We are seeking volunteers to help refine and develop this blog site and our social media channels. If you are a user of social media and interested in helping achieve our objectives, please contact us. We have three objectives: Communicate the science – why the Great Barrier Reef is Australia’s greatest natural treasure; why we need […]
Archives for July 2014
Meet some mighty coral polyps
These little animals are only a millimetre or so in diameter, but together with countless of their close relatives they make a mighty contribution to our world. Coral polyps build reefs, including Australia’s Great Barrier Reef. And reef are very important. Although they take up less than 1% of the ocean surface, they provide a habitat for […]
The amazing Lizard Island Field Guide
Wherever you dive or snorkel near Lizard Island you encounter wonderful fish. This one is a bicolour parrotfish (cetoscarus bicolor), but how could you know? How could you know that as a juvenile this same species would have an entirely different colouring and that it would be quite different again in an intermediate stage? Or […]
Proving dredging is a major threat
In 2011 Joe Pollock was awarded a LIRRF / Ian Potter Foundation Research Fellowship at the Lizard Island Research Station for a case study on white syndromes, a virulent group of coral diseases. Joe has continued his work on white syndromes. In conjunction with other researchers, he has published the results of a study on […]
Help us contain COTS
The Crown of Thorns Starfish (COTS) is eating our coral The Great Barrier Reef has lost half its coral since systematic monitoring commenced in 1985. The three major causes are storm damage (48%), COTS (48%) and bleaching (10%). We can’t stop the storms or the bleaching associated with ocean warming, but we can act to reduce […]