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Developing tools for assessing ecological performance of marine protected areas. Marine Protected Areas (MPAs) are rapidly being established around Australia as a device to conserve marine biodiversity. Their ability to sustain animal and plant populations depends critically on the ability of populations to replenish themselves, but we have no ready way of assessing replenishment, relying instead on simple counts of animals and plants within MPAs as a measure of their success. We propose a new ....Developing tools for assessing ecological performance of marine protected areas. Marine Protected Areas (MPAs) are rapidly being established around Australia as a device to conserve marine biodiversity. Their ability to sustain animal and plant populations depends critically on the ability of populations to replenish themselves, but we have no ready way of assessing replenishment, relying instead on simple counts of animals and plants within MPAs as a measure of their success. We propose a new measure, using relationships between adult stocks and recruitment, as a way of assessing the long-term success of MPAs. We will test this measure using comparisons among marine national parks that were established recently in Victoria.Read moreRead less
Special Research Initiatives - Grant ID: SR0354638
Funder
Australian Research Council
Funding Amount
$20,000.00
Summary
Innovative science for sustainable use of marine biodiversity goods and services. Development of new scientific tools and technologies provide expanded opportunities for marine biological research in Australia. An urgent need is to coordinate research scientists and institutions to ensure maximum benefits and to meet Australia's obligations under UNCLOS. The primary goal of this proposed Network is to develop research programs of international significance, through the establishment of new teams ....Innovative science for sustainable use of marine biodiversity goods and services. Development of new scientific tools and technologies provide expanded opportunities for marine biological research in Australia. An urgent need is to coordinate research scientists and institutions to ensure maximum benefits and to meet Australia's obligations under UNCLOS. The primary goal of this proposed Network is to develop research programs of international significance, through the establishment of new teams of Australia's leading marine scientists, mathematical modelers and economists that transcend traditional disciplinary, institutional and geographic boundaries. Our goal is to add focus, scale and scope to an enduring program of innovative research development, leading to world leadership in marine resource management.Read moreRead less
Connecting ecological processes controlling variation across spatial scales. Large variability in numbers and types of animals from place to place and time to time characterizes many ecological systems, particularly on the rocky shores along our coasts. It confuses interpretation and hampers predictions about conservation, impacts and climatic change. This programme is a systematic experimental analysis of the major causes of variance (availability of suitable habitat and food, influences of w ....Connecting ecological processes controlling variation across spatial scales. Large variability in numbers and types of animals from place to place and time to time characterizes many ecological systems, particularly on the rocky shores along our coasts. It confuses interpretation and hampers predictions about conservation, impacts and climatic change. This programme is a systematic experimental analysis of the major causes of variance (availability of suitable habitat and food, influences of weather) on the animals and indirectly on their food. The research will unravel the interacting influences that operate over several spatial scales to cause variability in local diversity. This will radically increase our capacity to sustain our coastal fauna.Read moreRead less
Ocean currents and genetic connectedness in a complex archipelago. To what extent are marine coastal communities ?open?, i.e. how often do the oceans carry larvae far from their point of spawning, and what influence does such ocean transport have on the spread of genetic information? These are some of the most fundamental questions of biological oceanography; the project will provide new answers by using an extremely detailed genetic data set from the Houtman Abrolhos Islands off Western Austra ....Ocean currents and genetic connectedness in a complex archipelago. To what extent are marine coastal communities ?open?, i.e. how often do the oceans carry larvae far from their point of spawning, and what influence does such ocean transport have on the spread of genetic information? These are some of the most fundamental questions of biological oceanography; the project will provide new answers by using an extremely detailed genetic data set from the Houtman Abrolhos Islands off Western Australian together with an advanced numerical ocean model especially suited to that environment and developed in Australia.Read moreRead less
Understanding the ecological resilience of nearshore marine communities. Our thinking about climate change and its effects on marine ecosystems is shifting from considering how we can prevent it occurring to understanding how natural systems might adapt to climate change, or how we might improve the ability of these ecosystems to recover, that is, their resilience to change. In many shallow water ecosystems, one or a few key species provide habitat structure that in turn determines the abundanc ....Understanding the ecological resilience of nearshore marine communities. Our thinking about climate change and its effects on marine ecosystems is shifting from considering how we can prevent it occurring to understanding how natural systems might adapt to climate change, or how we might improve the ability of these ecosystems to recover, that is, their resilience to change. In many shallow water ecosystems, one or a few key species provide habitat structure that in turn determines the abundance of a wide range of other species. This proposal will take two important temperate marine 'engineers' and identify the factors that make them most resilient.Read moreRead less
Understanding marine biodiversity across vast spatial scales. Large-scale studies of biodiversity are frequently recommended by ecologists, but their costs are prohibitive. More efficient, yet accurate, sampling and analytical procedures are needed. This proposal will provide new quantitative knowledge on patterns of diversity of marine species (fish & invertebrates) from local to regional scales across southern Australia and northern New Zealand. An innovative feature of this research is the c ....Understanding marine biodiversity across vast spatial scales. Large-scale studies of biodiversity are frequently recommended by ecologists, but their costs are prohibitive. More efficient, yet accurate, sampling and analytical procedures are needed. This proposal will provide new quantitative knowledge on patterns of diversity of marine species (fish & invertebrates) from local to regional scales across southern Australia and northern New Zealand. An innovative feature of this research is the contribution of new ecological information with novel analytical procedures to identify the consequences of using more cost-effective techniques on quantifying patterns of biodiversity. This understanding is fundamental to the on-going advancement of ecology and conservation biology.Read moreRead less
Evaluating the influence of trophic connections between marine habitats on the effectiveness of Marine Protected Areas. Marine ecosystems are characterized by trophic subsidies: consumers forage between habitats, and ungrazed primary production is exported as drift or detritus. However, the trophic relationships we see today may in a sense be unnatural, because intensive fishing of consumers may have fundamentally altered them.
We aim to evaluate the importance of the exchange of consumers and ....Evaluating the influence of trophic connections between marine habitats on the effectiveness of Marine Protected Areas. Marine ecosystems are characterized by trophic subsidies: consumers forage between habitats, and ungrazed primary production is exported as drift or detritus. However, the trophic relationships we see today may in a sense be unnatural, because intensive fishing of consumers may have fundamentally altered them.
We aim to evaluate the importance of the exchange of consumers and drift between seagrass and reef habitats in Australia and North America. We aim to find out whether fishing alters these processes by studying marine protected areas in both continents.
This work will come at a crucial time for the implementation of Australia's MPA system.
Read moreRead less
Setting the limits: Ecological and genetic tests of the status of marine populations at species borders. The wide dispersion of Australia's population along our coastal fringe combined with global climate change poses severe threats to marine biodiversity and necessitates urgent conservation measures. Our study will use ecological and genetic approaches to contribute to our understanding of the roles of reproduction and dispersal in maintaining biodiversity. We will determine whether some loca ....Setting the limits: Ecological and genetic tests of the status of marine populations at species borders. The wide dispersion of Australia's population along our coastal fringe combined with global climate change poses severe threats to marine biodiversity and necessitates urgent conservation measures. Our study will use ecological and genetic approaches to contribute to our understanding of the roles of reproduction and dispersal in maintaining biodiversity. We will determine whether some locations are highly productive sources of larval colonists, whereas others are unproductive and dependent on other sources of recruits, and we will inform management practices such as the creation of marine protected areas.Read moreRead less
Ecological consequences of global warming: predicting effects on biodiversity on intertidal assemblages on the east coast of Australia. Understanding what conserves biodiversity is a crucial challenge for Australian science. This research will provide critical information on the consequences of global climatic change: southerly shifts in distributions of animals due to rising temperatures; vertical shifts due to rising sea level and changes in amounts of food for grazing species. This informatio ....Ecological consequences of global warming: predicting effects on biodiversity on intertidal assemblages on the east coast of Australia. Understanding what conserves biodiversity is a crucial challenge for Australian science. This research will provide critical information on the consequences of global climatic change: southerly shifts in distributions of animals due to rising temperatures; vertical shifts due to rising sea level and changes in amounts of food for grazing species. This information will underpin the future management of conservation and will improve understanding on issues such as how and why species are able to invade new areas, the effects on the resident species and how species change distribution in relation to the availability of specific needs for habitat.Read moreRead less
The role of natural selection in macroevolution: a case study examining convergence of form and function in marine predator guilds. Darwin's theory of evolution natural selection is one of the most successful in the history of science and provides the framework for modern biology: however, areas of debate or uncertainty are often misinterpreted by non-scientists as indication of fundamental flaws in the theory. New 'hi-tech' tools provide the opportunity to re-examine these areas, and also to de ....The role of natural selection in macroevolution: a case study examining convergence of form and function in marine predator guilds. Darwin's theory of evolution natural selection is one of the most successful in the history of science and provides the framework for modern biology: however, areas of debate or uncertainty are often misinterpreted by non-scientists as indication of fundamental flaws in the theory. New 'hi-tech' tools provide the opportunity to re-examine these areas, and also to demonstrate the process of science to the public. The new tool is Computational Biomechanics, the future of studying biological form, and this project will further develop the leading role of Australian research in this technology which has applications for palaeontology, environmental management, medical science, and the next generation of engineering using 'biomaterials'.Read moreRead less