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Ningaloo Reef 2009 expedition
Wednesday 13 May
2009:
The CReefs
team is heading back to Ningaloo Reef in Western Australia for an
expedition that will run from 13 May to 3 June 2009. This follows the
first CReefs Ningaloo trip, held in June last year.
This time around, the team will set up camp about 100km from last
year’s location, to sample a slightly different area. They will be staying
at remote Ningaloo Station, an old sheep station near the coast.
Scientists will be installing Autonomous Reef Monitoring Structures
(ARMS), to be collected during the Ningaloo trip next year. The ARMS have
already been successfully deployed and retrieved from Lizard Island in the
northern Great Barrier Reef. The devices are pegged to the ocean floor and
sea creatures take up residence in them. They are being used around the
world by CReefs researchers as a standardised way to measure the health,
diversity and biological makeup of coral reefs.
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WA sunset.
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This will be a big expedition, with more than 30 people on site at
different times during the three weeks, including researchers,
photographers, support staff and BHP Billiton employees. The purpose
of the expeditions is to use a diverse range of sampling methods in a
wide range of habitats to sample species associated with coral reefs
that have not previously been well sampled.
These organisms will be identified to operational taxonomic units (OTU)
in the field and to species where possible. Follow up analyses will
include the description and naming of new species.
The Ningaloo expedition, as well as those to Lizard and Heron
Islands, will also provide the opportunity to re-collect species
currently in museum collections but for which tissue samples for
genetic analysis are not available.
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Ningaloo Reef 2009 participants |
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Science |
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Polychaetes |
Pat Hutchings (Australian Museum) |
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Polychaetes |
Maria Capa (Australian Museum) |
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Polychaetes |
Lynda Avery (Museum Victoria) |
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Polychaetes |
Robin Wilson (Museum Victoria) |
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Amphipods
|
Lauren Hughes (Australian Museum) |
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Isopods
|
Niel Bruce (Museum
of Tropical Queensland) |
|
Fish parasites
|
Holly Heiniger (University of Queensland) |
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Fish parasites
|
Tom Cribb (University of Queensland) |
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Macroalgae
|
Fred Gurgel (University of Adelaide) |
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Macroalgae and seagrasses
|
Rainbo Dixon (Murdoch University) |
|
Molluscs
|
Corey Whisson (Museum of Western Australia) |
|
Molluscs
|
Clay Bryce (Museum of Western Australia) |
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Sponges
|
Jane Fromont (Museum of Western Australia) |
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Molecular genetics
|
Abbigail
Fusaro (Ocean Genome Legacy Foundation) |
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Soft Corals
|
Monika Schlacher (Queensland Museum) |
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Soft Corals
|
Merrick Ekins (Queensland Museum) |
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Crustacea
|
Rob Lasley (Florida Museum of Natural History) |
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Echinoderms
|
François Michonneau (Florida Museum of Natural History Bryozoa Phil Bock,
Museum Victoria) |
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Molecular genetics
|
Laetitia
Plaisance (Smithsonian Institution) |
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Support |
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Photographer
|
Gary Cranitch
(Queensland Museum) |
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Project Leader/coxswain/general diver
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Julian Caley (AIMS) |
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Manager logistics/coxswain/general diver
|
Shawn Smith (AIMS) |
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Data manager
|
Gavin Ericson (AIMS) |
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Coxswain/general diver
|
Collette Bagnato (University of Queensland) |
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Coxswain/general diver
|
Gavin Dally
(Museum and Art Galleries of the
Northern Territory) |
|
Cook
|
Anthony Grant (Contractor) |
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Journalist
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Angus Livingston (Contractor) |
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BHP Billiton |
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Benn Prowse |
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Renee Hodges |
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Back
to
Lizard |
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Last
year
the
Australian
node
of
the
CReefs
project
turned
up
hundreds
of
new
kinds
of
animals,
surprising
international
researchers
who
had
been
systematically
exploring
waters
off
two
islands
on
the
Great
Barrier
Reef
and
Ningaloo
Reef
off
northwestern
Australia,
waters
long
familiar
to
divers.
See
CReefs
media
release.
In
February
2009
researchers
went
back
to
Lizard
Island
on
the
northern
Great
Barrier
Reef
for
their
first
return
visit.
Each
site
will
be
visited
three
times
during
the
four-year
project
During
this
expedition,
researchers
again
used
a
diverse
range
of
sampling
methods
in a
wide
range
of
habitats
to
sample
species
associated
with
coral
reefs
that
have
not
previously
been
well
sampled.
These
organisms
will
be
identified
to
operational
taxonomic
units
(OTU)
in
the
field
and
to
species
where
possible.
Follow
up
analyses
will
include
the
description
and
naming
of
new
species
and
DNA
barcoding.
The
Lizard
Island
expedition
also
provided
the
opportunity
to
re-collect
species
currently
in
museum
collections
but
for
which
tissue
samples
for
genetic
analysis
are
not
available.
The
expedition
team,
led
by
AIMS
scientist
Dr
Julian
Caley,
was
based
at
the
Lizard
Island
Research
Station
(LIRS),
on
the
northern
Great
Barrier
Reef,
270
km
north
of
Cairns,
Queensland.
The
Research
Station
is
owned
and
operated
by
the
Australian
Museum
and
is
supported
by
the
Lizard
Island
Reef
Research
Foundation
and
the
Coral
Reef
and
Marine
Science
Foundation.
This
year’s
Lizard
Island
expedition
ran
from
6 to
27
February
2009. |
Lizard
Island.
Image:
Google
Earth
download.
Lizard
Island
Research
Station.
Image:
Trish
Hendriks. |
| List of
participants |
|
|
Science |
|
|
Polychaetes |
Charlotte
Watson
(Museum
and
Art
Galleries
of
the
Northern
Territory) |
|
Algae |
Rainbo
Dixon
(Murdoch
University) |
|
Algae |
Fred
Gurgel
(University
of
Adelaide) |
|
Cephalopods |
Julian
Finn
(Museum
Victoria) |
|
Cephalopods |
John
Ahearn
(Melbourne
University) |
|
Parasites
in
Jellyfish |
Jo
Browne
(Museum
Victoria) |
|
Tanaid
shrimp |
Magda
Blazewicz
(University
of
Lodz) |
|
Isopods |
Niel
Bruce
(Museum
of
Tropical
Queensland) |
|
Echinoderms |
Ashley
Miskelly
(Independent) |
|
Echinoderms |
François
Michonneau
(Florida
Museum
of
Natural
History) |
|
Pycnogonids |
Claudia
Arango
Carvajal
(Queensland
Museum) |
|
Bryozoans |
Philip
Bock
(Museum
Victoria) |
|
Molluscs |
Anders
Hallan
(University
of
Wollongong) |
|
Autonomous
Reef
Monitoring
Structures
&
Pocillopora
heads |
Molly
Timmers
(National
Oceanic
and
Atmospheric
Administration) |
|
Crustacea |
Arthur
Anker
(Florida
Museum
of
Natural
History) |
|
Crustacea |
Rob
Lasley
(Florida
Museum
of
Natural
History) |
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Media |
|
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Photographer |
Gary
Joseph
Cranitch
(Queensland
Museum) |
|
Journalist |
Angus
Livingston
(Contractor) |
|
Writer |
James
Woodford
(Independent) |
| |
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Support |
|
|
Data
manager |
Greg
Coleman
(AIMS) |
|
Principle
investigator |
Julian
Caley
(AIMS) |
|
Project
manager-
field
logistics |
Shawn
Smith
(AIMS) |
|
Boat
driver |
Kade
Mills
(Museum
Victoria) |
|
Cook |
Charlie
Graham
(Contractor) |
|
Field/lab
assistant |
Stephy
Mifsud
(Independent) |
| |
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BHP-B |
|
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BHP
employee |
Megan
Davis
(BHP-
Billiton) |
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BHP
employee |
Mark
Daniell
(BHP-
Billiton) |
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| Heron
Island expedition |
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The
third
Australian
CReefs
trip,
to
Heron
Island
in
the
southern
reaches
of
the
Great
Barrier
Reef
off
the
Queensland
coast,
ran
during
September
2008.
It
was
the
third
in a
series
of
three,
21-day
expeditions
at
each
Australian
CReefs
location
this
year.
The
first
was
held
in
April
this
year
to
Lizard
Island
and
the
second
in
June
to
Ningaloo
Reef.
Scientists on the expeditions use a variety of sampling methods in a
wide range of habitats to sample species associated with coral reefs that
have not previously been well sampled.
These organisms will be identified to operational taxonomic units (OTU)
in the field and to species where possible. Follow up analyses will
include the description and naming of new species.
Data collected from these expeditions will be globally distributed and
publicly available through the Ocean Biogeographic Information System
(OBIS) and incorporated into the EOL. In addition to these data, CReefs is
working to identify high value data sets and to make them available to the
public by facilitating them being served through OBIS.
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Heron
Island.
Image: DigitalGlobe.
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Field Program
