The Australian Museum Eureka Prizes reward excellence in the fields of research & innovation, leadership, science engagement and school science. The winners are announced at an annual black tie dinner. This year it was held in August at the Sydney Town Hall. The Australian Museum Research Institute (AMRI) uses this occasion to present the AMRI […]
Archives for September 2017
John Gough Cyclone Shelter
Construction work on a cyclone shelter at the Australian Museum’s Lizard Island Research Station is nearing completion. It has been largely funded by a grant from the The Ian Potter Foundation, and will be called the John Gough Cyclone Shelter. The late John Gough AO OBE was a Governor of The Ian Potter Foundation from […]
Top predators help juvenile fish
Top predators affect mid-level predators (mesopredators), which in turn affect prey fish lower down the chain. This is a trophic (food) cascade. When the three levels are in ideal balance, the presence of top predators is highly beneficial to the survival and well-being of juvenile fish. For their experiments on trophic cascades at the […]
Habitat degradation – which fish will be most affected?
Professor Mark McCormick runs the Coral Reef Ecology Laboratory at JCU. He and his students often use the facilities of the Australian Museum’s Lizard Island Research Station for their field research. One of Mark’s major areas of interest is fish/habitat interactions and the influence of habitat degradation on fish communities. Cyclones, the Crown of Thorns […]
Scientists & projects – 2017 YTD
This post lists some of the scientists and research projects utilizing the facilities of the Australian Museum’s Lizard Island Research Station this year. A complete list will be published as part of the Station’s full 2017 Report. The results from most of these projects will be published in scientific journals. For prior years, see Publications […]
Coral growth after bleaching
Death is the end of growth. But not all corals die when a reef is subject to bleaching conditions. This story is about survivors and a scientist – Kristin Anderson King PhD. Kristen’s research focuses on three important species of branching coral – Acropora muricata, Pocillopora damicornis and Isopora palifera. It explores the complex […]
Coral recovery – the time perspective
When thinking about coral loss and recovery, it helps to have a sense of time and a sense of urgency. Time began about 13.5 billion years ago. The first organisms were formed in the sea around 3.8 billions years ago. Corals have existed for over 500 million years, through periods of glaciation, global warming and […]