Understanding marine migratory connectivity for more sustainable oceans. Ocean basin-scale migrations of iconic sea turtles, marine mammals, seabirds, and fish expose them to multiple stressors and governance regimes, leading to gaps in management and population declines. The project aims to deliver the methods and evidence base of cross-taxa migratory connectivity that is essential to support the
conservation of these species. Expected outcomes include comprehensive and integrated models of mig ....Understanding marine migratory connectivity for more sustainable oceans. Ocean basin-scale migrations of iconic sea turtles, marine mammals, seabirds, and fish expose them to multiple stressors and governance regimes, leading to gaps in management and population declines. The project aims to deliver the methods and evidence base of cross-taxa migratory connectivity that is essential to support the
conservation of these species. Expected outcomes include comprehensive and integrated models of migratory connectivity, conservation theory development, and new methods that allow incorporation of migratory connectivity in conservation planning. Benefits include: a cross-taxa baseline that will enable Australia to measure environmental change in marine migratory connectivity for the first time.Read moreRead less
Tackling marine conservation issues at national and global scales. This project aims to collect and apply standardised underwater data on fishes, invertebrates and plants in an unprecedented global analysis of decadal change in rocky and coral reef ecosystems. Outcomes will include validation of global models of ocean warming and understanding of poorly known ecological impacts of recreational fisheries. A suite of data-informed recommendations developed through engagement across management, sci ....Tackling marine conservation issues at national and global scales. This project aims to collect and apply standardised underwater data on fishes, invertebrates and plants in an unprecedented global analysis of decadal change in rocky and coral reef ecosystems. Outcomes will include validation of global models of ocean warming and understanding of poorly known ecological impacts of recreational fisheries. A suite of data-informed recommendations developed through engagement across management, science and public sectors will benefit Australians by enabling improved sustainability of resource use. International benefits will propagate through increased data access, improvements in predictive models and the evidence base required for large-scale biodiversity-related policy reform.Read moreRead less
Biotic connectivity within the temperate Australian marine protected area network at three levels of biodiversity, communities, populations and genes. Project outcomes will improve management of coastal biodiversity through a multi-state collaboration of managers, marine ecologists, population geneticists and taxonomists. Sites most needed within marine protected area (MPA) networks for maintaining resilience of populations across seascapes will be identified, including sites with exceptional en ....Biotic connectivity within the temperate Australian marine protected area network at three levels of biodiversity, communities, populations and genes. Project outcomes will improve management of coastal biodiversity through a multi-state collaboration of managers, marine ecologists, population geneticists and taxonomists. Sites most needed within marine protected area (MPA) networks for maintaining resilience of populations across seascapes will be identified, including sites with exceptional endemism or key roles in dispersal of larvae. The ecological efficacy of the temperate Australian MPA network will be assessed through analysis of long-term ecological datasets and further development of a novel 'remote sensing' methodology, whereby surveys are undertaken by volunteer divers across much greater spatial and temporal scales than could be studied by dedicated scientific dive teams.Read moreRead less
Reef health tipping-points: triage for threatened/collapsed reef ecosystems. The accelerating collapse of reef ecosystems represents one of the greatest threats for marine biodiversity and seafood production worldwide. To confront this emergency, this Fellowship will determine reef health tipping-points and provide a new 'reef ecosystem triage’ approach to prioritise the order of preventative treatments to safeguard threatened reefs, while directing remediation efforts to collapsed reefs where r ....Reef health tipping-points: triage for threatened/collapsed reef ecosystems. The accelerating collapse of reef ecosystems represents one of the greatest threats for marine biodiversity and seafood production worldwide. To confront this emergency, this Fellowship will determine reef health tipping-points and provide a new 'reef ecosystem triage’ approach to prioritise the order of preventative treatments to safeguard threatened reefs, while directing remediation efforts to collapsed reefs where recovery is most probable. The research will directly benefit reef-dependent industries and coastal communities by providing an objective evidence-based reef health system to protect against collapse and to identify our greatest opportunities to recover vast biodiversity and economic potential for reef ecosystems.Read moreRead less
Improved management of marine habitats by learning from historical change. This project aims to greatly improve the cost-effectiveness of actions to protect and restore shallow subtidal marine habitats by quantifying the severity and distribution of recent human impacts. Environmental change will be quantified as the difference between contemporary and historical assemblages encompassing thousands of invertebrate species, and by reading historical chronicles coded by mollusc shells layered in se ....Improved management of marine habitats by learning from historical change. This project aims to greatly improve the cost-effectiveness of actions to protect and restore shallow subtidal marine habitats by quantifying the severity and distribution of recent human impacts. Environmental change will be quantified as the difference between contemporary and historical assemblages encompassing thousands of invertebrate species, and by reading historical chronicles coded by mollusc shells layered in sediments. The roles of different stressors (warming, dredging, eutrophication, introduced species, sediment runoff) will be distinguished. Expected outcomes include continental-scale understanding of factors that facilitate ecosystem decline and recovery, and of sites and species traits most affected by ongoing threats.Read moreRead less
Improving prediction of rocky reef ecosystem responses to human impacts. This project aims to improve our understanding of inshore ecosystems to facilitate better management of our living marine heritage. The project first aims to extend field datasets on the density and distribution of thousands of marine fishes, invertebrates and macro-algae. These will then be combined using recent advances in quantitative ecological modelling to describe transfer of biomass between species at hundreds of sit ....Improving prediction of rocky reef ecosystem responses to human impacts. This project aims to improve our understanding of inshore ecosystems to facilitate better management of our living marine heritage. The project first aims to extend field datasets on the density and distribution of thousands of marine fishes, invertebrates and macro-algae. These will then be combined using recent advances in quantitative ecological modelling to describe transfer of biomass between species at hundreds of sites, with a primary focus on southern Australia. It is anticipated that this will provide site-level indices of major food web processes that, when combined with ‘before, after, control, impact’ data, will improve prediction of ecological consequences of fishing, climate change, pest outbreaks and pollution.Read moreRead less
Understanding algal bloom microbiome function to improve seafood safety. Current phytoplankton ecological theory is derived primarily from lab cultures, but in nature phytoplankton have unique microbiomes that support their growth and ongoing ocean primary production. This project aims to establish the structure and function of these natural microbiomes, and how they contribute to seafood poisoning caused by bacteria and algal biotoxins. Using advanced flow cytometry with single-cell microbial ....Understanding algal bloom microbiome function to improve seafood safety. Current phytoplankton ecological theory is derived primarily from lab cultures, but in nature phytoplankton have unique microbiomes that support their growth and ongoing ocean primary production. This project aims to establish the structure and function of these natural microbiomes, and how they contribute to seafood poisoning caused by bacteria and algal biotoxins. Using advanced flow cytometry with single-cell microbial profiling, we will sample nano-scale plankton microbiomes and synthetic microbiome phylogenomics to the link between microbiomes and seafood poisoning outbreaks. The outcomes will underpin enhanced predictive modelling of seafood risk to ensure the safety and export security of Australia's $2 billion seafood industry.Read moreRead less
Effects of invasive macrofauna on marine biodiversity and ecosystem function. The project will identify environmental and biological factors that help prevent invasion of native marine communities by introduced pests, and describe thresholds in marine systems where further loss of macrofaunal species results in declines in ecosystem health.
Resolving the warming East Australian Current's impact on a marine food web. Resolving the warming East Australian Current's impact on a marine food web. This project aims to understand the effects of climate change on marine food webs, from plankton production to predation by iconic marine fauna, by integrating data on oceanographic conditions and fish distribution with the foraging patterns and breeding success of seabirds. Warming waters due to strengthening western boundary currents have unk ....Resolving the warming East Australian Current's impact on a marine food web. Resolving the warming East Australian Current's impact on a marine food web. This project aims to understand the effects of climate change on marine food webs, from plankton production to predation by iconic marine fauna, by integrating data on oceanographic conditions and fish distribution with the foraging patterns and breeding success of seabirds. Warming waters due to strengthening western boundary currents have unknown consequences for coastal marine food webs. Innovative prey capture signatures from accelerometers, and advanced movement models from satellite locations will show how predators locate and prey upon fish schools. Anticipated outcomes are insight into how changing resource availability in the oceans affects ecosystem resilience; improved viability for coastal industries; and ecosystem-based conservation management strategies.Read moreRead less
Using animal-borne cameras to quantify prey field, habitat characteristics and foraging success in a marine top predator. To understand the factors which influence population dynamics, knowledge of habitat use is required. This project will determine the key ecological characteristics of the Australian fur seal habitat, enabling fundamental issues of foraging ecology and wildlife management to be addressed for the first time in a marine mammal.