of Melanesia, and now works in Solomon Islands, a nation with abundant natural capital that is fast diminishing with rapid social change.
This research project will test the explanatory power of divergent sociological theories in explaining the condition of coral reef resources. The project is of national scope in Solomon Islands and focuses on village scale understanding and analysis. The context is coral reef fisheries and associated villages, and comprising both spatial and temporal perspectives. Theories being tested include; 1) human ecology which states that humans are ultimately bound by the limits of ecological conditions (akin to neo-Malthusian philosophy); 2) Environmental Kuznets Curve (and its derivations) which predicts that through the development process, societies will deplete their natural capital to a point before improving their localized environmental quality with continued development; 3) Political economy, with the central tenant that condition of natural capital is driven by market economies and the institutions that support them. This project will also identify how these theories relate to the way societies utilize and manage their resources. A fisher perspective will also be utilized to understand cross-scale differences in social-ecological dynamics.
New research reveals marine heatwaves are a much bigger threat to coral reefs than previously thought, with effects that go beyond coral bleaching. In the study, scientists show for the first time th
The world’s largest coordinated study of coral reefs identifies just where and how to save coral reefs across the Indo-Pacific.More than 80 scientists, including an Australian team from the ARC
A group of Australian scientists has created the world’s first computer model that can accurately predict the movements of baby coral trout across the Great Barrier Reef.The study confirms the i
Being a fussy eater is a problem for reef fish who seek refuge from climate change on deeper reefs. But, scientists discovered, the coral that these fussy fish eat can support them.The study was l
Abstract: Outbreaks of the corallivorous Crown-of-thorns starfish (COTS; Acanthaster cf. solaris) have been responsible for 40% of the decline in coral cover on the GBR over the last 35 years. With
Abstract: Coral reef restoration is gaining momentum globally in response to the threat of climate change and associated coral bleaching. In Australia, as part of the Reef Restoration and Adaptatio
Abstract:Developing global environmental policies, and implementing these at a local level has proven extremely challenging. I will present research using ethnographic techniques and multi-level
Abstract: Recurrent bleaching events since the early 1980’s have led to enduring ecosystems changes throughout the Great Barrier Reef and Coral Sea and the increasing frequency and intensity of
Abstract: Conservation relies largely on the ability to influence behaviours and ensure rule adherence. Yet, noncompliance in conservation contexts is common. For instance, poaching regularly neg
AbstractProjected near-future ocean CO2 levels alter behaviours that affect survival, such as predator escape and foraging, in marine invertebrates. However, the mechanisms responsible for these e
Abstract:The long-standing paradigm that ecology and evolution play out on different timescales is increasingly challenged by recent studies that show real-time interaction of the two. Similarly t
Abstract: The declining condition of many habitats in the Great Barrier Reef World Heritage Area means marine park managers have to take a different approach to management. Managers can no longer rely
Partner Research Institutions
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
