ORCID Profile
0000-0003-4117-3779
Current Organisation
James Cook University
Does something not look right? The information on this page has been harvested from data sources that may not be up to date. We continue to work with information providers to improve coverage and quality. To report an issue, use the Feedback Form.
In Research Link Australia (RLA), "Research Topics" refer to ANZSRC FOR and SEO codes. These topics are either sourced from ANZSRC FOR and SEO codes listed in researchers' related grants or generated by a large language model (LLM) based on their publications.
Environmental Science and Management | Marine and Estuarine Ecology (incl. Marine Ichthyology) | Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander history | Quaternary environments | Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander archaeology | Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander culture language and history | Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Environmental Knowledge | Environmental Management | Conservation and Biodiversity | Environmental Rehabilitation (excl. Bioremediation) | Archaeological science | Population, Ecological and Evolutionary Genetics |
Ecosystem Assessment and Management of Coastal and Estuarine Environments | Conserving Natural Heritage | Marine Flora, Fauna and Biodiversity | Ecosystem Assessment and Management of Marine Environments |
Publisher: Wiley
Date: 18-11-2016
DOI: 10.1111/CONL.12208
Publisher: Elsevier BV
Date: 09-2011
Publisher: Wiley
Date: 09-2020
DOI: 10.1002/AQC.3374
Publisher: Elsevier BV
Date: 08-2019
Publisher: Wiley
Date: 16-10-2020
DOI: 10.1111/COBI.13418
Abstract: Globally, fisheries bycatch threatens the survival of many whale and dolphin species. Strategies for reducing bycatch can be expensive. Management is inclined to prioritize investment in actions that are inexpensive, but these may not be the most effective. We used an economic tool, return-on-investment, to identify cost-effective measures to reduce cetacean bycatch in the trawl, net, and line fisheries of Australia. We examined 3 management actions: spatial closures, acoustic deterrents, and gear modifications. We compared an approach for which the primary goal was to reduce the cost of bycatch reduction to fisheries with an approach that aims solely to protect whale and dolphin species. Based on cost-effectiveness and at a fine spatial resolution, we identified the management strategies across Australia that most effectively abated dolphin and whale bycatch. Although trawl-net modifications were the cheapest strategy overall, there were many locations where spatial closures were the most cost-effective solution, despite their high costs to fisheries, due to their effectiveness in reducing all fisheries interactions. Our method can be used to delineate strategies to reduce bycatch threats to mobile marine species across erse fisheries at relevant spatial scales to improve conservation outcomes.
Publisher: Wiley
Date: 25-02-2014
DOI: 10.1002/AQC.2445
Publisher: Wiley
Date: 22-03-2010
DOI: 10.1002/AQC.1107
Publisher: Springer International Publishing
Date: 2018
Publisher: Informa UK Limited
Date: 13-04-0055
Publisher: Wiley
Date: 12-09-2016
DOI: 10.1111/DDI.12479
Publisher: Wiley
Date: 05-12-2018
DOI: 10.1002/FEE.1987
Publisher: Elsevier BV
Date: 02-2015
Publisher: Wiley
Date: 04-01-2016
DOI: 10.1111/CONL.12219
Publisher: Elsevier BV
Date: 09-2019
DOI: 10.1016/J.ENVPOL.2019.06.031
Abstract: Plastic pollution in the marine environment is a pervasive and increasing threat to global bio ersity. Prioritising management actions that target marine plastic pollution require spatial information on the dispersal and settlement of plastics from both local and external sources. However, there is a mismatch between the scale of most plastic dispersal studies (regional, national and global) and the scale relevant to management action (local). We use a fine-resolution hydrodynamic model to predict the potential exposure of coastal habitats and species (mangroves, coral reefs and marine turtles) to plastic pollution at the local scale of a management region (the 1,700 km
Publisher: Elsevier BV
Date: 09-2016
Publisher: Elsevier BV
Date: 12-2015
Publisher: Wiley
Date: 06-2008
DOI: 10.1111/J.1523-1739.2008.00923.X
Abstract: Ecosystem-scale networks of marine protected areas (MPAs) are important conservation tools, but their effectiveness is difficult to quantify in a time frame appropriate to species conservation because of uncertainties in the data available. The dugong (Dugong dugon) is a mobile marine species that occurs in shallow inshore waters of an ecosystem-scale network of MPAs (the Great Barrier Reef World Heritage Area [GBRWHA]). We developed a rapid approach to assess risk to dugongs in the region and evaluate options to ameliorate that risk. We used expert opinion and a Delphi technique to identify and rank 5 human factors with the potential to adversely affect dugongs and their sea grass habitats: netting, indigenous hunting, trawling, vessel traffic, and poor-quality terrestrial runoff. We then quantified and compared the distribution of these factors with a spatially explicit model of dugong distribution. We estimated that approximately 96% of habitat of high conservation value for dugongs in the GBRWHA is at low risk from human activities. Using a sensitivity analysis, we found that to decrease risk, commercial netting or indigenous hunting had to be reduced in remote areas and the effects of vessel traffic, terrestrial runoff, and commercial netting had to be reduced in urban areas. This approach enabled us to compare and rank risks so as to identify the most severe risks and locate specific sites that require further management attention.
Publisher: Oxford University Press (OUP)
Date: 04-06-2012
DOI: 10.1093/ICB/ICS080
Abstract: Temperature probably had no direct effect on the evolution of sea kraits within their center of origin, a geologically stable thermal zone straddling the equator, but may have indirectly affected expansions and contractions in distributions beyond that zone through global fluctuations that caused alternation of higher and lower sea levels. The northern limit of the Laticauda colubrina complex seems to be the 20°C isotherm in the south, the range does not reach that isotherm because there is no land (also a habitat requirement of sea kraits) within the zone of suitable temperature. The relationship of temperature to the pattern of geographic variation in morphology supports either the hypothesis of peripheral convergence or the developmental hypothesis but does not distinguish between them. Quadratic surfaces relating cumulative scores for coloration and morphological characters to global position showed a strong latitudinal component and an even stronger longitudinal one in which the direction of the latitudinal effect was reversed between east and west. A multivariate analysis revealed that while morphological characters vary significantly by location and climate when tested separately, when the influence of location on morphology is taken into account, no residual relationship between climate and morphology remains. Most marine snakes have mean upper temperature tolerances between 39°C and 40°C and operate at temperatures much nearer their upper thermal limits than their lower limits but still avoid deleterious extremes by ing from excessively hot water to deeper, cooler strata, and by surfacing when water is cold. At the surface in still water in sunlight, Pelamis can maintain its body temperature slightly above that of the water, but whether this is significant in nature is questionable. As temperature falls below 18-20°C, survival time is progressively reduced, accompanied by the successive occurrence of cessation of feeding, cessation of swimming, and failure to orient. Acclimation does not seem to be in this species' repertoire. In the water column, marine snakes track water temperature on land, sea kraits can thermoregulate by basking, selecting favorable locations, and by kleptothermy. Laticauda colubrina adjusts its reproductive cycle geographically in ways that avoid breeding in the coldest months. Mean voluntary ing time is not temperature-dependent within the normal range of temperatures experienced by marine snakes in the field, but is reduced in water colder than 20°C. On land, much as while ing in the sea, sea kraits maintain long periods of apnea intervals between breaths are inversely related to temperature.
Publisher: Wiley
Date: 11-2008
DOI: 10.1002/AQC.943
Publisher: MDPI AG
Date: 24-04-2018
DOI: 10.3390/D10020026
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Date: 22-12-2014
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Date: 22-12-2014
Publisher: Elsevier BV
Date: 04-2011
Publisher: Herpetologists League
Date: 12-2017
Publisher: IOP Publishing
Date: 04-2017
Publisher: Frontiers Media SA
Date: 10-03-2022
DOI: 10.3389/FMARS.2022.758013
Abstract: Marine mammal interactions with fisheries, such as bycatch and depredation, are a common occurrence across commercial and small-scale fisheries. We conducted a systematic review to assess the management responses to marine mammal interactions with fisheries. We analyzed literature between 1995 and 2021 to measure research trends in studies on direct and indirect interactions for: (i) high and low to middle-income countries, (ii) fishery operations (commercial and small-scale), and (iii) taxonomic groups. Management responses were categorized using the framework described previously in peer-reviewed studies. Marine mammal bycatch remains a major conservation concern, followed by marine mammal depredation of fishing gear. A high proportion of studies concentrated on commercial fisheries in high-income countries, with an increase in small-scale fisheries in low to middle-income countries between 1999 and 2020. The insufficient understanding of the social dimensions of interactions and the inevitable uncertainties concerning animal and human behaviors are major challenges to effective management. Despite the key role of human behavior and socioeconomics, we found only eight articles that incorporate human dimensions in the management context. Integrating social dimensions of marine mammal interactions with fisheries could help in setting pragmatic conservation priorities based on enhanced understanding of critical knowledge gaps. An area-specific adaptive management framework could be an effective tool in reducing the risk to marine mammals from fisheries by coupling technical solutions with socio-economic and political interventions. We conclude that despite the vast body of literature on this subject, a “silver bullet” management solution to marine mammal interactions with fisheries does not yet exist.
Publisher: Springer Science and Business Media LLC
Date: 26-08-2014
Publisher: Elsevier BV
Date: 12-2020
Publisher: Wiley
Date: 07-05-2013
DOI: 10.1111/MMS.12041
Publisher: Frontiers Media SA
Date: 07-03-2017
Publisher: CSIRO Publishing
Date: 2008
DOI: 10.1071/WR07087
Abstract: In 2004 the Australian Government implemented a revised zone-based management plan for the Great Barrier Reef World Heritage Area to increase protection of representative areas while minimising the impacts to the economic viability of important industries. In this study we evaluated the current zoning plan for its capacity to protect marine turtles from commercial trawling and netting activities at nesting sites and at inshore and offshore foraging areas to assess whether the Great Barrier Reef Marine Park Authority met their obligations under the Representative Areas Program (RAP). We found that protection from commercial fisheries increased within 5- and 10-km buffer zones of all very-high, high- and medium-priority nesting sites that were previously less than 100% protected. However, three very-high-priority sites and six high-priority sites remain less than 100% protected out to 5 km, falling short of the objectives of the RAP. There were variable increases in protection at foraging areas however, each of them increased in the proportion of area protected from commercial fishing, fulfilling the objectives of the RAP. By using a broader-scale fisheries by-catch dataset as a proxy for turtle abundance we found that improvements in protection are not species-specific and can be attributed to the step-wise increases in protection since the mid 1990s.
Publisher: IOP Publishing
Date: 18-04-2012
Publisher: Springer Science and Business Media LLC
Date: 30-06-2017
DOI: 10.1038/S41598-017-04421-1
Abstract: Terrestrial plants use an array of animals as vectors for dispersal, however little is known of biotic dispersal of marine angiosperms such as seagrasses. Our study in the Great Barrier Reef confirms for the first time that dugongs ( Dugong dugon ) and green sea turtles ( Chelonia mydas ) assist seagrass dispersal. We demonstrate that these marine mega-herbivores consume and pass in faecal matter viable seeds for at least three seagrass species ( Zostera muelleri , Halodule uninervis and Halophila decipiens ). One to two seagrass seeds per g DW of faecal matter were found during the peak of the seagrass reproductive season (September to December), with viability on excretion of 9.13% ± 4.61% (SE). Using population estimates for these mega-herbivores, and data on digestion time (hrs), average daily movement (km h) and numbers of viable seagrass seeds excreted (per g DW), we calculated potential seagrass seed dispersal distances. Dugongs and green sea turtle populations within this region can disperse ,000 viable seagrass seeds daily, with a maximum dispersal distance of approximately 650 km. Biotic dispersal of tropical seagrass seeds by dugongs and green sea turtles provides a large-scale mechanism that enhances connectivity among seagrass meadows, and aids in resilience and recovery of these coastal habitats.
Publisher: Springer Science and Business Media LLC
Date: 21-04-2023
DOI: 10.1007/S10113-023-02051-0
Abstract: Nearly a billion people depend on tropical seascapes. The need to ensure sustainable use of these vital areas is recognised, as one of 17 policy commitments made by world leaders, in Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) 14 (‘Life below Water’) of the United Nations. SDG 14 seeks to secure marine sustainability by 2030. In a time of increasing social-ecological unpredictability and risk, scientists and policymakers working towards SDG 14 in the Asia–Pacific region need to know: (1) How are seascapes changing? (2) What can global society do about these changes? and (3) How can science and society together achieve sustainable seascape futures? Through a horizon scan, we identified nine emerging research priorities that clarify potential research contributions to marine sustainability in locations with high coral reef abundance. They include research on seascape geological and biological evolution and adaptation elucidating drivers and mechanisms of change understanding how seascape functions and services are produced, and how people depend on them costs, benefits, and trade-offs to people in changing seascapes improving seascape technologies and practices learning to govern and manage seascapes for all sustainable use, justice, and human well-being bridging communities and epistemologies for innovative, equitable, and scale-crossing solutions and informing resilient seascape futures through modelling and synthesis. Researchers can contribute to the sustainability of tropical seascapes by co-developing transdisciplinary understandings of people and ecosystems, emphasising the importance of equity and justice, and improving knowledge of key cross-scale and cross-level processes, feedbacks, and thresholds.
Publisher: Elsevier BV
Date: 03-2022
Publisher: Wiley
Date: 02-07-2009
DOI: 10.1002/AQC.1057
Publisher: Elsevier BV
Date: 04-2015
Publisher: IOP Publishing
Date: 11-2016
Publisher: Elsevier BV
Date: 12-2015
Publisher: Wiley
Date: 21-10-2019
DOI: 10.1111/MMS.12651
Abstract: The Cape Solander Whale Migration Study is a citizen science project that annually counts northward migrating humpback whales ( Megaptera novaeangliae ) off Cape Solander, Sydney, Australia. Dedicated observers have compiled a 20‐year data set (1997–2017) of shore‐based observations from Cape Solander's high vantage point. Using this long‐term data set collected by citizen scientists, we sought to estimate the humpback whale population trend as it continues to recover postexploitation. We estimated an exponential growth rate of 0.099 (95% CI = 0.079–0.119) using a generalized linear model, based on observer effort (number of observation days) and number of whales observed, equating to 10% per annum growth in sightings since 1997. We found that favorable weather conditions for spotting whales off Cape Solander consisted of winds km/hr from a southerly through a north westerly direction. Incidental observations of other cetacean species included the endangered blue whale ( Balaenoptera musculus ) and data deficient species such as killer whales ( Orcinus orca ) and false killer whales ( Pseudorca crassidens ). Citizen science‐based studies can provide a cost‐effective approach to monitoring wildlife over the time necessary to detect change in a population. Information obtained from citizen science projects like this may help inform policy makers responsible for State and Federal protection of cetaceans in Australian waters and beyond.
Publisher: Frontiers Media SA
Date: 21-12-2017
Publisher: Wiley
Date: 16-04-2018
DOI: 10.1111/GCB.14127
Abstract: The rate of exchange, or connectivity, among populations effects their ability to recover after disturbance events. However, there is limited information on the extent to which populations are connected or how multiple disturbances affect connectivity, especially in coastal and marine ecosystems. We used network analysis and the outputs of a biophysical model to measure potential functional connectivity and predict the impact of multiple disturbances on seagrasses in the central Great Barrier Reef World Heritage Area (GBRWHA), Australia. The seagrass networks were densely connected, indicating that seagrasses are resilient to the random loss of meadows. Our analysis identified discrete meadows that are important sources of seagrass propagules and that serve as stepping stones connecting various different parts of the network. Several of these meadows were close to urban areas or ports and likely to be at risk from coastal development. Deep water meadows were highly connected to coastal meadows and may function as a refuge, but only for non-foundation species. We evaluated changes to the structure and functioning of the seagrass networks when one or more discrete meadows were removed due to multiple disturbance events. The scale of disturbance required to disconnect the seagrass networks into two or more components was on average >245 km, about half the length of the metapopulation. The densely connected seagrass meadows of the central GBRWHA are not limited by the supply of propagules therefore, management should focus on improving environmental conditions that support natural seagrass recruitment and recovery processes. Our study provides a new framework for assessing the impact of global change on the connectivity and persistence of coastal and marine ecosystems. Without this knowledge, management actions, including coastal restoration, may prove unnecessary and be unsuccessful.
Publisher: Informa UK Limited
Date: 02-2016
Publisher: Wiley
Date: 19-08-2016
DOI: 10.1111/COBI.12557
Abstract: Spatially explicit information on species distributions for conservation planning is invariably incomplete therefore, the use of surrogates is required to represent broad-scale patterns of bio ersity. Despite significant interest in the effectiveness of surrogates for predicting spatial distributions of bio ersity, few researchers have explored questions involving the ability of surrogates to incidentally represent unknown features of conservation interest. We used the Great Barrier Reef marine reserve network to examine factors affecting incidental representation of conservation features that were unknown at the time the reserve network was established. We used spatially explicit information on the distribution of 39 seabed habitats and biological assemblages and the conservation planning software Marxan to examine how incidental representation was affected by the spatial characteristics of the features the conservation objectives (the minimum proportion of each feature included in no-take areas) the spatial configuration of no-take areas and the opportunity cost of conservation. Cost was closely and inversely correlated to incidental representation. However, incidental representation was achieved, even in a region with only coarse-scale environmental data, by adopting a precautionary approach that explicitly considered the potential for unknown features. Our results indicate that incidental representation is enhanced by partitioning selection units along biophysical gradients to account for unknown within-feature variability and ensuring that no-take areas are well distributed throughout the region by setting high conservation objectives that (in this case >33%) maximize the chances of capturing unknown features incidentally and by carefully considering the designation of cost to planning units when using decision-support tools for reserve design. The lessons learned from incidental representation in the Great Barrier Reef have implications for conservation planning in other regions, particularly those that lack detailed environmental and ecological data.
Publisher: Elsevier BV
Date: 06-2022
DOI: 10.1016/J.MARPOLBUL.2022.113656
Abstract: A major coal mine project in Queensland, Australia, is currently under review. It is planned to be located about 10 km away from the Great Barrier Reef World Heritage Area (GBRWHA). Sediment dispersal patterns and their impact on marine ecosystems have not been properly assessed yet. Here, we simulate the dispersal of different sediment types with a high-resolution ocean model, and derive their environmental footprint. We show that sediments finer than 32 μm could reach dense seagrass meadows and a dugong sanctuary within a few weeks. The intense tidal circulation leads to non-isotropic and long-distance sediment dispersal patterns along the coast. Our results suggest that the sediments released by this project will not be quickly mixed but rather be concentrated where the most valuable ecosystems are located. If accepted, this coal mine could therefore have a far-reaching impact on the GBRWHA and its iconic marine species.
Publisher: The Royal Society
Date: 07-05-2014
Abstract: Secondarily marine vertebrates are thought to live independently of fresh water. Here, we demonstrate a paradigm shift for the widely distributed pelagic sea snake, Hydrophis ( Pelamis ) platurus , which dehydrates at sea and spends a significant part of its life in a dehydrated state corresponding to seasonal drought. Snakes that are captured following prolonged periods without rainfall have lower body water content, lower body condition and increased tendencies to drink fresh water than do snakes that are captured following seasonal periods of high rainfall. These animals do not drink seawater and must rehydrate by drinking from a freshwater lens that forms on the ocean surface during heavy precipitation. The new data based on field studies indicate unequivocally that this marine vertebrate dehydrates at sea where in iduals may live in a dehydrated state for possibly six to seven months at a time. This information provides new insights for understanding water requirements of sea snakes, reasons for recent declines and extinctions of sea snakes and more accurate prediction for how changing patterns of precipitation might affect these and other secondarily marine vertebrates living in tropical oceans.
Publisher: Public Library of Science (PLoS)
Date: 28-03-2011
Publisher: Elsevier BV
Date: 2021
Publisher: Springer Science and Business Media LLC
Date: 19-11-2020
Publisher: Public Library of Science (PLoS)
Date: 07-02-2019
Publisher: Public Library of Science (PLoS)
Date: 13-06-2011
Start Date: 07-2024
End Date: 06-2031
Amount: $35,000,000.00
Funder: Australian Research Council
View Funded ActivityStart Date: 03-2021
End Date: 03-2024
Amount: $535,200.00
Funder: Australian Research Council
View Funded ActivityStart Date: 2023
End Date: 12-2026
Amount: $455,348.00
Funder: Australian Research Council
View Funded Activity