Cassandra Thompson
Master of Philosophy candidate
Bachelor of Science (Environmental Science), James Cook University
James Cook University
cassandra.thompson@my.jcu.edu.au
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
Master of Philosophy candidate
Bachelor of Science (Environmental Science), James Cook University
James Cook University
cassandra.thompson@my.jcu.edu.au
Bio:
Cassy grew up in various locations around the coast of Australia starting in Perth, Western Australia, and ending up in Townsville, North Queensland. After undertaking a research project at the age of 8 focussing on deep-sea anglerfish, she was hooked on the marine world. This may have also been where her interest and excitement over frogfish (to the dismay of her supervisors and anyone who stops long enough to listen) was first sparked. A first-time snorkel at Coral Bay, and a dive with Dad’s giant SCUBA gear in the home pool, followed shortly thereafter cementing the love for being underwater. After completion of undergrad studies and volunteering at the Australian Institute of Marine Science (AIMS) in Townsville, she landed a short-term contract there as a technical assistant on an aquaria-based ecotoxicology study of seagrass that when finished, led to other short-term positions at AIMS until accepting a job at Lizard Island Research Station (LIRS). Between finishing at LIRS and starting her current employment and study adventure she travelled through south-east Asia and worked as a divemaster and survey techniques instructor for Operation Wallacea on Pulau Hoga, Wakatobi Marine Park, Indonesia in both 2015 and 2016. Currently she is working as a research assistant in the Pratchett Lab, and studying part time towards her Master of Philosophy under the supervision of Prof. Morgan Pratchett, Dr. Andrew Hoey, and Dr. Mia Hoogenboom. Her work for the Pratchett Lab includes investigating spatial and temporal variation in population dynamics of crown-of-thorns starfish, investigating traits of corals specific to aquarium trade fisheries, and conducting surveys for coral monitoring (on the Great Barrier Reef and in the Coral Sea).
Personal profiles:
OrcID | ResearchGate | Twitter | Google Scholar
Project title and description:
“Effects of coral loss on reproductive biology and population viability of Chaetodon Butterflyfish”
Coral reefs worldwide are experiencing severe and sustained habitat degradation, with declines in the abundance of habitat-forming and reef-building corals due to coral bleaching and damage from more frequent and severe storm events. Ongoing declines in abundance of corals have direct effects on many reef-associated organisms and especially those species that rely on coral for food or habit
Collecting CoTS settlement traps on SCUBA. Photo credit: Ciemon Caballes
at. Specialised fishes such as butterflyfish, that have evolved close and critical relationships with scleractinian corals may be extremely vulnerable to widespread reef degradation and coral loss. Exploring changes in abundance and behaviour of coral-feeding butterflyfishes across spatial and temporal gradients in live coral cover will increase our understanding of disturbed coral reef ecosystems. Species-specific vulnerability of coral-feeding butterflyfishes to severe and widespread coral loss will depend not only on their specific reliance on corals, but their sociality and reproductive mode. Most species of butterflyfishes are pair-forming and presumed to be highly monogamous. However, some butterflyfishes such as the obligate corallivore Chaetodon trifascialis (Chevron butterflyfish) exhibit much more complex sociality. In areas with high cover of preferred coral prey, individuals of C. trifascialis reside in small overlapping territories suggesting that this species is haeremic, whereby males mate sequentially with the several different females within their territory. If so, this mating system may be extremely vulnerable to declining availability of coral prey. As their food source diminishes, their territories may become further apart, which may also affect the energy costs of maintaining a harem, decreasing the reproductive viability of fish in that area. It is also unclear how harems form and are maintained, unless C. trifascialis is capable of changing sex, a trait not yet recorded for this genus.
Publications:
Conference Presentations:
Professional Societies:
Teaching:
2016 Reef Survey Techniques instructor – Operation Wallacea, Pulau Hoga, Sulawesi, Indonesia
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
Abstract: Climate change is causing the average surface temperature of the oceans to rise and increasing the frequency and intensity of marine heatwaves. In addition, absorption of additional CO2
Abstract: Marine environments are a concealing medium, where observations of natural fish behavior are challenging. In particular, the geographic and depth distributions of migratory top predators ar
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