Future too warm for baby sharks
New research has found as climate change causes the world’s oceans to warm, baby sharks are born smaller, exhausted, undernourished and into environments that are already difficult for them to survi
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
Nick is a senior research fellow in the Centre, formally based at Newcastle University in the UK. His research is focused on sustainable use and long-term persistence of coral reef ecosystems in Australia and the tropics globally. He addresses large-scale ecological questions related to climate change, fisheries and natural resource management. This has included assessing the impacts of coral bleaching on coral reef fish and fisheries, assessing recovery trajectories of fish communities within no-take marine protected areas and working with social scientists and economists to develop appropriate management options under differing environmental, societal and political settings.
There is an emerging awareness that marine wilderness is both quantitatively and qualitatively different from the small marine protected areas that are steadily dotting coastlines. Here I present reef fish biomass and composition in remote atolls of the Chagos Archipelago, central Indian Ocean and place this reference site in the context of reef fish communities under differing management across the western Indian Ocean (WIO) and globally. Reef fish biomass in Chagos dwarfs that of the rest of the WIO, with mean biomass estimates over 6 times higher than the highest recorded in no-take marine protected areas in the rest of the WIO. Furthermore, the contribution of higher trophic levels and larger individuals to the standing fish biomass is far greater in Chagos. The highest reported reef fish biomass estimates from the remotest reefs of the Pacific, Caribbean and Indian Ocean are comparable, however the composition of the fish community varies greatly. These remote wilderness areas are clearly unique, however care needs to be taken not to make the same mistakes in the oceans that we made on land; protecting remote areas of little current commercial value and allowing biodiversity and ecosystem services to be lost in areas of greater human use. Despite the relatively modest increases in fish biomass in small MPAs and gear restricted areas in the WIO, clear changes in ecological processes are detectable. Importantly, these changes can be visualized as ecological switchpoints along a continuum of fishable biomass, enabling reference points to be set for ecosystem based fisheries management.
New research has found as climate change causes the world’s oceans to warm, baby sharks are born smaller, exhausted, undernourished and into environments that are already difficult for them to survi
A new study shows the coastal protection coral reefs currently provide will start eroding by the end of the century, as the world continues to warm and the oceans acidify. A team of researchers led
A team of scientists led by the ARC Centre of Excellence for Coral Reef Studies (Coral CoE) won one of the nation’s top science awards at tonight’s ‘Oscars of Australian science’, the Eureka P
An analytical tool will be used to assess the climate risks facing historic World Heritage sites in Africa—the ruins of two great 13th century ports and the remains of a palace and iron-making indus
Abstract: It is a little over a decade since research commenced into the effects of anthropogenic ocean acidification on marine fishes. In that time, we have learned that projected end-of-century
Abstract: Increased uptake of carbon dioxide from the atmosphere has caused the world’s ocean to become more acidic. Different marine habitats are known to have varying ranges of CO2 across mul
Abstract: The Allen Coral Atlas (http://allencoralatlas.org) partnership uses high-resolution satellite imagery, machine learning, and field data to map and monitor the world’s coral reefs at unp
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Abstract: Invasive species management can be the the subject of debate in many countries due to conflicting ecological, ethical, economic, and social reasons, especially when dealing with a species s
Abstract: Ocean acidification, the increase in seawater CO2 with all its associated consequences, is relatively well understood in open oceans. In shelf seas such as the Great Barrier Reef, processe
Abstract: The backdrop of legends and movies, the deep sea has always been unfathomable because we had no idea what existed there. Once thought to be barren of life, we now know this couldn’t be
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