Poor water quality and trawling take toll on seagrass

Poor water quality and trawling take toll on seagrass

“With fisheries for example, seagrasses provide nursery habitat for juvenile fish and foraging grounds for about 25% of the world’s biggest fisheries. "We identified associations between pressures and measured changes in seagrass extent and found that seagrasses are especially under threat from poor water quality and destructive fisheries like trawling."

REDEFINING SUCCESS IN MARINE ECOSYSTEM RESTORATION

REDEFINING SUCCESS IN MARINE ECOSYSTEM RESTORATION

"We’ve entered the United Nations Decade of Ecosystem Restoration. As the world ramps up their restoration efforts in response to widespread environmental degradation, we need to maximise success and the benefits that the environment and humanity get from these efforts."

“What’s it really like being a PhD at ARI?”

“What’s it really like being a PhD at ARI?”

"They have supported me throughout my PhD, through all the failures and successes, and I wouldn’t have made it through without them. They both provided me with guidance but also allowed me to follow through with my own ideas, even if they were possibly doomed from the beginning... All in all, I really lucked out with my supervisory team!"

FIREFIGHTING CHEMICALS: HOW ARE THEY AFFECTING OUR NATIVE SPECIES? (EXPERT OPINIONS WANTED)

FIREFIGHTING CHEMICALS: HOW ARE THEY AFFECTING OUR NATIVE SPECIES? (EXPERT OPINIONS WANTED)

"As the frequency and severity of bushfires increase due to climate change, Australian biodiversity is facing significant threats. A range of strategies and policies are in place to manage the damage of fires on species and ecosystems, including the use of fire-fighting chemicals."

Storm Chasers: the challenges of sampling storms

Storm Chasers: the challenges of sampling storms

"Often during flood events, water from agricultural catchments will erode productive agricultural soils and carry large loads of sediment and nutrients to downstream estuaries and coastal areas. This can threaten the provision of safe drinking water for humans and the ecology of marine ecosystems, as well as sometimes necessitating costly sediment dredging and disposal operations."

The outlook for coral reefs remains grim unless we cut emissions fast — new research

The outlook for coral reefs remains grim unless we cut emissions fast — new research

"Our research, published today, paints a grim picture. We estimate that even under the most optimistic emissions scenarios, we’ll see dramatic reductions in coral reef growth globally. The good news is that 63% of all reefs in this emissions scenario will still be able to grow by 2100."

A promising large-scale revegetation opportunity for the northern Murry-Darling Basin.

A promising large-scale revegetation opportunity for the northern Murry-Darling Basin.

"Revegetating abandoned agricultural land is critical for maintaining sustainability and biodiversity within our farming landscapes. Our recent paper demonstrated the feasibility of a large-scale revegetation approach in one of Australia’s most iconic agricultural regions, the Murray-Darling Basin."

When good animals like bad habitats: ecological traps in the marine environment

When good animals like bad habitats: ecological traps in the marine environment

"By altering the environment, are humans tricking animals into making poor life choices?"

IS THE SEAGRASS GETTING ENOUGH LIGHT? ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE CAN TELL US

IS THE SEAGRASS GETTING ENOUGH LIGHT? ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE CAN TELL US

"Seagrasses are flowering plants that live submerged in salty water and perform vital ecosystem services that help us and the food-webs that rely on them. For example, seagrasses capture and store more atmospheric carbon (per unit area) than many terrestrial plants, they act as nursery areas for important fishery species, and provide coastal protection against things like erosion and storm surges," Dr Ryan Pearson.