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
“Charlie” Veron, former Chief Scientist of AIMS, has worked on all the major coral reef regions of the world. He has over 100 research publications including 12 books and monographs on corals and coral reefs.
His latest book, A Reef in Time: the Great Barrier Reef from Beginning to End (Harvard University Press, 2008), distils the world’s best science for general readers, following the GBR from its earliest origins, to current issues, to future prognoses.
ABSTRACT:
The outlook for the Great Barrier Reef is serious in the extreme. Not only is climate change on a course that will lead to the wholesale destruction of most of the Reef’s biota, it is pushing our planet to the brink of the Earth’s sixth mass extinction. In the deep geological past, these extinctions have hit tropical marine life hardest through upheavals of the carbon cycle mediated by carbon dioxide. Today, carbon dioxide is creating changes to temperature, weather, sea level and ocean alkalinity. These changes are widely known; what is not widely known is the immediacy of the crisis. The last IPCC report – currently the main provider of information to governments about climate change – has seriously underestimated time-lines. This talk looks at how humanity has responded to this crisis and what the future options are.
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
