Diatom silica production under future ocean conditions, genes to biomes. This project aims to quantify how ocean warming and acidification will alter natural diatom assemblages and silica production rates to predict changes in the cycling and transfer of carbon and silicon in the future ocean. This project expects to generate new knowledge of environmental controls on diatom silicification and their ocean-scale implications by integrating the disciplines of physiology, molecular biology and quan ....Diatom silica production under future ocean conditions, genes to biomes. This project aims to quantify how ocean warming and acidification will alter natural diatom assemblages and silica production rates to predict changes in the cycling and transfer of carbon and silicon in the future ocean. This project expects to generate new knowledge of environmental controls on diatom silicification and their ocean-scale implications by integrating the disciplines of physiology, molecular biology and quantitative modelling. Expected outcomes include essential advancements in future simulations of marine productivity and silicon cycling and a deeper understanding of threats to marine life from climate change. This should provide significant benefits such as improved valuations on the sustainability of ocean ecosystems.Read moreRead less
Prediction of fishery year-class-strengths from larval growth and zooplankton size structure. The abundance of young fish produced in the ocean each year is highly variable, and banks or managers need to prepare for these future changes when the fish reach market size. Therefore many nations conduct special trawl surveys of juvenile fish each year, but these are expensive, particularly when Australia has over 200 commercially harvested fish. We propose that the growth of fish larvae, recorded as ....Prediction of fishery year-class-strengths from larval growth and zooplankton size structure. The abundance of young fish produced in the ocean each year is highly variable, and banks or managers need to prepare for these future changes when the fish reach market size. Therefore many nations conduct special trawl surveys of juvenile fish each year, but these are expensive, particularly when Australia has over 200 commercially harvested fish. We propose that the growth of fish larvae, recorded as daily growth rings within the earstone of undersized fish from the fishery, could predict future abundance. We will link growth to a cost-effective assessment of their zooplankton prey in spawning areas that lead to Australia's South East Trawl region.Read moreRead less
Resolving the warming East Australian Current's impact on a marine food web. Resolving the warming East Australian Current's impact on a marine food web. This project aims to understand the effects of climate change on marine food webs, from plankton production to predation by iconic marine fauna, by integrating data on oceanographic conditions and fish distribution with the foraging patterns and breeding success of seabirds. Warming waters due to strengthening western boundary currents have unk ....Resolving the warming East Australian Current's impact on a marine food web. Resolving the warming East Australian Current's impact on a marine food web. This project aims to understand the effects of climate change on marine food webs, from plankton production to predation by iconic marine fauna, by integrating data on oceanographic conditions and fish distribution with the foraging patterns and breeding success of seabirds. Warming waters due to strengthening western boundary currents have unknown consequences for coastal marine food webs. Innovative prey capture signatures from accelerometers, and advanced movement models from satellite locations will show how predators locate and prey upon fish schools. Anticipated outcomes are insight into how changing resource availability in the oceans affects ecosystem resilience; improved viability for coastal industries; and ecosystem-based conservation management strategies.Read moreRead less
Ocean currents and genetic connectedness in a complex archipelago. To what extent are marine coastal communities ?open?, i.e. how often do the oceans carry larvae far from their point of spawning, and what influence does such ocean transport have on the spread of genetic information? These are some of the most fundamental questions of biological oceanography; the project will provide new answers by using an extremely detailed genetic data set from the Houtman Abrolhos Islands off Western Austra ....Ocean currents and genetic connectedness in a complex archipelago. To what extent are marine coastal communities ?open?, i.e. how often do the oceans carry larvae far from their point of spawning, and what influence does such ocean transport have on the spread of genetic information? These are some of the most fundamental questions of biological oceanography; the project will provide new answers by using an extremely detailed genetic data set from the Houtman Abrolhos Islands off Western Australian together with an advanced numerical ocean model especially suited to that environment and developed in Australia.Read moreRead less