2017 WAMSI Research Conference
This article was originally published on an archived WAMSI website. Some media or links may appear missing or broken. You can use the search function to look for these, or contact info@wamsi.org.au for a specific request.
—
The partners of the Western Australian Marine Science Institution are delivering two of the largest integrated marine research programs in Australia.
This conference showcased the science, findings, outcomes and products to managers, researchers, industry and government stakeholders.
2017 WAMSI Research Conference Presentations
Dredging Science Node
Day 1 – Wednesday 22nd November 2017
| SESSION 1: Opening and keynote presentations
CHAIR: Naomi Brown |
||
| Time | Presentation | Speaker |
| 9:15 | Introduction and Welcome to Country. | Dr Richard Walley OAM |
| 9:30 | Opening the 2017 WAMSI Research Conference. (audio) | Minister Dave Kelly
Minister for Water; Fisheries; Forestry; Innovation and ICT; Science |
| 9:40 | WAMSI – Delivering research priorities for Western Australia (audio) | Naomi Brown, Chair WAMSI |
| 9:50 | Keynote Presentation – Building a Science and Knowledge base for Environmental Impact Assessment. (audio) | Tom Hatton, Chair WA DWER |
| 10:10 | The power of collaborative science: an industry perspective (audio) | Mike Utsler, Chief Operating Officer Woodside Energy
|
| 10:30 | A NT perspective on managing dredging (audio) | Paul Vogel, Chair NT EPA
|
| 10:50-11:15 | Morning Tea |
| SESSION 2: Overview and Pressure Field Characterisation and Prediction
CHAIR: TBC |
||
| 11:15 | Dredging Science Node – Purpose and pathways to adoption (audio) | Ray Masini, DWER |
| 11:45 | Characterisation of dredging pressures in WA – review of the datasets from previous dredging related environmental monitoring programs | Ross Jones, AIMS
Rebecca Fisher, AIMS Muhammad Abdul Wahab, AIMS |
| 12:15 | Generation and Transport of Dredge Plumes – Synthesis of knowledge and considerations for management (audio) | Chaojiao Sun, CSIRO
|
| 12:45-1:45 | Lunch | |
| SESSION 3: Ecological Response Prediction
CHAIR: TBC
|
||
| 1:45 | Response of corals to dredging: hazard to risk | Ross Jones, AIMS |
| 2:15 | Defining thresholds and indicators of seagrass response to dredging – Synthesis of knowledge and considerations for management | Paul Lavery, ECU |
| 2:45 | Defining thresholds and indicators of sponge response to dredging – Synthesis of knowledge and considerations for management | Muhammad Abdul Wahab, AIMS |
| 3:15-3:45 | Afternoon Tea | |
| SESSION 4: Environmental windows for critical ecological processes
CHAIR: TBC |
||
| 3:45 | Effects of dredging on coral reproduction – Thresholds and indicators and synthesis of knowledge and considerations for management (audio) | Andrew Negri, AIMS |
| 4:15 | Effects of dredging related pressures on critical ecological processes for finfish – Synthesis of knowledge and considerations for management (audio) | Euan Harvey
|
| 4:35 | Effects of dredging related pressures on critical ecological processes for organisms other than fish or coral (audio) | Gary Kendrick, UWA
|
| 4:55 | Dredging Science Node – An Overview: what we have learned (audio) | Ray Masini, DWER |
| 5:15 | Close |
Day 2 – Thursday 23rd November 2017
| SESSION 5: Pressure Field Characterisation and Prediction
CHAIR: TBC |
||
| 9:15 | Modelling far-field dredging generated sediment plumes – guidance for proponents and consultants | Paul Branson et al.
CSIRO) |
| 09:45 | Remote Sensing of Dredge Plumes – how and how not (audio) | Peter Fearns et al.
Curtin University |
| 10:00 | Sediment deposition over benthic habitats – corrections for sediment transport models (audio) | Ryan Lowe et al.
UWA |
| 10:15 | Continuous in situ monitoring of sediment deposition in shallow benthic environments (audio) | James Whinney et al.
JCU |
| 10:45-
11:15 |
Morning Tea | |
| SESSION 6: Ecological Response Prediction (CORALS AND SEAGRASS)
CHAIR: TBC |
||
| 11:30 | Dredging and bleaching events (audio) | Ross Jones et al.
AIMS |
| Laboratory experimentation on the effects of dredging on fertilisation, larval development and settlement of corals (audio) | Gerard Ricardo, AIMS
Andrew Negri, AIMS |
|
| 11:45 | Predicting coral mortality based on water quality during dredging and deriving operational thresholds | Rebecca Fisher et al.
AIMS |
| 12:00 | Measurement and modelling of key demographic processes in corals of the Dampier Archipelago (audio) | Russ Babcock et al.
CSIRO |
| 12:15 | Natural dynamics and seasonality of tropical seagrasses and recovery mechanisms of seagrass following disturbance – implications for environmental impact assessment | Paul Lavery ECU
Mat Vanderklift et al. CSIRO |
| 12:30 | Genetic variability within seagrass and implications for recovery potential (audio) | Kathryn McMahon et al.
ECU |
| 12:45-
1:45 |
Lunch |
| SESSION 7: Ecological Response Prediction (SEAGRASSES, SPONGES and )
CHAIR: TBC |
||
| 1:45 | Thresholds and indicators of seagrass response to dredge pressures (audio) | Gary Kendrick, UWA
John Statton, UWA
|
| 2:00 | The influence of light quality on seagrasses (audio) | Simone Strydom, ECU
|
| 2:15 | Sponges of the Pilbara – a biodiversity hotspot (audio)
Video 1: Sponges dominate filter feeder communities in the Pilbara Video 2: Sponge Gardens of Ningaloo Reef |
Muhammad Abdul Wahab
AIMS Jane Fromont et al. WA Museum
|
| 2:30 | Comparisons of benthic filter feeder communities before and after a large-scale capital dredging program | Muhammad Abdul Wahab,
AIMS |
| 2:45-3:15 | Afternoon Tea | |
| SESSION 8: Ecological Response Prediction (CORAL EARLY LIFE HISTORY STAGES)
CHAIR: |
||
| Sub-lethal indicators of dredging pressures – mucous sheet production in Porites corals (audio) | Pia Bessell-Browne et al.
UWA |
|
| Specific and interactive effects of total suspended solids, light attenuation and sediment deposition on adult corals (audio) | Pia Bessell-Browne et al.
UWA |
|
| 3:15 | Coral reproduction in Western Australia (audio) | James Gilmour, AIMS
Russ Babcock, CSIRO |
| 3:45-4:00 | Close of Conference and Closing Remarks | Naomi Brown, WAMSI Chair
|
Kimberley Marine Research Program
Day 1 – Tuesday, 28 November
| Session 1, Chair: Luke Twomey, WAMSI
Opening and keynote presentations |
||
| P/P | Presentation | Speaker |
| 9:00 | Introduction and Welcome to Country. (audio) | Dr Len Collard |
| 9:15 | Opening Address (audio) | Chris Tallentire MLA
Parliamentary Secretary to the Minister for Water; Fisheries; Forestry; Innovation and ICT; Science |
| 9:35 | WAMSI – Delivering research priorities for WA (audio) | Dr. Luke Twomey,
WAMSI CEO |
| 9:50 | Keynote Presentation – The importance of science for conservation management | Professor Chris Doepel PSM, Deputy Chair Conservation Commission |
| 10:15 | Morning Tea | |
| Session 2
The Kimberley Marine Research Program Chair: Stuart Field, DBCA |
||
| 11:00 | Kimberley Node Overview (audio) | Stuart Field, WAMSI and DBCA |
| 11:20 | Living on the Edge: Understanding the adaption and acclimation of nearshore turbid-zone corals to extreme environmental conditions (audio) | Mick O’Leary, Curtin |
| 11:40 | Physical drivers of reefs in the Kimberley (audio) | Ryan Lowe, UWA |
| 12:00 | Kimberley seabed biodiversity (audio) | Karen Miller, AIMS |
| 12:30 | Lunch | |
| Session 3
Productivity in the Kimberley Chair: Kelly Waples, DBCA |
||
| 13:30 | Reef production and nutrient uptake (audio) | Renee Gruber, UWA |
| 13:40 | Benthic primary productivity: production and herbivory of seagrasses, macroalgae and microalgae (audio) (audio of Q&A) | Gary Kendrick, UWA |
| 13:55 | The magnitude and importance of herbivory in the Kimberley (audio) | Gary Kendrick, UWA |
| 14:05 | Remote Sensing (audio) | Peter Fearns, Curtin |
| 14:25 | Afternoon Tea | |
| Session 4
Ecological processes of the Kimberley Chair: Stuart Field, DBCA |
||
| 15:20 | Recruitment and herbivory in the southern Kimberley (audio) | Martial Depczynski, AIMS |
| 15:40 | Going with the flow: genomic insights into ecological connectivity in the Kimberley (audio) | Oliver Berry, CSIRO |
| 16:00 | Historical reconstructions of water quality in the Kimberley using sediment records (audio) | John Keesing, CSIRO |
| 16.20 | Climate change as registered by Sr/Ca, Li/Mg, d11B and B/Ca systematics in an ~100-year old Porites coral from the thermally extreme Kimberley region of northwestern Australia (audio)
Heat tolerance of Kimberley corals and impacts of the 2016 marine heatwave on coral reefs in the inshore Kimberley region Presentation slides |
Malcolm McCulloch, UWA |
Day 2 – Wednesday, 29th November 2017
| Session 1
Best practice indigenous engagement for healthy country management Chair: Stuart Field, DBCA |
||
| 9:00 | Invited Speaker – People and Saltwater Country in the Kimberley | Dean Mathews, Yawuru and Albert Wiggin, Nyul Nyul |
| (Video of presentation)
Using a Multiple Evidence Based approach to mobilise Indigenous knowledge and science Using social values to inform marine spatial planning Invited speakers – Working together on country for healthy country and MPA management Presentation slides pdf A Regional Framework for Saltwater Monitoring in the Kimberley Presentation slides pdf |
Beau Austin, CDU
Jennifer Munro, DBCA
Dean Mathews, Yawuru
Rebecca Dobbs, UWA and Albert Wiggin, Nyul Nyul |
|
| 10:15 | Morning Tea | |
| Session 2
Marine fauna of the Kimberley Chair: Kelly Waples, DBCA |
||
| 10:45 | Key biological indices required to understand and manage nesting sea turtles along the Kimberley coast (video of presentation) | Scott Whiting, DBCA
Tony Tucker, DBCA Oliver Berry, CSIRO |
| Integrating Indigenous knowledge and survey techniques to develop a baseline for dugong management in the Kimberley (video of presentation) | Peter Bayliss, CSIRO | |
| Modelling the spatial distribution of humpback whales in the Kimberley region of Western Australia (video of presentation) | Michele Thums, AIMS | |
| Relative abundance, population genetic structure and passive acoustic monitoring of Australian snubfin and humpback dolphins in regions within the Kimberley (video of presentation) | Josh Smith, Murdoch/Simon Allen UWA, Chandra Salgado Kent, Curtin | |
| Saltwater crocodiles in the Kimberley (video of presentation) | Danny Barrow, DBCA | |
| 12:00 | Lunch | |
| Session 3
Physical and biological processes and what we have learned from modelling Chair: Stuart Field, DBCA |
||
| 13:00 | What is modelling and why do we care? (video of presentation) | Matt Hipsey, UWA and Fabio Boschetti, CSIRO |
| 13:20 | Physical oceanographic dynamics in the Kimberley (video of presentation) | Greg Ivey, UWA |
| 13:35 | Terrestrial-Ocean Linkages: the role of rivers and estuaries in sustaining marine productivity in the Kimberley (video of presentation) | Nicole Jones, UWA and Andrew Revill, CSIRO |
| 13:50 | Biogeochemistry (video of presentation)
|
Matt Hipsey, UWA |
| 14:05 | Opposite polarities of ENSO drive distinct patterns of coral bleaching potentials off WA coast (video of presentation) | Ming Feng, CSIRO |
| 14:20 | Knowledge Integration and Management Strategy Evaluation (MSE) Modelling (video of presentation) | Fabio Boschetti, CSIRO |
| 14:40 | Afternoon Tea | |
| Session 4
Science for ongoing management – how will we use what we have learned Chair: Luke Twomey, WAMSI |
||
| 15:10 | Invited Speaker: Kimberley Marine Protected Areas (audio) | Kathleen Lowry, DBCA |
| 15:45 | Is the Kimberley coast still a pristine wilderness? (audio) | Lynnath Beckley, Murdoch |
| 16:00 | Research and monitoring in the Kimberley – setting priorities for the future (audio) | Tom Holmes, DBCA |
| 16:15 | Navigating knowledge currents in Kimberley Saltwater Country (audio) | Beau Austin, CDU, Dean Mathews, Yawuru and Albert Wiggin, Nyul Nyul |
| 16:40 | Collaborating in science into the future (audio) | Patrick Seares, OEPA |
| Closing Remarks and Close of Conference (audio) | Luke Twomey, WAMSI |