Terry Walker Award

Awarded to: Richard Evans

Project tile: Reproduction, genetic connectivity and the effects of no-take protection on the Great Barrier Reef

Richard Evans is currently enrolled as a PhD student at JCU under the supervision of Prof. Garry Russ, Prof. Geoff Jones and Dr. Lynne van Herwerden. Richard is investigating the effects of no-take areas on target fishery stocks. Richard is particularly focused on reproductive output of marine reserves and larval dispersal of target species using molecular tools in fished and protected areas on the inshore reefs of the GBR. Richard has worked for several organizations, both in Australia and overseas, monitoring coral reef health status, fishery target stocks and impact assessment studies. These organizations include DEH, GBRMPA, JCU, Conservation International, the French Institute of Research Development (IRD), and the Northern Province of New Caledonia. Richard also enjoys surfing and traveling.

Project summary

I aim to test hypotheses that no-take areas will reduce fishing mortality and increase abundance, biomass, average size and fecundity per unit area of target fishery species on the Great Barrier Reef. I also aim to investigate larval dispersal from no-take to fished areas using molecular tools. Establishing benefits inside no-take areas and/or export from no-take to fished areas may be pivotal to securing long-term support from stakeholders, especially fishers, for no-take green zones on the Great Barrier Reef. This study will provide the necessary information to enable definitive decision-making by fishery scientists and managers on the GBR, and potentially the world.

Danielle Simmons Award

Awarded to: Vivian Cumbo

Project tile: Stress tolerance of corals: the role of the symbiont

Vivian Cumbo is originally from Sydney where she completed a BSc Hons in Marine Biology and Microbiology at the University of NSW. Vivian is currently enrolled as a PhD student in the School of Marine and Tropical Biology at JCU under the supervision of Prof. Terry Hughes, Dr Andrew Baird and Dr Madeleine van Oppen.

Project summary

Corals from the order Scleractinian form a symbiotic relationship with algae commonly known as zooxanthellae. Stressful environmental conditions (conditions outside the normal local range) can result in the loss of zooxanthellae from the coral. This process is known as coral bleaching, and can lead to the death of the coral host. Many bleaching events are caused by an increase in seawater temperature, therefore, unless the symbiotic relationship can adapt to withstand increases in seawater temperature, global warming threatens coral reefs worldwide. The physiological characteristics of the symbiont, such as tolerance to high temperatures, could be beneficially to the host during climate change. Examining whether corals can switch to a more thermal tolerant symbiont, which in turn could benefit the coral, has receive considerable attention in recent literature. However, there is little direct evidence that suggest the physiology of the symbiont affects the physiology of the host. This project aims to examine the effectiveness of switching symbionts as a mechanism for corals to respond to stress. In particular, it will test whether

1. Environmental conditions effect the establishment and persistence of symbiont clades, with contrasting stress tolerance, in the coral Acropora millepora
2. Associating with a stress tolerant symbiont increases the tolerance of the host
3. Corals can be induced to switch between symbionts by a change in environment.

ACRS Award

Awarded to: Nikolaus Császár

Project tile: Estimating potential for adaptation of corals to global climate change

Nikolaus Császár is originally from Austria where he completed a MSc in Zoology and Marine Biology at the University of Vienna in collaboration with the Bermuda Aquarium Museum & Zoo under the supervision of Dr. Arnfried Antonius. Nikolaus has a strong background in coral biology, coral diseases and bleaching, and extensive experience in conducting field research, especially in the Caribbean and Mediterranean.

Nikolaus's broad research interests are coral reef ecology and the potential for a long term adaptation of corals to ever increasing sea-temperatures due to climate change. INikolaus is currently enrolled as an international PhD student at the University of Technology, Sydney (UTS) under the supervision of Assoc. Prof Peter Ralph (UTS), Dr. Madeleine van Oppen (AIMS, Townsville), and Prof. emeritus Richard Frankham (Macquarie, Sydney).

Project summary

Coral bleaching events have increased worldwide in frequency and severity during the last two decades and simulation models predict the ecological collapse of the world’s coral reefs within the 21st century. Today we know that there is an intra-specific geographic variation in thermal tolerance among reef corals, and therefore evidence for local acclimatization to different temperature regimes. The main goal of this study is to measure heritability of heat-tolerance in corals, which will allow me to predict if and how corals will respond to selection for enhanced thermal tolerance. If heat-tolerance in the coral shows large heritability, this suggests that there is a substrate for natural selection to operate on. Without underlying genetic variation, natural selection will not lead to any long-term adaptation of the coral/algal symbiosis to elevated sea surface temperatures.

ACRS Award

Awarded to: Alex Wyatt

Project tile: Trophic ecology of coral reefs: the role of oceanographic-to-organism scale processes in trophodynamics and benthic-pelagic coupling

Alex Wyatt is an environmental engineer with a strong background in marine environmental studies. He holds a first class honours degree in Environmental Engineering and has also completed full honours in Marine Biology as part of his double degree at the University of Western Australia (UWA). His broad research interests include coral reef ecology, energetics of benthic suspension feeders, introduced marine species, marine food webs and ecosystem linkages and marine environmental impacts (assessment and rehabilitation). Alex has extensive experience conducting field investigations within Australia and overseas, including East Timor and Japan where he investigated anthropogenic impacts on the marine environment of a developing and highly developed country, respectively. He is a qualified Level 2 Commercial Diver (AS2815.2R). Alex has published on the topic of marine introductions and oceanography in both the peer-reviewed and popular literature and has produced numerous major reports for an array of clients including Apache Energy, Chevron, ExxonMobil, Eni Australia and Woodside Energy.

Project summary

This study represents the first attempt to link benthic ecology and biological oceanography to elucidate the mechanisms which sustain coral reefs by affecting nutrient dynamics at a variety of scales. Focusing on Ningaloo Reef, a coral reef of key ecological importance off Western Australia currently being considered for World Heritage listing, the study aims to quantify the importance and mechanisms of delivery of pelagic sources of nutrition at scales ranging from regional to the microscale. The importance of the surrounding ocean to fringing reefs such as Ningaloo is largely unknown, but such understanding is essential for predicting and managing the impacts on coral reefs of anthropogenic and climatically-induced change to ocean systems, and therefore the effective conservation of reefs. In addition to addressing primary research questions, the project will provide baseline data essential for validating a hydrodynamic/biogeochemical model being developed to allow prediction of the impact of various climate and pollution scenarios on coral reef ecosystems resulting from interaction with complex oceanographic process.

In 1930 Sir Maurice Yonge wrote “Few subjects of such obvious zoological importance are so obscure as the nutrition of corals and the significance of their zooxanthellae. Until these problems are fully elucidated, knowledge of the fundamental conditions controlling the formation of coral reefs must remain imperfect” (Yonge, 1930). Although understanding of coral nutrition and the role of the zooxanthellae have increase greatly since this time, there are still fundamental gaps in knowledge that prevent a full understanding of coral reef function, and by association the response of coral reefs to change, anthropogenically-induced and otherwise. This study aims to redress the lack of knowledge regarding several aspects of coral nutrition, focusing on the role of pelagic sources of nutrition in the benthic structure and function of coral reefs.

Yonge, C.M. (1930) Studies on the physiology of corals. I. Feeding mechanisms and food. Scientific Reports of the British Museum. British Museum, London, Vol. 1, pp 13-57.

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