Biodiversity

Our current knowledge of diversity of the Great Barrier Reef and the mechanisms that determine it are minimal.  Based on a new statistical model of diversity, researchers will map the diversities of biota and environments of the Reef, and will relate biotic diversity to spatial, environmental and temporal drivers. These relationships will be interpreted in the context of risk, zoning and management.

Monitoring is a fundamental component of the management of threatened species and is of particular importance when those species come into direct conflict with humans and their interests.  In such circumstances up-to-date information on population status, trends and distribution become key inputs into decision making. In these circumstances, systematic, objective and transparent data is critical to the acceptance of the decision making process.

Ten frog species disappeared from the upland rainforests of the Wet Tropics and Eungella during outbreaks of amphibian chytrid fungus (Batrachochytrium dendrobatidis) in the late 1980s and early 1990s, representing 25% of the frogs endemic to the Wet Tropics and all of the Eungella endemics.  Five of these species occurred only in the uplands and have been presumed extinct because no individuals have been found despite intensive searches. This represents a significant loss of endemic species diversity, particularly in the Wet Tropics World Heritage Area.

This project will better characterise biodiversity refugia in north-east Queensland rainforests by assessing genetic diversity at landscape scale in rainforest plants and fungi.

This project will provide detailed mapping of present and future biodiversity patterns and drivers, environmental and evolutionary refugia and a comprehensive assessment of the vulnerability and resilience of rainforest biodiversity in Australian tropical forests. The project team will use a combination of available knowledge, existing datasets and strategic research to inform adaptive strategies for promoting persistence of biodiversity.

This project will develop a Management Strategy Evaluation (MSE) framework using a stakeholder driven approach to qualitatively integrate our understanding of the key drivers of change in the GBR inshore ecosystem and human uses, with an emphasis on biodiversity and inshore multi-species fisheries management.

Marine wildlife are significant components of the Great Barrier Reef World Heritage Area’s biodiversity and are threatened by a variety of anthropogenic pressures. In particular, populations of inshore dolphins are very small and at risk, there are serious concerns for dugong populations along the urban coast (south of Cooktown) and marine turtles are listed as threatened species and are at risk along the Queensland coast due to coastal change.

Funding for this project supports the AIMS Long Term Monitoring Program (LTMP), which provides the GBRMPA with current information to support the delivery of its Outlook Report for the Great Barrier Reef.  In 2012/2013 and 2014/2015 the LTMP will resurvey ‘core’ reefs that have been surveyed since 1992; data from the 2012/2013 monitoring season will provide a critical source of u

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