Conservation and
biodiversity group
Risk and recovery
"Examining
the resilience, recovery and remediation of coral reefs"
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Can
corals cope with a warmer world?
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This is just one of the burning questions being
investigated by the Risk and Recovery team.
They are exploring the ability of coral to adapt
to warmer seas, the possibility of breeding heat
tolerant corals, and developing a long-term
outlook on different heating scenarios.
Studying what happens in the cells when corals are
stressed, during coral bleaching for example,
gives scientists and insight into how the coral
community as a whole copes under pressure.
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 AIMS Risk and recovery
team |
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Our Research
| This
research is crucial to improving conservation management of
the Great Barrier Reef. This research analyses the
resilience of tropical marine ecosystems to natural and
human induced disturbances. The scientists examine the risks
and threats to the Great Barrier Reef and use computer
models to predict the fate of coral reefs. By exploring the
ability of damaged reefs to self-remediate researchers are
hoping to develop technologies for reef restoration. They
are also learning about how reefs are connected in a bid to
identify which reefs self-recruit and which ones source
others. This information will help reef managers to pin
point reefs of importance.
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Reef
Recovery:
AIMS explores the possibility of
re-seeding damaged reef
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Our Team
A wide range of
expertise exists within the Risk and Recovery team including
skills in Geographical Information System, statistical analysis,
spatial analysis, geospatial modelling, coral reef ecology,
taxonomy, evolutionary biology, coral physiology and coral
genetics.
Coral Reef Ecology
 Coral
reef ecology
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A major long term
project of this team is a photographic study of 28 fixed sites
that documents composition of coral reefs and changes in size and
species over time in a range of habitats. The scope of the project
extends from very sheltered inshore reefs to exposed choppy outer
reefs.
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Snapshot of the GBR:
Since 1980 AIMS scientists have been
capturing photographic details of the reef. |
Reef Connectivity
Understanding how
currents connect reefs and how this impacts on recruitment is
crucial to identifying reefs of importance, e.g. source reefs.
AIMS researchers have developed sophisticated hydrodynamic models
to forecast the probability of a reef reseeding from the
surrounding reefs. This predictive model is in the process of
being tested and refined based on studies on movement of
particles, larval loadings and genetic connectivity. The way
species and their genes disperse over their range has major
consequences on many ecological and evolutionary features,
including the potential for local adaptation. An accurate
assessment of dispersal is necessary to identify source and sink
reefs, information that will aid in the choice of areas to be
protected.
Corals and
climate change
| As
we move into a warmer world this team examines how
increasing temperature will affect corals on the Great
Barrier Reef. Scientists are investigating the amount of
thermal stress coral can handle. This will enable scientists
to predict how the Great Barrier Reef will cope with future
heat waves and projected rises in sea temperature. Seawater
is forecast to warm by 2-6 degrees Celsius over the next
century and rates of coral adaptation to these temperature
increases are unknown. Coral bleaching experts at AIMS are
examining the capacity of corals to adapt to warmer
conditions in the short and long term. |
Coral
bleaching:
The biggest threat to the world’s coral
reefs over the next few decades.
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Reef Futures
Reef Futures is a
source of information and tools for exploring the effects of
management and environmental change on reefs. It’s a place to go
to explore what the future might bring. The Reef Futures group
develops models, statistical tools, databases, and websites
supporting coral reef ecology.
Biodiversity and
recruitment
AIMS is assessing
the ability for damaged reefs to recover following disturbance.
The team will investigate new approaches for large-scale culture
and delivery of coral larvae to reefs and compare the results with
ongoing research into natural recruitment and post-recruitment
survival.
AIMS
researcher
Contact
Dr
Madeleine van Oppen, Team
Leader
Telephone: (07) 4753 4370.
Facsimile: (07) 4772 5852.
Email: m.vanoppen@aims.gov.
March 3, 2005
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