Mitigating the devastating effects of coral eating Crown of Thorns Starfish (Acanthaster cf. solaris , aka CoTS) has been the focus of 21 LIRS based projects over the past 5 years.  This extensive and collective research has been funded by the generous $500,000 grants program donated by The Ian Potter Foundation 50th Anniversary Commemorative Grant in […]

Drawing on field work conducted at the Lizard Island Research Station, a large team of ecologists and engineers has developed a relatively simple way to standardize how habitat complexity is measured. The research, recently published in Nature, Ecology and Evolution, begins with a simple insight: places with lots of nooks and crannies contain lots of […]

Around this time of year, LIRS co-directors usually attend our Foundation’s Sydney and Melbourne dinners, updating our supporters on research undertaken at the Station. With LIRS closed to researchers since mid-March, Dr Anne Hoggett and Dr Lyle Vail join us by video, sharing their observations of recent bleaching and coral recovery around Lizard Island. This […]

Newly settled crown-of-thorns starfish (Acanthaster cf. solaris, aka CoTS) have rarely been studied in the field. This knowledge gap in our understanding of CoTS population and outbreak dynamics has been my research focus for the past several years. My interest developed when I worked for two years on GBRMPA’s CoTS control program, where I taught […]

The Lizard Island Research Station’s 2019 Report is available here.  It includes 2019 in review by resident Directors Lyle Vail & Anne Hoggett; Visitors in 2019: details of the 106 visiting researchers and their projects;  Publications: Titles and citations for the 88 new scientific papers based on LI research that were added to the collection […]

In early 2020, the Great Barrier Reef suffered its third major coral bleaching event in five years due to heat stress.  At Lizard Island, bleaching first became noticeable in mid-February. February is normally “wet season”, with clouds and rain that keep the sea temperature down despite the tropical summer heat. But this year, the weather […]

Early detection of population outbreaks in Crown of Thorns Starfish (Acanthaster solaris cf, aka CoTS) is a necessary precursor to containment. Excellent progress has been made over the past few years, especially in the deployment of DNA technology.  The five research projects outlined below have been funded by The Ian Potter Foundation 50th Anniversary Commemorative […]

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 […]