Project Leader: Professor Terry Hughes, James Cook
University
Project 2.5i.3 will examine the resilience of
coral and reef fish assemblages to climate change and investigate
how impacts of climate change will interact with other human
induced stresses to influence the resilience of coral reef
ecosystems. The Project will utilise existing strengths in
the population genetics of corals and their algal endosymbionts in
the population, community and ecosystem ecology of corals and reef
fishes, and in mechanistic modeling.
A key outcome of this Project will be an
integrated, multi-level, assessment of climate change effects on
corals and fishes of the Great Barrier Reef. Key components
of the life history, community ecology and functional capacity of
corals and reef fishes will be targeted to determine how
individuals, populations and communities will respond to climate
change, and to assess the feedback that these impacts will have on
the resilience of coral reef ecosystems within the Great Barrier
Reef Marine Park.
