Project Leaders and Host
Organisations
Dr Hugh Sweatman (Australian Institute of Marine Science)
Dr Marie-Lise Schläppy (Reef Check Australia)
Project Description and Objectives
For detailed descriptions of the outputs for
this project for Year 4 (2009/2010) of the MTSRF Research
Programme, see the Annual Research
Plan.
In 2009/2010 this project will measure the
influence of the Great Barrier Reef Zoning Plan (2003) upon reef
biodiversity.
The project will provide an early warning of
any new wave of crown-of-thorns starfish (COTS) outbreaks to allow
the GBR tourism industry to prepare tactical responses.
The project will also deliver regular reports
on the broad-scale status and relative health of coral reefs in the
GBR including information about regional and global resilience to
natural disturbances (e.g. cyclones, crown-of-thorns starfish,
coral disease and coral bleaching). These reports of condition and
response will be linked with research in other MTSRF Programs,
notably those for water quality
and climate
change, and will feed into the Integrated Reporting processes
for the MTSRF and support community-based monitoring of tourism
intensive sites in order to foster the concept of local
environmental stewardship.
Key objectives of Project 1.1.2 include:
-
Surveys of coral reef health including the development of
indicators and thresholds of concern for reef health (AIMS);
-
Broad-scale surveys to examine the influence of the GBR Zoning
Plan (2003) upon coral reef biodiversity (AIMS);
-
Surveys for crown-of-thorns starfish (COTS) in the region of
outbreak initiation – early warning of new outbreaks of
starfish (AIMS); and
-
Community monitoring of GBR coral reefs (RCA).
