Douchan Hanuise

I'm currently enrolled in a cotutelle PhD between James Cook University (Australia) and UCLouvain (Belgium). The aim of the research project is to inform the recovery and restoration of tropical seagrasses in the Great Barrier Reef (GBR) using a biophysical modelling approach.

During my thesis, I am using the Second-generation Louvain-la-Neuve Ice-ocean Model (SLIM - https://www.slim-ocean.be/) to simulate the ocean circulation in the GBR. By combining hydrodynamics outputs with a particle-tracker model, I am assessing seagrass fragment dispersal. The collaboration with JCU allows me to go on the field and evaluate seagrass parameters to define a complex and precise biological behaviour in the biophysical model.

Seagrass fragment dispersal has never been assessed before at the scale of the entire Great Barrier Reef, neither at the temporal scale I am looking at (6 years). With the collaboration of seagrass experts, and the gathering of the poor literature, I developed a seagrass fragment dispersal model applied for 11 tropical species present in the Great Barrier Reef. This model considers a bio-complexity rarely tested before, including the life-history traits of seagrass species, buoyancy duration, and wind drag coefficient regarding leaf' morphology.

The outputs of this PhD will inform the evidence base for seagrass management and restoration in the GBR and tropical ecosystems globally by producing new information on dispersal and connectivity processes that influence natural recovery. This information includes identification of suitable meadows for natural recovery, meadows isolated and at risk and best contributor meadows for the network.