Latest ARC Centre of Excellence for Coral Reef Studies Stories

ARC Centre of Excellence for Coral Reef Studies Leading international marine scientists have called for the protection of more, large marine wilderness areas in a bid to shield the world’s dwindling stocks of fish from destruction. Working in the world’s largest unfished marine reserve, the remote Chagos Archipelago in the central Indian Ocean, scientists from Australia and the US have shown there is a dramatic difference in the numbers, size and variety of fish compared with...

ARC Centre of Excellence for Coral Reef Studies Big fish that have grown up in marine reserves don’t seem to know enough to avoid fishers armed with spear guns waiting outside the reserve. The latest research by an Australian team working in the Philippines into the effects of marine reserves has found there is an unexpected windfall awaiting fishers who obey the rules and respect reserve boundaries – in the form of big, innocent fish wandering out of the reserve. “There are...

When it comes to choosing a place to hang out, big reef fish like coral trout, snappers and sweetlips have strong architectural preferences. The choices big fish make on where to shelter could have a major influence on their ability to cope with climate change, say scientists from the ARC Centre of Excellence for Coral Reef Studies at James Cook University. In research aimed at understanding the process of fish population decline when coral reefs sustain major damage, PhD student James...

Lessons from tens of millions of years ago are pointing to new ways to save and protect today’s coral reefs and their myriad of beautiful and many-hued fishes at a time of huge change in the Earth’s systems. The complex relationship we see today  between fishes and corals developed relatively recently in geological terms – and is a major factor in shielding reef species from extinction, says Professor David Bellwood of the ARC Centre of Excellence for Coral Reef Studies and James...

Rising human carbon dioxide emissions may be affecting the brains and central nervous system of sea fishes with serious consequences for their survival, an international scientific team has found. Carbon dioxide concentrations predicted to occur in the ocean by the end of this century will interfere with fishes’ ability to hear, smell, turn and evade predators, says Professor Phillip Munday of the ARC Centre of Excellence for Coral Reef Studies and James Cook University. “For...

Australian scientists have urged greater consideration for the brilliantly-hued parrot fishes that tend and renew the world’s imperiled coral reefs. “Parrotfishes are the constant gardeners of the reef. They play a crucial role in keeping it healthy, suppressing weed, removing sediment and helping the corals to regrow after a setback,” explains Professor David Bellwood of the ARC Centre of Excellence for Coral Reef Studies and James Cook University. In a major new study published...

Representatives of the world’s governments meeting in Durban this week have been advised by scientists that urgent action is needed to reduce the vulnerability of communities worldwide likely to be worst affected by the impacts of climate change. In a new scientific paper and book, leading marine researchers Dr Josh Cinner of the ARC Centre of Excellence for Coral Reef Studies (CoECRS) and James Cook University, and Tim McClanahan of the Wildlife Conservation Society (WCS) propose a...

The elusive culprits that are killing countless coral reefs around the world can now be nabbed with technology normally used to diagnose human diseases, marine researchers say. Coral researchers and reef managers will be able to identify coral infections using a new method that allows them to classify specific diseases based on the presence of microbes. This could lead to more effective action to reduce the impact of disease on the world’s imperiled coral reefs. “Current...

Sharks are in big trouble on the Great Barrier Reef and worldwide, according to an Australian-based team who have developed a world-first way to measure rates of decline in shark populations. “There is mounting evidence of widespread, substantial, and ongoing declines in the abundance of shark populations worldwide, coincident with marked rises in global shark catches in the last half-century,” say Mizue Hisano, Professor Sean Connolly and Dr William Robbins from the ARC Centre of...

  A young research scientist who has studied fish from outer space in order to help predict the future of our coral reefs and their fish stocks is this year’s winner of a prestigious science prize. Dr Nick Graham of the ARC Centre of Excellence for Coral Reef Studies and James Cook University is this year’s laureate in the Life Sciences & Biological Sciences category of the Scopus Young Researcher of the Year Awards. The Scopus Awards are presented annually by Universities...