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
Abstract: Coral reefs are dynamic and complex systems, and hence have ability teach us about fundamental principles of community ecology. One long-standing interest is learning how ecological communities organize, considering changes in structure and function during succession, and timelines for community development. Our team has been using data from geographic gradients complemented with extended observational time series to consider the foundations of ecological succession, exploring in detail mechanisms and patterns linked with the evolution of community structure. Following a disturbance, succession on coral reefs shows some consistencies. In general, the average sizes of fishes and corals increase, and these larger organisms show increased capacity to resist negative effects of subsequent disturbances. Species interactions (both trophic and competitive) become increasingly organized with succession, creating more stability of population and community structure.The structure of coral reefs is never static, especially given the rapid environmental changes today. As such, describing and predicting future coral reef structure and functioning demands a dynamical perspective, a perspective made clearer with a lens of ecological succession.
Biography: Stuart Sandin is a community ecologist with interests in understanding differences in the structure and functioning of ecosystems across space and through time. Much of his work has built upon observations from coral reef islands spanning distinct geographic gradients. With this perspective, Sandin founded the 100 Island Challenge (100IslandChallenge.org), a natural experiment aimed at defining the interacting effects of oceanographic context, island geomorphology, and human impacts on the composition and growth within coral reef communities. Sandin is the Oliver Chair in Marine Biodiversity and Conservation Science and professor of marine ecology at Scripps Institution of Oceanography, UC San Diego. He serves as the director of the Center for Marine Biodiversity and Conservation, a program based at Scripps promoting interdisciplinary research and educational approaches to maintain the integrity of ocean ecosystems and manage their use in the face of rapid and inevitable global change.
James Cook University researchers have found brightly coloured fish are becoming increasingly rare as coral declines, with the phenomenon likely to get worse in the future. Christopher Hemingson, a
Researchers working with stakeholders in the Great Barrier Reef region have come up with ideas on how groups responsible for looking after the reef can operate more effectively when the next bleaching
A new study has delivered a stark warning about the impacts of urban growth on the world’s coral reefs. As coastal developments expand at pace around the world, a year-long study of coral on a reef
Alarming new research shows global warming of 1.5°C relative to pre-industrial levels will be catastrophic for almost all coral reefs – including those once thought of as refuges. Associate Profes
Abstract: The past few years have seen unprecedented coral bleaching and mortality on the Great Barrier Reef (GBR) but the consequences of this on biodiversity are not yet known. This talk will expl
Abstract: Molecular approaches have revolutionised our understanding of the systematics and evolution of most branches on the tree of life, including corals. Over the last twenty-five years molecula
Abstract: Outbreaks of crown-of-thorns starfish (COTS) are a major driver of coral decline across the Great Barrier Reef (GBR) and compound upon the impacts of increasingly frequent and severe coral
Abstract: Being a new staff member at JCU, I will start with a short overview of my research. Next I will zoom in on a specific topic that I have been interested in for a long time: the impact of e
Abstract: The harsh truth is that, despite exciting innovations and increases in activity, ocean conservation is not succeeding, at least not fast enough. This is my conclusion from the last decad
This talk is the last of the parachute science seminar series organized by the ARC CoE Justice, Equity, Diversity and Inclusion (JEDI) committee. Abstract Universities and institutions across th
This talk is the second of three on parachute science being organized by the ARC CoE Justice, Equity, Diversity and Inclusion (JEDI) committee. Abstract For millenia, Traditional Owners have hel
This talk is the first of three on parachute science being organized by the ARC CoE Justice, Equity, Diversity and Inclusion (JEDI) committee. Abstract Parachute science is the practice whereby
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
