Three New Critical Grants Funded in 2025
Since 2012, the LIRRF has supported a research grants program, with 33 grants awarded, at a total value of $1.1 million.
In recent years grants have pivoted to support research that has a time-critical element. Applicants can be at any level from within the research community and are offered irregularly depending on funding available.
We are pleased to highlight that in 2025, three new Critical Research Grants have been awarded:
Dr Maria Byrne researching COTS in the aquarium at LIRS
Prof Maria Byrne (University of Sydney), A/Prof Jon Allen (College of William and Mary, USA) and Prof Mary Sewell (University of Auckland, NZ) were awarded a 2025 Critical Research Grant thanks to funding from Sally White OAM: Resilience and adaptation of Crown-of-Thorns Starfish larvae to development in oligotrophic tropical waters: maternal provisioning, bacterivory and larval cloning.
The Great Barrier Reef is in a tenuous state in the face of climate stress and Crown-of-Thorns Starfish (COTS) outbreaks, with only the latter amenable to local management action. Faced with investment decisions, it is imperative that management is better informed with respect to the drivers of COTS outbreaks. Central to current COTS management action is the notion that COTS larvae are limited by food availability in nature and that boosts of food generated by nutrient-laden runoff from the mainland promote outbreaks – this is the terrestrial runoff hypothesis. Coastal water quality improvement is promoted as a tool to suppress COTS outbreaks. This project will be a definitive test of the terrestrial runoff hypothesis and will inform management of the efficacy of this approach to controlling COTS. Maria and her team will conduct their research at LIRS in late 2025 when COTS spawn.
Prof Morgan Pratchett and Dr Peter Doll in the field
Prof Morgan Pratchett and Dr Peter Doll (James Cook University) were awarded a 2-year Critical Research Grant thanks to funding from the Big Blue Ocean Foundation: Novel methods for Crown-of-Thorns Starfish management to contain emerging outbreaks at Lizard Island.
Increasing densities of Crown-of-Thorns Starfish (COTS) have been recorded in the Lizard Island region since 2021, signifying the potential initiation of the fifth population irruption of COTS on the Great Barrier Reef since the 1960s. These increases were detected by Pratchett’s team using Scooter Assisted Large-Area Diver (SALAD) surveys. This project will assess the utility of SALAD-based culling to increase the efficiency and effectiveness of COTS management. Importantly, SALAD-based culling is only likely to be viable in areas with low to moderate COTS densities. Where COTS densities are high, Pratchett and Doll will co-ordinate with established culling operators to ensure timely and extensive culling is undertaken. The goal of this project is to attempt to suppress COTS densities in the Lizard Island region and maximise opportunities for coral recovery in the aftermath of the 2024 mass coral bleaching event. SALAD-based culling will be undertaken during 6 trips over two years (2025 and 2026). As well as reducing coral loss caused by increasing densities of COTS, this project will rigorously compare detectability of COTS using different surveillance and culling methods to help establish specific contexts where particular methods should be applied.
Dr Vincent Raoul
Dr Vincent Raoul (Griffith University), Dr Karen Joyce (James Cook University), Dr Stephanie Duce (James Cook University), Dr George Roff (CSIRO) and Prof Jane Williamson (Macquarie University) were awarded a 2-year Critical Research Grant thanks to funding from Sally White OAM: Drone-based monitoring of Lizard Island bleaching recovery.
This research harnesses a unique opportunity to extend drone survey datasets collected at the peak of the global beaching event in March 2024 and subsequent assessments of coral mortality in June 2024. The research will provide a detailed and large-scale analysis of shallow water coral recovery following a bleaching event. It will also identify causal links to environmental variables that encourage or discourage coral recovery. Drone surveys will be conducted approximately 6 months apart starting in mid-2025. This valuable data will be made freely available to other researchers.
We thank supporters Sally White OAM and the Big Blue Ocean Foundation for generously supporting these Critical Grants.