Program Leader: Professor Helene Marsh, James Cook
University
Program 4 is divided into two components:
The marine component will generate
world-class biological, social and economic research to provide
reports on the condition and trends of dugongs, marine turtles and
coastal dolphins that occur in the Great Barrier Reef World
Heritage Area and Torres Strait, and evaluate management options to
improve their status. The marine component consists of two
projects.
Project 1.4.1 involves two focus areas, (a)
dugong distribution and abundance, and (b) sea turtle nesting
success. The outcomes of Project 1.4.1(a) will include an
estimate of sustainable anthropogenic harvest of dugongs for the
northern Great Barrier Reef and Torres Strait; information on the
spatial distribution of dugongs and sea turtles to inform
management options; improved understanding of environmental factors
influencing dugong population dynamics; and the sustainability of
different levels of anthropogenic mortality.
Project 1.4.1(b) will analyse the patterns,
rates and causes of sand loss from green turtle rookeries of
international significance in the northern Great Barrier Reef
region and provide an assessment of remote methods of recording
human visitation at remote sites of high conservation
significance. The effects of various climate change scenarios
on sea turtle sex ratios and hatchling survivorship will also be
assessed.
Project 1.4.2 also involves two focus areas,
(a) the effects of acoustic alarms on the behaviour of wildlife
bycatch; and (b) the economics of Indigenous hunting and its
management. The outcomes of Project 1.4.2(a) will include as
assessment of the capacity of acoustic alarms to minimise the
bycatch of protected species in commercial gillnets without
alienating these species from critical habitats, providing the data
necessary for a spatial risk assessment of various management
options. Project 1.4.2(b) will provide an assessment of the
economic costs and benefits (ecological, social and health) of
options for Indigenous hunting management. In addition this
task will evaluate the direct contribution of customary harvesting
to livelihoods and social welfare.
The first marine component of Program 4 will
have a strong Indigenous focus and will also work closely with the
Indigenous Landscapes Project in Program 9. Extension and
Communication tasks of the marine component will be developed
jointly with Programs 8 and 3.
The rainforest component of Program 4 will
report on the condition and trend of threatened species and
communities in the rainforest and coastal catchments of North
Queensland and will identify management options to mitigate risks
and reduce threats to key threatened species, including cassowaries
and arboreal marsupials and the habitat of threatened
ecosystems.
This component will clarify the community
composition of threatened lowland ecosystems and their role in
terms of maintaining rare and threatened species and harbouring
exotic and pest species. It will also identify key indicators
of ecosystem health and the threshold of concern for these
threatened species and direction of community change.
The rainforest component will link with
Program 5ii to assess the likelihood of community change to
threatened regional ecosystems under the agreed climate change
scenarios. This work will be extended to determine the
impacts of climate change on rare and threatened species.
The outcomes of this component will be
delivered into the Integrated Report Card, Condition and Trends for
the Wet Tropics World Heritage and North Queensland coastal
catchments and into the Impacts of Climate on the Rainforests of
North Queensland.
Program 4 involves three Projects:
Project
1.4.1 - Condition trends and projected futures of marine species of
conservation concern (Research Providers: JCU, TSRA)
Project
1.4.2 - Sustainable use of marine species of conservation
concern (Research Providers: JCU)
Project
1.4.3 - Rainforest threatened species and communities and ecosystem
processes (Research Providers: CSIRO, JCU)
