Tropical Water & Ecosystems

Scott Morrissey

Scott Morrissey

Tim Smith

Tim Smith

Alejandro Navarro Otero

Alejandro Navarro Otero

Jack Koci

Jack Koci

Sarah McDonald

Sarah McDonald

Emily Webster

Emily Webster

Abbi Scott

Abbi Scott

Catherine Collier

Catherine Collier

Rob Coles

Rob Coles

Aaron Davis

Aaron Davis

Influencing agriculture practice behaviour change and trust frameworks. (Old ID 26963)
Norm Duke
01 Jan 2020 - 10 Dec 2020
The ecologically-determined water quality improvement targets for the Great Barrier Reef can only be met with significant improvement in farm management practices. Numerous programs over many years, utilising a variety of approaches, have worked with land managers and representative farmer groups, seeking to achieve high levels of uptake of recommended farming practices. However, these have only met with low-moderate success. There has been significant work encouraging and facilitating behaviour and practice change in recent years, including through, but certainly not limited to, the NESP TWQ Hub. Programs encouraging behaviour and practice change are set to remain a feature of contemporary reef funding programs. Thus it is timely to coordinate a synthesis of learnings in this domain. Increasing understanding of, and improving trust frameworks and behaviour change of land managers will lead to improved water quality to the Great Barrier Reef. Understanding the impetus, benefits and barriers of behaviour change for agricultural practice is a large step in improving water quality to the Great Barrier Reef.
Marine plant survey of the Half Tide Tug Harbour Hay Point (Old ID 27445)
Skye McKenna
01 Sep 2021 - 31 Dec 2021
North Queensland Bulk Ports (NQBP) have engaged the TropWATER to undertake a survey to determine the presence/absence of marine plants within the Half Tide Tug Harbour, located at the Port of Hay Point. Specifically, the survey requires assessment of marine plant distribution in the area proposed for expanded maintenance dredging, as well as a contemporary survey of marine plants in the area currently approved for dredging.
Satellite Based Water Analysis and Drought Planning in Northwest Qld
Jack Koci
01 Aug 2023 - 23 Apr 2025
This project will utilize satellite imagery to map and monitor small water bodies and farm dams to improve grazing land management. The project aims to extract time series of water areas from the satellite images, perform time series analysis to assess the shrinkage or expansion of the water bodies, water levels, and determine their precise locations. The focus is on understanding the availability and dynamics of these water resources, which are vital for livestock, domestic use and wildlife habitats. This project will be a partnership between SGNRM and JCU.
Benthic Mapping with Angkamuthi Traditional Owners in West Cape York Marine Park
Tim Smith
25 May 2024 - 06 May 2026
This project's requirements are for field work, data analysis and reporting on benthic habitats and fish, principally in the Habitat Protection and Special Purpose Zones of West Cape York Marine Park in the North Network of Australian Marine Parks in collaboration with Angkamuthi Traditional Owners.
Identifying the water quality and ecosystem health threats to the Torres Strait from Fly River runoff (Old ID 26377)
Caroline Petus
01 Jan 2019 - 10 Dec 2020
Runoff from the Fly River in Papua New Guinea influences water quality conditions in the Torres Strait region. Recent work (NESP Project 2.2.1 and 2.2.2) has clearly demonstrated that this influence is largely constrained to the northern Torres Strait, as far east as Bramble Cay and at least as far west as Boigu Island. The intensity of this influence, and the potential ecological impacts, are still not well understood. Trace metal concentrations are higher in the northern Torres Strait around Boigu and Saibai, however it is not clear whether this enrichment is natural or the result of mine derived inputs of trace metals. Further investigation is required to understand the prevalence and frequency of the extension of this influence, including characterisation of plume constituents, particularly sediment and trace metals in comparison to previous results including the Torres Strait Baseline Study.
Seagrass Monitoring and Protection in Wuthathi Sea Country (Old ID 27656)
Len McKenzie
01 Mar 2022 - 14 Feb 2023
Wuthathi land and sea country in far northern Cape York extends from Captain Billy landing south to Temple Bay and includes Shelburne Bay and Raine Island. JCU will work with Wuthathi rangers to map coastal seagrass habitats in Wuthathi. A range of techniques will be adopted, including helicopter surveys and airborne/spaceborne imagery (UAV drone and satellite) for intertidal and shallow subtidal habitats and drop cameras in deeper subtidal waters. Wuthathi rangers will be trained in seagrass mapping and monitoring techniques to facilitate continued monitoring of seagrass habitats in Wuthathi sea country.
Hay Point Seagrass Assessment & Monitoring (Old ID 21849)
Skye McKenna
01 Oct 2014 - 31 Oct 2017
This project was developed to re-establish the seagrass long term monitoring program for Hay Point and add additional monitoring in the Keswick Island area. The project will conduct a baseline survey of the two areas in 2014 and establish an annual monitoring program in 2015 & 2016 from this baseline and historical monitoring. The seagrass monitoring will complement the newly established ambient water quality monitoring for the port.
NESP Tropical Water Quality Research Plan 7 (Old ID 27291)
Aaron Davis
24 May 2021 - 30 Jun 2021
The National Environmental Science Program Tropical Water Quality Hub, funded by the federal government, has funded a wide variety of research projects during its operations from 2015-2021. As this programme draws to a close, there is a need to repatriate the knowledge and learnings from these research projects to relevant stakeholders and end-users. This project will undertake a series of meetings and workshops with end-users to enable the outcomes of research to be adopted. This engagement process will include analysis and synthesis of data collected to date.
Great Barrier Reef catchments historical water quality data compilation. (Old ID 27764)
Cassandra James
03 Aug 2022 - 30 Sep 2024
Compilation of extensive historical water quality data into a single database to be made available to all researchers, modellers and end users working in the GBR catchment area, with the data to be presented in a form consistent with that currently in use by existing WQ monitoring frameworks and databases (for example the Great Barrier Reef Catchment Loads Monitoring Program).
Great Barrier Reef catchments historical water quality data compilation. (Old ID 27764)
Stephen Lewis
03 Aug 2022 - 30 Sep 2024
Compilation of extensive historical water quality data into a single database to be made available to all researchers, modellers and end users working in the GBR catchment area, with the data to be presented in a form consistent with that currently in use by existing WQ monitoring frameworks and databases (for example the Great Barrier Reef Catchment Loads Monitoring Program).

Coral decline threatens fish biodiversity in marine reserves

Mid-late Holocene sea-level variability in eastern Australia

Recruitment in time and space: the dynamics and distributions of reef fish populations on a low latitude coral reef

  • 2006
  • Researchers:Maya Srinivasan

Patterns in tropical seagrass photosynthesis in relation to light, depth and habitat

Niche shifts and local competition between two coral reef fishes at their geographic boundary

A multi-trace element coral record of land-use changes in the Burdekin River catchment, NE Australia

Assessment of the water quality and ecosystem health of the Great Barrier Reef (Australia): conceptual models

Chlorophyll fluorescence measures of seagrasses Halophila ovalis and Zostera capricorni reveal differences in response to experimental shading

Sediment and nutrient exports for the Burdekin River catchment, north Queensland: a comparison of monitoring and modelling data

A review of load tools available for calculating pollutant exports to the Great Barrier Reef lagoon: a case study of varying catchment areas

Title: Associate Diploma of Applied Science , University of Queensland
Reseracher: Carissa Reason (Senior Research Officer)
Start Date: 01 Jan 1996
End Date: 01 Jan 1998
Title: PhD, James Cook University
Reseracher: Alexandra Carter (Senior Principal Research Officer)
Start Date: 01 Jan 2007
End Date: 01 Jan 2016
Title: Graduate Diploma of Research Methods (High Distinction), James Cook University
Reseracher: Alexandra Carter (Senior Principal Research Officer)
Start Date: 01 Jan 2006
End Date: 01 Jan 2007
Title: Bachelor of Science (double major – Marine Biology and Environmental Science), James Cook University
Reseracher: Alexandra Carter (Senior Principal Research Officer)
Start Date: 01 Jan 2002
End Date: 01 Jan 2006
Title: World Seagrass Association
Reseracher: Alexandra Carter (Senior Principal Research Officer)
Title: Australian Marine Science Association
Reseracher: Alexandra Carter (Senior Principal Research Officer)
Title: ABC Top 5 Science Prize
Reseracher: Ian McLeod (Adjunct Professor)
Start Date: 01 Jan 2020
Title: Eureka Award for Applied Environmental Research
Reseracher: Ian McLeod (Adjunct Professor)
Start Date: 01 Jan 2020
Title: NESP Marine Biodiversity Hub Best Paper
Reseracher: Ian McLeod (Adjunct Professor)
Start Date: 01 Jan 2019
Title: Australian Marine Science Association - National Council Office bearer
Reseracher: Paula Cartwright (Senior Research Officer)
Start Date: 01 Jan 2023
End Date: 01 Jan 2025