A robot that plants seagrass seeds directly into the seabed is being trialled in Cockburn Sound as part of a program to speed up the restoration of badly depleted underwater meadows. Seagrass, the ocean’s only flowering plant, is vital as a habitat for wildlife, for stabilising sediment and storing carbon. But pollution, marine heatwaves and […]
Cameras set up in large tanks are capturing what impact varying levels of fine limestone sediment in the water has on the feeding habits of squid, as part of a project for the WAMSI Westport Marine Science Program. The project, which started recently, is led by Dr Ben Saunders, a Senior Lecturer in the School […]
Underwater soundscapes are as varied as landscapes, according to acoustics researcher Dr Iain Parnum. Dr Parnum gave a presentation for the Western Australian Marine Science Institution’s Thinking Blue school outreach program about marine soundscapes, which are a growing area of research interest. Dr Parnum is a Senior Research Fellow at the Centre for Marine Science […]
A crucial system of currents that takes 1,000 years to circulate the globe is being impacted by increasing ocean temperatures and will have a profound effect on the world’s climate if it further slows or shuts down altogether, by triggering more atmospheric temperature extremes. Professor Nicole Jones, a physical oceanographer from The University of Western […]
Blue whales feast on several tonnes of krill a day, accumulate earwax that can be used to determine their age and the species of cetaceans, which are the biggest animals to have ever lived on Earth, have tongues that weigh as much as an elephant. The fascinating facts were outlined during a presentation by Curtin […]
Have you ever wondered what a whale thinks, sought to understand a sea lion, pondered a porpoise, or had dolphins dive through your dreamtime? Do you want to know how our finned friends are faring in a changing sea? For the first time in the international Society for Marine Mammalogy’s 50+ year history, the world’s […]
The popular image of coral reefs is colourful life forms, in clear, tropical water. But marine scientist Dr Shannon Dee said some exist in chilly Arctic seas and others thrive in warm, turbid water where there is limited visibility. Finding out more about the many types of coral reefs could improve understanding of reef vulnerabilities […]
Museum veteran carefully conserving shipwreck treasures
Shipwrecks may capture the imagination, but the job of retrieving what is left behind from reefs, rocky coastlines and the seabed beneath wild oceans is painstaking and at times challenging. Western Australian Museum conservator Jon Carpenter, who has dived on ship and aircraft wrecks around Australia and overseas, said safely delivering the historic pieces to […]
They are moments of excitement mixed with relief when researchers pull up their mud and weed covered hydrophones and recorders which have spent months on the seafloor quietly capturing the sounds of weather, marine life, boats and ships. The equipment used for the ‘Noise’ theme project in the WAMSI Westport Marine Science Program was put […]
Spotting a shark while snorkelling as a child then, in a flash, realising it was gone was an early lesson on these supposed ‘monsters of the deep’ for marine biologist Dr Charlotte Birkmanis. “I was 10 when I first saw a shark and I remember thinking that here was an animal that I’m supposed to […]