ARC Centre of Excellence for Coral Reef Studies
Conservation Planning
Potential research projects:
1. Testing the effectiveness of marine habitats as surrogates for species distributions in conservation planning.
2. Implementation requirements for turning conservation plans into conservation action: social, economic and political considerations.
3. Applying systematic conservation planning to locate and design different use-zones within marine parks.
4. Planning to promote the persistence of ecological processes, including dispersal of larvae between reefs and patch dynamics of disturbance and resources.
5. Integrated conservation planning for coastal catchments and nearshore marine areas: explicit methods for making choices between local catchment values and downstream values.
6. Improved ways of incorporating costs of conservation into planning decisions.
7. Explaining and predicting reserve management costs from internal and external drivers.
Coral Reef Ecology
Potential research projects:
1. Impacts of climate change on coral reef organisms and ecosystems
2. Causes and consequences of population outbreaks of crown-of-thorns starfish (Acanthaster planci)
3. Establishing key processes in recovery of degraded reef habitats
4. Ecological versatility in diet and/or habitat-use by coral reef fishes
5. Biology and ecology of coral reef butterfly fishes (Chaetodontidae)
Social – Ecological Resilience
Potential research projects:
1. Exploring the nexus between indigenous/local knowledge and science in the context of fishery management (and mismanagement) in the Asia-Pacific region.
2. Melanesian responses to neo-liberal models of economic development.
3. Understanding the cultural underpinnings to effective and ineffective local governance of renewable natural resources, with emphasis on fisheries, in Melanesia.
4. Understanding responses to the expansion of commodity markets for marine resources in the Pacific.
5. Socio-economic analysis of Fish Aggregating Devices (FADs) as an alternative artisanal fishery in the Pacific.
6. The role of demography (particularly human population density) and customary institutions in subsistence fishery performance in the Asia-Pacific region
7. Understanding Pacific Islanders’ interactions with Environmental Non Government Organisations.
Other research topics within the ARC Centre of Excellence for Coral Reef Studies
The majority of chief investigators within the Centre are based within Schools at JCU. You can find out what coral reef related projects are supervised by these CIs by investigating some of the other disciplines on this web site, in particular Marine Biology and Biochemistry and Molecular Biology. The following are the Centre of Excellence Chief Investigators within these Schools, their research topics and the links to their web pages.
Marine Biology
Prof. David Bellwood - Evolution of Coral Reef Fishes
Email: david.bellwood@jcu.edu.au
Prof. Sean Connolly - Large Scale Patterns in Marine Community Structure and Diversity
Email: sean.connolly@jcu.edu.au
Prof. Geoff Jones - Connectivity of Reef Fish Populations
Email: geoffrey.jones@jcu.edu.au
Prof. Mike Kingsford - Ecology of Irukandji Jellyfish
Email: michael.kingsford@jcu.edu.au
Dr Mark McCormick - Climate Change and the Demography of Reef Fish Assemblages
Email: Mark.McCormick@jcu.edu.au
Dr Phil Munday – Climate Change and Coral Reef Fishes
Email: philip.munday@jcu.edu.au
Prof. Garry Russ – Fisheries on Coral Reefs
Email: garry.russ@jcu.edu.au
Dr Bette Willis - Coral Reef Ecology & Coral Biology
Email: bette.willis@jcu.edu.au
Biochemistry and Molecular Biology
Dr Bill Leggat - Genomic Approaches to the Role of Zooxanthellae in the Coral Symbiosis
Email: bill.leggat@jcu.edu.au
Prof. David Miller - Genomic Approaches to Coral Biology and Development
Email: david.miller@jcu.edu.au
Visit the Graduate Research School homepage, and the ARC Centre of Excellence for Coral Reef Studies homepage.
