18 March 2016

As part of the World Science Festival in Brisbane recently, I attended the 2016 Thomas Conservation Oration delivered by The Honourable Robert Hill titled “Ocean Futures: A New Generation of Laws and Policies for the Sea”. The Hon. Robert Hill was an intrinsic part of introducing Australia’s Oceans Policy (AOP) in 1998 during his term as Environment Minister. This policy was perceived as ground breaking in advancing coordinated and integrated management of Australia’s marine areas. However, AOP was never fully implemented and was superseded by marine bioregional planning. The main thrust of Hill’s oration was the need to secure the future of the oceans’ biodiversity and resources through new laws and policies. Of particular mention was the management of high seas areas; vast parts of the oceans and seas that need strong legislation and regulation, not just voluntary agreements. Hill suggested that careful and successful implementation of policies is required as merely signing International conventions and agreements does not guarantee outcomes. My research uses this premise and aims to assess the implementation of policy/legislation that underpins the management of marine protected areas (MPAs) in Australia. I have interviewed MPA practitioners and policy makers about what policy/legislation is used in management, how it is applied, and at what stage of the cycle policy is utilised. Preliminary results suggest a complex system of governance arrangements, policies, and legislation, with practitioners having to overcome numerous challenges to effectively implement the myriad of marine policies. This research will be developed into a paper for publication at a later date.

By Kerrie Fraser

26 February 2016

Recent study published by PhD student Martina Prazeres and collaborators showed that populations of reef-dwelling foraminifera that live in variable environments are more resistant to changes in physicochemical conditions above their threshold of tolerance than those that live in more stable habitats. Using Amphistegina lobifera as model organism and biochemical tools, they were able to detect some acclimation mechanisms related to bleaching responses and growth/calcification in response to elevated temperature and nitrate. The results provided the fundamental single-factor analysis that is crucial to understand the differences in tolerance among A. lobifera collected from different reef sites to changing environmental conditions. Findings highlight the importance of local habitat in shaping the responses of this species to short-term shifts in environmental conditions.

Prazeres, M., Uthicke, S., Pandolfi, J.M. 2016. Influence of local habitat on the physiological responses of large benthic foraminifera to temperature and nutrient stress. Scientific Reports 6: 21936. doi: 10.1038/srep21936

18 February 2016

8 February 2016

Recent publication in Scientific Reports:

Historical and modern photographs of Stone Island taken in a) 1915 (photographer unknown); b) 1994 (photographer A. Elliot © Commonwealth of Australia GBRMPA); c) 2012 (photographer H. Markham); and Bramston Reef taken in d) c.1890 (W. Saville-Kent); e) 1994 (photographer A. Elliot © Commonwealth of Australia GBRMPA); f) 2012 (photographer T. Clark). Landscape features in the background of the images helped to locate the same sites: Gloucester Island (GI) and Cape Gloucester (CG).

For more info visit  http://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2016-02/uoq-sad020816.php or contact Dr Tara Clark

5 February 2016

Jeremy Jackson of Scripps, (from left); Trevor Branch of University of Washington; John Pandolfi of University of Queensland and moderator, Mary O’Connor of University of British Columbia were featured on a panel discussion about the impact of human activity on the marine environment, first of a new lecture series sponsored by the Center for the Environment at Harvard University.

More info on: http://news.harvard.edu/gazette/story/2016/02/altered-oceans/

and for full panel discussion follow: http://environment.harvard.edu/ecological-systems-anthropocene-0

December 2015

Over the course of the past 7 months I have been interviewing marine protected area (MPA) practitioners and policy makers in various Australian jurisdictions, to understand the implementation of various policies and legislation in managing a MPA. I’m now making a start on the qualitative analysis that goes along with semi-structured interviews and look forward to having some results and writing it as a PhD chapter in the very near future. So far, I can say that it is a very complex topic and nothing appears to be straight forward.

Survey example:

If you would like to learn more about my research: http://marinepalaeoecology.org/kerrie-fraser/

Kerrie Fraser

September 2015

Recently I had the opportunity to partake in an 8-week research expedition with the International Ocean Discovery Program (IODP) onboard the JOIDES Resolution. IODP is an international marine research organization that drills into and collects sediments from the seafloor to investigate a broad range of scientific questions relating paleoclimates, oceanography, hydrodynamics, tectonics, sedimentology, and paleobiology. The primary objectives of our expedition (Expedition 356: Indonesian Throughflow) were to examine the 5-million year history of the Indonesian Throughflow, Australian monsoon, and tectonic subsidence on the northwest shelf of Australia.

Photo credit: Bill Crawford, Exp 356 Photo Specialist

Onboard as a research scientist, my role was Sedimentologist / Core Describer with expertise in macrofossil identification. Generally, the JOIDES Resolution drills in deep water (100’s to 1,000’s of meters deep), but for this expedition we were drilling in relatively shallow waters (<100 to only a few 100’s of meters) on the Australian shelf. By drilling in relatively shallow water, this increased our chances of encountering more macroscopic organisms that are commonly found on (or transported to) continental shelves, such as molluscs, corals, and echinoderms. In addition to identifying macrofossils found in the cores we recovered, I worked with my team of sedimentologists to describe the lithology of the sediment cored and define lithologic units based on changes in lithology down core and over geologic time.

Data collected during Expedition 356 is currently in moratorium, meaning that all data and samples are reserved first for the scientists who participated in the expedition. Data from the expedition will become available to the public in about one year, and results from scientists’ analyses and experiments will be published as peer-reviewed manuscripts over the next few years. Personally, my research will focus on taxonomic and ecologic questions relating to fossil corals recovered at various sites and geologic time intervals during the expedition.

If you would like to learn more about the International Ocean Discovery Program: http://www.iodp.org/

Or about my experience/research: http://marinepalaeoecology.org/chelsea-korpanty/

Chelsea Korpanty