Zara-Louise Cowan is currently completing her PhD at James Cook University. She is researching the early life stages of the reef’s most destructive creature, the Crown-of-thorns starfish (COTS). Specifically she is looking into predators of larval COTS and under what conditions the larvae settle and develop into their adult starfish form. There is a hypothesis […]
Archives for November 2015
Familiarity, climate change and schooling
Lauren Nadler is a PhD student at James Cook University, researching schooling behaviour in coral reef fish at the Australian Museum’s Lizard Island Research Station. A school is a social group of fish that exhibits coordinated swimming behaviour and a polarized alignment. In a complex habitat like a coral reef, this social behaviour aids in a range […]
Coralline algae: reef builders
Dr. Emma Kennedy is a postdoctoral researcher at Griffith University in Brisbane, and is currently leading a field team investigating coralline algae at the Australian Museum’s Lizard Island Research Station. Coralline algae are a hard, red algae, commonly found on the reef crest area. They produce calcareous deposits and, unlike many other forms of algae, play important […]
Can We Hear the Reef Dying?
Jamie McWilliam is a PhD Student at Curtin University. He is researching reef soundscapes at the Australian Museum’s Lizard Island Research Station. Using underwater microphones, called hydrophones, his focus is not on what marine creatures can see but rather what they can hear. Whales and many other marine animals use sound to communicate, sometimes over amazing distances. […]
The Oddity Effect – Helping or Hindering Shoaling Fish?
Dom Roche is a postdoc at the University of Neuchatel in Switzerland and was the 2012 Ian Potter Doctoral Fellow. He and his wife, previous feature scientist Sandra Binning, have been conducting field work at the Australian Museum’s Lizard Island Research Station for 6 years. Currently, Dom is working with Masters student Fausto Quattrini, investigating what’s known […]
COTS have many eyes but what do they see?
Ronald Petie is currently focusing his work on the Crown of Thorns Starfish (COTS). Most research done on the COTS has been ecological, covering things like their location and abundance. However, Ronald’s background is actually in physiology, and so his research is mechanistic. It has long been known that starfish have eyes, but Ronald is investigating how […]
Fish with Learning Difficulties – Are Parasites the Cause?
Sandra Binning is a Post-Doctoral researcher from the University of Neuchâtel, Switzerland and both she and her husband Dom Roche have spent time at the Australian Museum’s Lizard Island Research Station. Sandra is part of a team studying the behaviour of fish, particularly in relation to the effects of parasites. They are seeking to answer some […]
Damselfish Promote Coral Health
Tory Chase is a PhD student at James Cook University. He is originally from New Hampshire and completed his undergraduate studies in North Carolina. He is currently 8 months into his PhD project, as well as interning at the Australian Museum’s Lizard Island Research Station. Tory had two projects running, one that collects survey data from around the […]
Can cleaner wrasse influence the battle between coral and algae on reefs?
Eva McClure is part of Dr. Lexa Grutter‘s lab team. Dr. Grutter of the University of Queensland, is investigating how the cleaner wrasse (Labroides dimidiatus) influences the ecology of coral reef communities. For the past 15 years, she has run a study on Lizard Island, which sees these fish removed from isolated ‘patch reefs’ and then observes […]
Fear tactics in fish
How can small reef predators be stopped from hunting baby fish? With FEAR! Fear of predation triggered by the presence of a larger predator can stop smaller predators from foraging on baby fish. This post was contributed by Maria Palacios, recipient of the 2015 Ian Potter Doctoral Fellowship – Ed Small predators (mesopredators) are an […]