Marine life is detrimentally affected by human pollution; including by plastic waste and greenhouse gas emissions that cause ocean warming. Thanks to a LIRRF Fellowship grant, I was recently able to undertake further research on these effects, yielding additional data and samples for the projects outlined below and in my March 2019 post. Microplastics are […]
Archives for April 2020
Baby brooding corals: diversity and thermal tolerance
My research at Lizard Island sought to answer two questions: Are all larval corals (a.k.a. planulae) created equal, or do they vary depending on parental condition, species, location and time of birth? and Are corals born from parents that survived mass bleaching events more thermally tolerant? To answer these questions, I first had to […]
The changing song of the sea
For the last four years, I’ve been fortunate to carry out research on coral reef bioacoustics at Lizard Island. My most recent trip was funded by a LIRRF Ian Potter Doctoral Fellowship, awarded by the Australian Museum. Coral reefs are alive with sound; the crackle of snapping shrimp combines with the pops, grunts, whoops and […]