Movement, migration and social networks in wild shark populations. Sharks are vital components of marine ecosystems and contribute significantly to ecotourism and fisheries. Due to their slow rate of growth and reproduction, sharks are susceptible to over exploitation. A lack of knowledge regarding their behaviour and movement patterns is a key impediment to effective management. This project aims to examine social interactions and migration patterns of Port Jackson sharks using a unique combina ....Movement, migration and social networks in wild shark populations. Sharks are vital components of marine ecosystems and contribute significantly to ecotourism and fisheries. Due to their slow rate of growth and reproduction, sharks are susceptible to over exploitation. A lack of knowledge regarding their behaviour and movement patterns is a key impediment to effective management. This project aims to examine social interactions and migration patterns of Port Jackson sharks using a unique combination of genetic techniques, novel acoustic tag technology, behavioural manipulations and modern social network analysis. Once verified, the approach developed can be applied to other marine predators of particular management concern. The data generated will directly inform fisheries and conservation management policy.Read moreRead less
Forecasting coral reef recovery with new data-driven dispersal models. This project aims to combine innovative mathematical methods and new genetic data to accurately predict the larval dispersal patterns of reef fish and corals. Larval dispersal is central to the ecology of coral reefs, and has vital implications for conservation. Most marine organisms spend their early life dispersing in the ocean, but our understanding of where these tiny larvae go is limited by sparse data and unvalidated mo ....Forecasting coral reef recovery with new data-driven dispersal models. This project aims to combine innovative mathematical methods and new genetic data to accurately predict the larval dispersal patterns of reef fish and corals. Larval dispersal is central to the ecology of coral reefs, and has vital implications for conservation. Most marine organisms spend their early life dispersing in the ocean, but our understanding of where these tiny larvae go is limited by sparse data and unvalidated models. Applied to extensive case-studies from Australia and across the western Pacific Ocean, these methods will be used to forecast and understand the recovery of fish and coral populations following severe disturbances. This will provide benefits such as enabling us to prioritise conservation actions in the aftermath of severe disturbances, including the catastrophic 2016 mass coral bleaching on the Great Barrier Reef.Read moreRead less
Rewiring marine food webs: Predicting consequences of species range shifts. This project aims to predict how changes in climate-driven species distributions affect shallow marine communities globally. Environmental change affects the structure, resilience and productivity of coastal marine ecosystems at regional and global scales. This project will combine global species distribution and trait databases, existing experimental data and targeted field sampling to develop, test and apply an integra ....Rewiring marine food webs: Predicting consequences of species range shifts. This project aims to predict how changes in climate-driven species distributions affect shallow marine communities globally. Environmental change affects the structure, resilience and productivity of coastal marine ecosystems at regional and global scales. This project will combine global species distribution and trait databases, existing experimental data and targeted field sampling to develop, test and apply an integrated modelling platform to predict how global warming-driven changes in species distributions and their interactions affect the structure and dynamics of shallow marine communities. This project addresses a knowledge gap on how species’ redistributions and trophic dynamics produce communities, and aims to forecast future species abundances for sustainable marine ecosystem management.Read moreRead less
Poleward bound: mechanisms and consequences of climate-driven species redistribution in marine ecosystems. Global redistribution of Earth's species is widely recognised as a fingerprint of climate change. However, the physiological and ecological processes that underpin such shifts in the distribution of marine species are poorly understood. Even less is known about why species respond at different rates, and how such widespread changes will impact the structure and function of Australia's marin ....Poleward bound: mechanisms and consequences of climate-driven species redistribution in marine ecosystems. Global redistribution of Earth's species is widely recognised as a fingerprint of climate change. However, the physiological and ecological processes that underpin such shifts in the distribution of marine species are poorly understood. Even less is known about why species respond at different rates, and how such widespread changes will impact the structure and function of Australia's marine ecosystems. This research will address critical knowledge gaps of why and how species respond in vastly different ways to environmental change. Research outcomes will improve the capacity to predict responses of marine species and ecosystems to climate change and provide advice relevant to strategic management of valuable natural resources.Read moreRead less
Using larval connectivity to inform marine reserve network designs in the Coral Triangle. Networks of no-take marine reserves are considered critical tools to ensure conservation and food security targets in the Coral Triangle Region, just north of Australia. More than 1400 community-managed marine reserves have been established in the Philippines, the most populace part of the Coral Triangle. The local conservation and fisheries benefits of these reserves have been well documented. A need now e ....Using larval connectivity to inform marine reserve network designs in the Coral Triangle. Networks of no-take marine reserves are considered critical tools to ensure conservation and food security targets in the Coral Triangle Region, just north of Australia. More than 1400 community-managed marine reserves have been established in the Philippines, the most populace part of the Coral Triangle. The local conservation and fisheries benefits of these reserves have been well documented. A need now exists to convert these individual reserves into operational reserve networks. This project proposes to use new information on larval connectivity, biodiversity and human usage patterns, and local governance networks, to systematically improve the design of an existing Philippine reserve network. Read moreRead less
Discovery Early Career Researcher Award - Grant ID: DE130100572
Funder
Australian Research Council
Funding Amount
$369,745.00
Summary
Understanding the ecological and economic implications of reef fish larval dispersal. Until we understand larval dispersal, the movement of reef fish during their juvenile stage, we cannot sustainably manage coral reef ecosystems. This project will use sophisticated mathematical tools to understand how larval dispersal influences the ecology and management of the Great Barrier Reef and a fishery in Papua New Guinea.
Conserving coral reef fish and sustaining fisheries in the anthropocene. This project aims to re-evaluate principles for designing marine reserves to conserve reef fish and sustain fisheries under current and future scenarios of habitat quality and population connectivity. The project will integrate advanced genetic methods, novel field experiments and new quantitative approaches to optimise reserve network design to promote population recovery, persistence and yield for a range of fish species. ....Conserving coral reef fish and sustaining fisheries in the anthropocene. This project aims to re-evaluate principles for designing marine reserves to conserve reef fish and sustain fisheries under current and future scenarios of habitat quality and population connectivity. The project will integrate advanced genetic methods, novel field experiments and new quantitative approaches to optimise reserve network design to promote population recovery, persistence and yield for a range of fish species. It will recommend optimal reserve size, spacing and location for geographic regions subject to different levels of habitat degradation and fishing pressure. It will benefit Australia and our regional neighbours by providing the critical science necessary for the successful management of shared coral reef assets and resources.Read moreRead less
Contemporary and retrospective genomic analyses of tiger and white sharks. This project aims to elucidate population structure and spatiotemporal changes in population distribution of tiger and white sharks; estimate the effective number of individuals across populations; and investigate signatures of adaptive evolution in tiger- and white shark populations in response to exploitation and global change. It will perform high-resolution retrospective genomic analyses using DNA extracted from conte ....Contemporary and retrospective genomic analyses of tiger and white sharks. This project aims to elucidate population structure and spatiotemporal changes in population distribution of tiger and white sharks; estimate the effective number of individuals across populations; and investigate signatures of adaptive evolution in tiger- and white shark populations in response to exploitation and global change. It will perform high-resolution retrospective genomic analyses using DNA extracted from contemporary and archival tiger and white shark skeletal material held in museum and trophy collections around the world. This project expects to gain valuable insight into the biology of both species and provide information for conservation and management purposes.Read moreRead less
Do marine reserve networks work? Larval connectivity, sustainable harvesting and ecological resilience. The Great Barrier Reef is a globally iconic marine ecosystem and benefits from the world's largest network of no-take reserves. While we know reserves contain more and bigger fish, several key questions about how reserves contribute to sustainable harvesting, protecting biodiversity and resisting climate change remain unanswered. Answers depend on a new understanding of the degree to which fis ....Do marine reserve networks work? Larval connectivity, sustainable harvesting and ecological resilience. The Great Barrier Reef is a globally iconic marine ecosystem and benefits from the world's largest network of no-take reserves. While we know reserves contain more and bigger fish, several key questions about how reserves contribute to sustainable harvesting, protecting biodiversity and resisting climate change remain unanswered. Answers depend on a new understanding of the degree to which fish population on different reefs are connected, and whether or not reserve networks help sustain these linkages. This project will use new technologies to measure the transport of fish larvae between reefs, to assess strengths and weaknesses of the reserve network, and examine ways to improve species protection and sustainable harvesting in a changing climate.Read moreRead less