Spatiotemporal variation in settlement rates of crown-of-thorns starfish on Australia’s Great Barrier Reef: critical research to underpin understanding and management of impending population irruptions (Old ID 27784)

Lizard Island Research Station
Role

Student

Description

The purpose of this research is to quantify spatiotemporal variation in settlement rates of crown-of-thorns starfish in the lead up to renewed population irruptions on the GBR. Attention will focus on reefs within the putative initiation area, though complementary sampling will also be conducted on reefs in the far northern GBR. Despite existing evidence that population irruptions in the far northern GBR (specifically, at reefs in the Cape Grenville region) can precede the emergence of population irruptions in the northern extent of the currently defined initiation area there has never been any attempt to measure and compare settlement rates of crown-of-thorns starfish over a broad cross-section of reefs in the northern GBR.

Date

24 Aug 2022 - 30 Jun 2023

Project Type

GRANT

Keywords

N/A

Funding Body

Lizard Island Research Station

Amount

68000

Project Team

Morgan Pratchett;Peter Doll