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Project 4.8.7 - Forecasting risk of exposure to irukandji

Project Leader and Host Organisation

Professor Michael Kingsford, James Cook University

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.

The purpose of this project is to minimise the risk of exposure to Irukandji jellyfish  through knowledge of the sources of jellyfishes and changes in their abundance.

This project has focussed on North Queensland where numbers of stings by jellyfishes have been high in recent years.  The project team has, and will obtain information on the abundance of jellyfishes in near reef and nearshore waters across the Great Barrier Reef between Cooktown and Townsville. 

In addition, there is a suggested link between abundance of Carukia barnesi and proximity to estuaries however this has never been tested critically. The inshore zone of the Great Barrier Reef is the area of highest use by the community and forecasting the risk of envenomation is critical. 

The team's approach involves sampling nearshore waters near to and away from estuaries in an area of North Queensland that experiences high usage by tourists and locals. The coastal zone between the Daintree River and Mackay has the highest frequency of envenomation and is the area of research focus. Samples of C. barnesi and C. fleckeri will be used for genetics and elemental fingerprints to determine population structure.

Key objectives of this project are to:

  • Collect samples for the project during the stinger season from November to May;

  • Collect jellyfishes at different distances across the GBR and at three latitudes in North Queensland in multiple years;

  • Use elemental chemistry and microsatellites to test for differences in the population structure of C. barnesi and C. fleckeri among locations;

  • Continue to develop risk maps for stingers including time of year, geographic variation, species distribution etc. from existing data sets and expert opinion (contingent on funding); and

  • Develop a set of response guidelines to reduce risk to human health (contingent on funding).

Further Information

Dr David Souter
GBR Program Research Manager
Reef and Rainforest Research Centre Limited
Tel: (07) 4781 6013


Major Project Outputs

The Annual Research Plans, or ARPs, outline the specific tasks, products, budgets and staff for each research project within each of the Research Themes and Programs of the MTSRF.  The ARPs also outline the key deliverables, or 'project milestones' (e.g. major reports, journal articles, communications products) to be achieved.

An ARP is developed for each operating year of the MTSRF (2006-2010).

Details of this and previous years' outputs from this project are included in each of the Annual Research Plans

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