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National Science Week: Ocean expert high school presentations

17 August 2020 in /by

In term two 2020 some of the world’s leading marine scientists Zoomed in to WA high school classrooms to help Year 12 students achieve their best in their final year of study amid the COVID-19 confusion.
The presentations cover subjects in the year 12 marine studies curriculum followed by a question and answer session.
The recorded presentations are now available to all teachers, students and audiences.
Click on the image below to watch a presentation.
We’d like to get your feedback, or for more information contact: info@wamsi.org.au
 

Blue Carbon conversation celebrates World Oceans Day 2020

10 June 2020 in /by

The United States Consulate General Perth in partnership with the Western Australian Marine Science Institution (WAMSI) celebrated World Oceans Day 2020 this week by hosting a virtual conversation with world-leading ocean scientists who have been at the forefront of collaborations between the U.S. and Australia on Blue Carbon research.     
The conversation on Monday 8 June was moderated by U.S. Consul General David J. Gainer and featured :

Professor James Fourqurean, Director of the Center for Coastal Oceans Research, Professor Biological Sciences, Institute of Environment, Florida International University

Dr Oscar Serrano, Research Fellow, Centre for Marine Ecosystems Research, School of Science, Edith Cowan University
Click HERE to watch to the conversation

Background
Professor Jim Fourqurean and Dr Oscar Serrano played a crucial role in establishing successful collaborations between Australia and the United States in the field of Blue Carbon. As a direct result, they have published a number of papers in top scientific journals over the last decade, which have had significant impact in the research community and in the media.
Western Australia and the United States host some of the largest Blue Carbon ecosystems in the world. Both countries have great potential to mitigate climate change through the conservation and restoration of Blue Carbon ecosystems. Research partnerships between the two countries are instrumental to meet these targets.
 
Professor Jim Fourqurean
Professor Jim Fourqurean is a marine and estuarine ecologist with a special interest in benthic plant communities and nutrient biogeochemistry. He received his undergraduate and graduate training in the Department of Environmental Sciences at the University of Virginia, where he became familiar with the Chesapeake Bay and its benthic communities.
He developed a love of tropical ecosystems while doing his dissertation research in Florida Bay. After a post doc at San Francisco State studying planktonic processes in Tomales Bay, California, he was recruited to return to south Florida to join a new research group at the then-newest research university in the USA, Florida International University (FIU).
He has been at FIU since 1993, where he is now Professor of Biological Sciences and the Director of the Center for Coastal Oceans Research in the Institute for Water and Environment. Since 2011, he has also held an adjunct appointment at The University of Western Australia.
For the past three decades, his main research areas have been in the seagrass environments of south Florida, but he has also worked in coastal environments around the Gulf of Mexico, in Australia, Indonesia, Mexico, Panama, Bahamas, Bermuda, the United Arab Emirates and the western Mediterranean. He is the lead scientist and overall manager of FIU’s Aquarius Reef Base, the world’s only saturation diving habitat and laboratory for research, education and outreach.
His global leadership in coastal oceans research was recently recognised when he was elected President of the Coastal and Estuarine Research Federation, the world’s leading body of scientists who study coastal issues.
 
Dr Oscar Serrano
Dr Oscar Serrano has over 15 years research experience in marine ecology and palaeoecology, chemistry and in marine biogeochemical cycles. After completing his PhD in 2011, he started working as a postdoctoral research fellow at Edith Cowan University and The University of Western Australia (from 2012 until present) in multi-institutional projects.
His research focuses on Blue Carbon and climate-human-landscape interactions during the Holocene, through the study of coastal environmental archives.
During the past ten years he has worked to establish an extensive international network that has supported his ongoing development on Blue Carbon research, including collaborators in Australia, the U.S. and Europe, and he has become internationally recognised as one of the leaders in Blue Carbon research.
Currently, Dr Serrano is assisting the Australian Government to include the carbon dioxide absorbed by Australian tidal marsh, mangrove and seagrass ecosystems in National Carbon Inventories and Nationally Determined Contributions towards meeting climate change agreements.
 

Dambi Ranger Boat Refit Complete

9 June 2020 in /by

Over the recent months Dambimangari Aboriginal Corporation (DAC) has been refitting the ranger/research vessel Manambadda to get ready for their own inhouse work and to supply a service to help researchers access Dambi country and for the Traditional Owners to maintain a connection to Country.

WASTAC Small Research Grants

31 March 2020 in /by

 
The Western Australian Satellite Technology and Applications Consortium (WASTAC) was comprised of state and federal departments and universities whose main objectives were to maintain a reliable, comprehensive and accessible archive of NOAA-AVHRR MODIS and SeaWiFS satellite data. WASTAC had a strong focus on information exchange to broaden public awareness of the available data sets and applications.
 
In 2018, the WASTAC agreement expired and the parties agreed to disband. The assets were distributed to the Western Australian Marine Science Institution (WAMSI) to be held and applied to achieve the following common objectives:       

To enhance the contribution of strategic scientific and technological research and innovation to Australia’s sustainable environmental, social and economic development

To enhance the transfer of research outputs into outcomes of economic, environmental and social benefit to Western Australia

To enhance collaboration among and between researchers and industry, and improve efficiency in the use of intellectual and other research resources.  
To that end, WAMSI is seeking expressions of interest in research proposals in accordance with the following principals:

Small scale projects with additional, in-kind support.

Undergraduate student project support.

PhD top-up scholarship/project grants.

The WASTAC Small Research Grants are not intended to be student grants for students to apply, rather it is intended that supervisors apply on behalf of their students.

Preference will be given to PhD top-ups associated with new programs or extensions to existing programs, assessed through the WASTAC Small Research Grant awards.

Applications for PhD top-ups for existing programs, where the program is not assessed under the WASTAC Small Research Awards, will only be considered with very strong justification.

Visiting research expertise – travel/training program.

Research amenities – access to data/expertise support for relevant projects.

Operationalise research outcomes.

Improve existing applications using earth observation (EO) data.

Key Dates

 Call for Applications

 23 April 2020

 Applications Close

 24 May 2020, 5.00 pm AWST

 Awards Announced

 June 2020

 *Dates are subject to change pending government instruction on COVID-19

 

Conditions of Award and Application Form (click here)
 
For more information contact info@WAMSI.org.au
 
Nike Lebron 10Attached files: 
L-band_Term_Executed_Schedule2.pdf X-band_Term_Executed_Schedule2.pdf WASTAC_grant_template_200331.docx

Five-Year Study Quantifies How Sediment and Light Affect Coral

31 March 2020 in /by

Results from the culmination of five-years of groundbreaking research to understand how dredging and sediments affects corals have been released in a new paper published in Scientific Reports.
One of the main themes of the $19-million Dredging Science Node, facilitated by the Western Australian Marine Science Institution partnership, describes the primary cause-effect pathway and how to establish a quantitative relationship between water quality and coral health.
Node Leader (Science) Dr Ross Jones from the Australian Institute of Marine Science (AIMS) said the paper Responses of corals to chronic turbidity, is the 18th and final journal article of the effects of dredging on adult and juvenile corals, and sponges carried out by AIMS during the WAMSI Dredging Science Node.
“The sediment plumes from dredging can travel many kilometres, are quite spectacular and are a visible manifestation of the ‘hazard’ associated with dredging,” Dr Jones said. “The study translates that hazard into a risk, showing negative effects are much more localised allowing a much better understanding of the spatial effects associated with dredging.”

Satellite image from the United States geological Survey Operational Land Imager showing sediment plumes caused by dredging and dredge material placement near Onslow in the Pilbara region of Western Australia  (courtesy of Mark Broomhall and Peter Fearns (Curtin University of technology, Perth WA) 
 
Sediments are resuspended into the water column by dredging and dredging activities and the increase in water cloudiness, reduces underwater light levels. This is an issue for hard corals that derive a lot of their energy from the photosynthesis of the symbiotic algae that live within their tissues.
Although the hazard of light reduction caused by dredging was first identified in the 1970s, it has never really advanced beyond that initial hazard identification. This has led to a great deal of uncertainty for regulators and dredging proponents.
“This study is the first to quantify how a combination or elevated suspended sediment concentrations and the associated reduction in light affects the health of corals,” Dr Jones said.
“Importantly, when compared to the conditions that have been measured during dredging projects, the study shows effects are probable, albeit close to the dredging activity,” he explained. “The numbers that have been derived can be used to predict what will happen and hence act as a guide for management intervention and, if necessary, varying the intensity of dredging.”
 

AIMS technician and coauthor Natalie Giofre monitors corals in the AIMS SeaSim lab

LINKS
Jones R, Giofre N, Luter H, Neoh TL, Fisher R, Duckworth A (2020) Responses of corals to chronic turbidity. Scientific Reports https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-020-61712-w
 
The WAMSI Dredging Science Node is made possible through $9.5 million invested by Woodside, Chevron and BHP as environmental offsets. A further $9.5 million has been co-invested by the WAMSI Joint Venture partners, adding significantly more value to this initial industry investment. The node is also supported through critical data provided by Chevron, Woodside and Rio Tinto Iron Ore.
 
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Dredging Science