"By altering the environment, are humans tricking animals into making poor life choices?"
When good animals like bad habitats: ecological traps in the marine environment
Category: Oceans and estuaries
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.
FOR THE LOVE OF WETLANDS –MARINE ECOLOGIST HELPS PROTECT GLOBAL COASTAL ECOSYSTEMS
Author: PhD Alyssa Giffin Read Time: 872 words, about 6 minutes. Welcome to part one of the five-part Transition article series, the sequel to the Emergent series, that follows ARI’s Post-Doc Research Fellows as they navigate the next stage of their academic journey post-PhD. Take a journey with them and hear about some of the [...]
Long-distance sea turtle migration provides unique opportunity to combine and test exciting tracking techniques
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 [...]
There are cross-benefits to protecting coastal wetlands in the wake of COVID-19
Dr Ryan Pearson Read Time: 503 words about 3 minutes. The effects of COVID-19 on the world has been profound. We're now re-evaluating intergovernmental, trade and personal relationships, and rethinking our consumer needs. Environmental groups have been encouraging people to 'eat more fish' in response to this pandemic. Consumer surveys during the pandemic have also highlighted [...]
How can we best assess the threats and status of connected coastal wetland habitats?
By Dr Michael Sievers Reading Time: 485 words about 3 minutes. Habitat degradation is a global crisis. Quantifying and evaluating habitat change and its impacts on ecosystem function is needed to inform management and conservation that ultimately safeguards biodiversity and human benefits. Many of these benefits in coastal ecosystems depend not only on habitat status, [...]
The role of wetlands in improving water quality and protecting coastal ecosystems
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 [...]
Global fragmentation of mangrove forests
By Dr Chris Brown Read Time: 354 words about 2 minutes. To inform conservation actions we need global indicators of wetland ecosystems that represent changes in ecosystem function. But current indicators are largely based on changes in the area of wetland ecosystems. In our new study we mapped fragmentation of mangrove habitats at a global scale. [...]
Are trees greener near salmon spawning streams?
By Dr Chris Brown Reading Time: 557 words about 3 minutes. We usually think of nutrients moving down rivers to the ocean, not the other way around. But in many temperate rivers of the northern hemisphere migration of salmon brings nutrients from the ocean to rivers and surrounding vegetation. Male Pink Salmon, identifiable because of [...]
Director’s Welcome to ARI Magazine Edition 3
Australian Rivers Institute Director, Stuart Bunn. We welcome you back to another edition of the Australian RiversInstitute (ARI) Magazine. (Link). Over the past few months our staff have been active in strengthening research partnerships and establishing new connections across the globe. The importance of connections, not only with fellow researchers, industry and government but also [...]
