Stories of science from the Australian Rivers Institute
"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."
"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."
"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."
"There has been a lot of focus on the challenge of managing overfishing with the controversial new documentary Seaspiracy on Netflix. But the overfishing issue isn’t as simple as the picture that documentary paints," Dr Chris Brown.
By Andria Ostrowski Read Time: 504 words, about 3 minutes. Vegetated coastal wetlands including saltmarshes, mangrove forests and seagrass meadows store large amounts of carbon, protect shorelines from storms and erosion, support enormous biodiversity and improve water quality by filtering nutrients, contaminants and sediments. Despite their ecological and economic importance, increasing human settlement and development [...]
By PhD candidate Rebekah Grieger Read Time: 468 words about 4 minutes. Wetlands are important features in the coastal landscape, providing many important ecosystem services. Much of the research into coastal wetlands focuses on the salty ones – mangroves, saltmarsh, seagrass – but there are equally important wetlands just up-stream that are generally overlooked, coastal freshwater wetlands. Our [...]
By PhD Candidates Carolina Olguin Jacobson and Nur Arafeh Dalmau (Guest Co-Author) Read Time: 449 words about 3 minutes. Extreme climatic events, such as marine heatwaves, are threatening one of the most productive (but often forgotten) marine ecosystems; kelp forests. Sea lions among kelp forest in a remote island Cedros, in Baja California, Mexico. Photo by: Nur Arafeh Dalmau. The importance of terrestrial forests is well known, but their marine counterpart, underwater kelp forests, are [...]
By Dr Mischa Turschwell Read Time: 342 words about 2 minutes. Mangrove forest conservation is increasingly attracting international interest. That’s because mangroves support incredible biodiversity, enhance fisheries, protect vulnerable coastal communities from storms, and reduce climate change by storing carbon. Lone Mangrove Sunset. Photo: Unknown. Unfortunately, mangrove forests remain one of the worlds most threatened ecosystems. Pressures from forest fragmentation, climate change, increasing exploitation [...]
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 [...]
By Dr Viv Tulloch Read Time: 508 words about 3 mins. Marine ecosystems are increasingly threatened by climate change, human activities in the oceans and on the land, yet significant gaps still exist in managing the impacts of these pressures around the world. Marine Habitat Destruction. Photo Jeff Yonover. Efficient conservation investment requires linking dominant pressures [...]
Catchment to Coast 