News Archive

The University of Western Australia Oceans Institute teams and the Australian Institute of Marine Science(AIMS) will mark the UN International Year of Biodiversity with a a series of three talks:

Western Australia- a biodiversity hot spot for both seaweeds and seagrasses: Professor Gary Kendrick from The UWA Oceans Institute and UWA School of Plant Biology.

Western Australia has a rich and endemic seaweed and seagrass flora that mirrors terrestrial plant biodiversity. Seaweeds, or marine protista, are represented by over 1000 species with up to 70 % endemism, where species are only found here in our southwest. Seagrasses are less speciose and the SW is home to 21 of the approximately 59 species of seagrasses globally and most of them are endemic. This presentation will introduce the biology and ecology of both seaweeds and seagrasses with a SW Australian perspective. It will then focus on seagrass ecosystems from a global to regional perspective, outlining the major threats to these foundation species and how we are protecting them and mitigating impacts.

Coral reefs are at the frontline of climate change impacts, being sensitive to small temperature rises and acidification of the oceans due to increased levels of dissolved CO2. So far, atmospheric CO2 has risen to over 390 ppm from a pre-industrial baseline of 280 ppm, resulting in an increase in global temperatures of ~0.7oC and a rise in ocean acidity of 0.1 unit of pH. Australia?s Great Barrier Reef (GBR) has suffered coral bleaching and extensive mortality due to thermal stress that affected over 50 per cent of the GBR in 1998 and 2002, when summer maximum water temperatures were elevated by only 1-2oC. Ocean acidification is also accelerating and, in combination with thermal stress, may already be limiting the growth rate of corals. Ocean acidification will also impact all marine calcifying organisms, potentially disrupting the entire ecosystems. In contrast to this bleak scenario some of the Western Australian coral reefs such as Ningaloo Reef appear to be less severely impacted, having apparently largely escaped coral bleaching in 1998. In light of the failure of the recent Copenhagen meeting to set a firm cap of for atmospheric CO2 levels whilst recognising the importance of limiting global temperature rise to <2oC, what does this mean for the survival coral reefs generally? What is the threshold of atmospheric CO2 for survival of coral reefs, and why do some systems such as Ningaloo Reef appear to be more resilient to climate change?
The past 15 years has seen rapid development of our understanding of the ecology of whale sharks (Rhincodon typus) that aggregate seasonally at Ningaloo Reef, WA. Monitoring fine-scale (m-km) movements suggests that whale sharks migrate to Ningaloo to feed on seasonal aggregations of baitfishes and krill, a small shrimp-like animal. Satellite tagging has shown that sharks departing Ningaloo make frequent dives in excess of a kilometre and migrate generally toward the northeast, often into Indonesian waters. Photo-identification (based on spot and stripe patterns) has confirmed that many sharks return to Ningaloo, with some individuals resighted at intervals of more than a decade and a large number of individuals making frequent inter-annual visits. Most sharks in the Ningaloo aggregation have been juvenile males, raising the question: where are the females and adults? I describe threats to whale sharks and our efforts to protect the species into the future.
Professor Gary Kendrick has researched seaweed and seagrass ecology since the early 1980s and has taken his passion around the globe. He has researched and published papers about seaweeds and seagrasses from most states of Australia (WA, Victoria, NSW, Queensland), Canada, Ecuador (Galapagos), Spain, Brazil and the USA. Gary is presently the Director of the UWA Oceans Institute where he facilitates interdisciplinary research among oceanographers, marine biologists, engineers and social scientists.

Coral Reefs- will they survive climate change?: Professor Malcolm McCulloch , Premier's Research Fellow from The UWA Oceans Institute and UWA school of Earth and Environment.

Professor Malcolm McCulloch is a newly appointed Western Australian Premier?s Fellow in the School of Earth and Environment at The University of Western Australia, Perth. In 2009 he was responsible for establishing a new node for the ARC Centre of Excellence in Coral Reef Studies at The University of Western Australia and is one of the Centre's two Deputy Directors. He is currently establishing a major, new, state-of-the-art geochemical and isotope facility at UWA. His research interests focus on the modern part of the geologic record using isotopic and trace element geochemical methods to determine how climate and anthropogenic processes have influenced both past and present marine environments with particular emphasis on coral reefs. Malcolm has worked extensively on the Great Barrier Reef using corals to assess the effects of river runoff on inshore reefs as well as the effects of climate change and ?ocean acidification? on coral reefs. He has received a number of prestigious awards, including Fellowships of the Australian Academy of Science (2004), the Geological Society of Australia (2007), the Geochemical Society (2008) and the American Geophysical Union (2002). In 2009 was awarded the Jaeger Medal in Earth Sciences by the Australian Academy of Sciences. He holds a PhD from the Californian Institute of Technology (Caltech) and an Honorary Doctorate from Curtin University of Technology.
Malcolm is a member of the new UWA Oceans Institute.

Tagging and tracking the world's largest fish: Dr Mark McMeekan , Australian Institute of Marine Science (AIMS)

Dr Mark Meekan is a Principal Research Scientist with the Australian Institute of Marine Science (AIMS) and has been working with sharks since the late 1990s. He has published numerous studies about the ecology, genetics and behaviour of these animals and followed their migrations around the Indian Ocean from Indonesia to the Seychelles and Djibouti. His work on whale sharks and other elasmobranchs has featured in recent documentaries by the ABC, BBC, the Discovery Channel and National Geographic TV. AIMS has a close relationship with The UWA Oceans Institute

Tuesdays  17 August, 24 August and 31 August.

Course # 10357123 UWA Extension at www.extensions.uwa.edu.au

Media references

Janine MacDonald (UWA Public Affairs) (+61 8) 6488 5563 / (+61 4) 32 637 716