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While climate change can be catastrophic for many forms of life, the ability of others to adapt is the key to survival.

This is part of the focus of SymbioticA’s long-term project, Adaptation , which features the so-called ‘living rocks’ of the Lake Clifton area, south of Mandurah.

The project represents an interesting parallel between one of the fastest growing Australian regional cities and one of the slowest-growing life forms, thrombolites.

Lake Clifton is home to the largest lake-bound thrombolite reef in the southern hemisphere, and yet few even know it exists.

Thrombolites, commonly called ‘living rocks’, are built by micro-organisms over long periods of time. They have been growing in Lake Clifton for about 4000 years, and are culturally important to the Binjareb people’s creation story and the area’s settlement history.

SymbioticA , located in UWA’s School of Anatomy and Human Biology, is an internationally renowned artistic laboratory dedicated to the research, learning, and critique of the life sciences.

Through its research, SymbioticA aims to raise awareness and address the issues of the lake’s ecosystem as well as revealing stories of endangered species, multiple histories and adapting to a changing climate.

The fragile ecosystem of the lake is coming under increasing threat due to near-by development, salinity and climate change. These human-induced pressures mean that organisms that have survived thousands of years of change are now under threat from human actions after just 100 or so years of co-existence.

Adaptation features the work of artists, scientists, engineers and poets, takes the research out of the lab and into the physical environment of Lake Clifton.

It also raises important questions and debate surrounding human inaction, intervention, responses and responsibility. Some of the Adaptation projects will feature in Mandurah’s Stretch Festival in 2010.

By Rachael Glasgow