Patrick Smallhorn-West

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

PhD candidate

I am working in collaboration with the Ministry of Fisheries in the Kingdom of Tonga to provide a national assessment of the current state of their coral reefs, as well as of the impact of their MPA network. In addition my research focuses on developing novel techniques for assessing MPA impact, or the actual difference conservation can make, which incorporates accounting for confounding factors and moves beyond traditional approaches. The project is supervised by Geoff Jones, Tom Bridge, Bob Pressey and Georgina Gurney.

James Cook University

patrick.smallhornwest@my.jcu.edu.au

0481709936

Media Releases

14 Jun 2019

Squid could thrive under climate change

Squid will survive and may even flourish under even the worst-case ocean acidification scenarios, according to a new study published this week. Dr Blake Spady, from the ARC Centre of Excellence for C

06 Jun 2019

Cardinalfish caught sneaking a bit on the side

Scientists have revealed the torrid, adulterous love lives of the mouth-brooding cardinalfish, with cuckoldry going hand-in-hand with cannibalism of the young.“This is a small and unassuming cor

28 May 2019

Coral reefs can’t return from acid trip

A new study published today in Nature Climate Change finds coral reefs are under threat from ocean acidification.The study was led by researchers from the ARC Centre of Excellence for Coral Reef S

24 May 2019

Tiny fish live fast, die young

New research has revealed that the short lives and violent deaths of some of coral reefs’ smallest tenants may be vital to the health of reef systems, including the iconic Great Barrier Reef.Dr

Seminars

19 Jun

Coral reefs and MPAs in coastal China: challenges & opportunities for improving management, and incorporating ecosystem goods and services into economic policy

China’s extraordinary economic development over recent decades has had enormous impacts on coastal marine ecosystems, including extensive, coastal coral reefs in the southern provinces. With around

13 Jun

Pesticides in the Great Barrier Reef region: Status, risk and management

Pesticides (particularly herbicides and insecticides) are detected ubiquitously in the Great Barrier Reef (GBR) region waterways. This is largely as the GBR has relatively comprehensive long-term moni

06 Jun

Gender (In)Equity at James Cook University

In 2016, JCU joined the pilot of the Science in Australia Gender Equity (SAGE) Athena SWAN program. This program aims to move towards gender equity in STEMM at universities and research institutes acr

04 Jun

Reconstructing the destructive and benefical impacts of tropical cyclone on reefs

Most of the world's coral reefs are periodically exposed to heavy seas generated by tropical cyclones which can cause major structural damage to corals that, over time, can play a key role in shaping

23 May

Responses of the Great Barrier Reef to global heating

Anthropogenic global heating has emerged as a major driver of the trajectory of the world’s coral reefs. Pan-tropical coral bleaching (affecting >94% of coral reefs) has now occurred three times

22 May

Regeneration on the reef: a laboratory approach

Corals and sponges are morphologically simple organisms, playing key roles in the ecosystems they build and maintain, providing habitats for other species of animals, plants and microbes: branching st

16 May

Imaging and analysis of cells, tissues, and organisms

This seminar will provide an overview of our recent adventures into bio-imaging and analysis with particular focus toward understanding structure and interaction at the scale of a single cell and/or i

02 May

A better understanding of social-ecological systems is needed for adapting fisheries to climate change

Adaptation to climate change has been traditionally studied at the scale of the individual, with studies either looking at vulnerability or focusing on specific adaptation actions and the potential of