
"What an exciting time to be a marine scientist! Artificial intelligence (AI) is revolutionising the way we monitor coastal seas."
Stories of science from the Australian Rivers Institute
Australian Rivers Institute Director Professor Stuart Bunn. Photo Australian Rivers Institute. Author: Australian Rivers Institute Director Stuart Bun Magazine Link: Magazine - Read Time: 711words, about 6 minutes. After an unavoidable delay, I welcome you to this edition of the Australian Rivers Institute Magazine. Looking back over the past year, it is quite remarkable to [...]
"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.
By PhD candidate Ellen Ditria, Reading Time: 452 words, about 2 minutes. Fish IDing Sample. Photo: Global Wetlands Project. Deep learning has fast become recognised as a powerful data processing tool for ecologists faced with vast amounts of image-based data. The ability of deep learning to accurately detect target species in videos and images unlocks [...]
Dr Ryan Pearson Read Time: 419 words about 3 minutes. A nesting loggerhead turtle (Caretta caretta) with barnacles growing on her head. Photo: Ryan Pearson. In February 2016, a female loggerhead sea turtle dubbed ‘Marloo’ had a satellite transmitter attached to her shell on a beach south of Exmouth, Western Australia by the Gnaraloo wilderness [...]
By Melanie Roberts and Fernanda Adame Article Read Time: 524 words about 3 minutes. The 2019 Great Barrier Reef Outlook Report from the Australian Government Great Barrier Reef Marine Park Authority identifies the risk of nutrient runoff from catchments for the reef as Very High, the same rating as the 2014 and 2009 reports. --- This [...]
Sediment plume washing over The Great Barrier Reef, 2019. Photo Credit: Matt Curnock. By Dr Melanie Roberts Read Time: 1000 words about 6 mins. Climate change and poor water quality are placing unprecedented pressures on the reef, and it is imperative that these stressors are eased to provide the reef with an opportunity to recover. [...]
By Dr Chris Brown Coastal wetlands are globally threatened. However, the plight of these habitats, like mangrove forests, seagrass meadows and saltmarshes, is not well recognised relative to other coastal ecosystems, such as coral reefs. This translates into funding shortfalls both for the science needed to address coastal wetland decline and for the protection and [...]
Michael Sievers, Griffith University; Rod Connolly, Griffith University, and Tom Rayner, Griffith University When we think of mangrove forests, seagrass meadows and saltmarshes, we don’t immediately think of shark habitats. But the first global review of links between large marine animals (megafauna) and coastal wetlands is challenging this view – and how we might respond [...]