Tropical Water & Ecosystems

Scott Morrissey

Research Officer
scott.morrissey@jcu.edu.au

Tim Smith

Senior Research Officer
tim.smith2@jcu.edu.au

Alejandro Navarro Otero

Casual Research Worker
alejandro.navarrootero@jcu.edu.au

Jack Koci

Principal Research Officer
jack.koci1@jcu.edu.au

Sarah McDonald

Senior Research Officer
sarah.mcdonald@jcu.edu.au

Emily Webster

Research Officer
emily.webster1@jcu.edu.au

Abbi Scott

Senior Research Officer
abbi.scott1@jcu.edu.au

Catherine Collier

Principal Research Officer
catherine.collier@jcu.edu.au

Rob Coles

Principal Research Scientist
rob.coles@jcu.edu.au

Aaron Davis

Principal Research Officer
aaron.davis@jcu.edu.au

Supporting Community Climate Action for Mangrove Resilience

Adam Canning

10 Sep 2025 - 30 Sep 2025

Earthwatch Australia wishes to engage TropWater staff at JCU to provide specialist remote sensing services and expert advice to complement community data to understand trends and conditions in identified saltmarsh and mangrove ecosystems over time. Earthwatch has been awarded funding by the Great Barrier Reef Foundation to deliver the project “Community Climate Action for the Reef Climate Resilience Champions”. The central aim of this project is to inspire and guide community action to protect and enhance tidal wetland ecosystem values and mitigate threats through grassroots action in the Townsville and Mackay regions using community-led MangroveWatch monitoring programs.

NESP Project 5.11 Water quality trends analysis at key GBR basins (sediment and DIN)

Zoe Bainbridge

01 Jul 2025 - 31 Dec 2025

Despite considerable government investment in Great Barrier Reef catchment area (GBRCA) water quality programs (>$2B) including on-ground works and regulation, this is the first comprehensive analysis of long-term trends in empirical water quality monitoring data to test and quantify any detectable changes. Building on the definitive compilation of four decades of historical water quality data for key river basins of the GBRCA (James at al., 2025), this project will examine long-term trends in Reef 2050 Plan priority constituents, dissolved inorganic nitrogen (DIN) and suspended sediment. To compliment this evaluation, this project will compile and evaluate changes in fertiliser application amounts across the river basins of the GBRCA over the same time period. This compilation of land use specific fertiliser application data also provides a foundational record of long-term changes in land management over annual timesteps. This project will inform current and future Reef policy and on-ground investment programs, as well as support on-going catchment modelling efforts.

Project 2016002 - Protecting our chemicals for the future through accelerated adoption of best management practice (Old ID 23149)

Aaron Davis

01 Nov 2016 - 01 Aug 2019

A collaborative project with Sugar Research Australia to identify appropriate management strategies for pesticides to maximise efficacy while minimising pesticide losses off-farm. Key JCU-TropWATER roles in project include: 1. Expert interpretation of water quality data sets generated through rainfall simulation and other water quality monitoring activities. 2. Advice on experimental design and planning 3. Assistance in running rainfall simulation and water quality monitoring activities as required. 4. Assistance in communication of results and water quality issues, including presentation and discussion with growers.

Testing and implementation of the water quality metric for the 2017 and 2018 reef report cards (Old ID 23409)

Stephen Lewis

01 Jan 2017 - 10 Dec 2017

Report cards are used at various levels to summarise and communicate complex information on GBR health. The effectiveness of Reef Plan is communicated through the annual Reef Report card. In the Reef Report Card, marine water quality is reported using a metric, developed in 2009, based on satellite remote sensing of near surface concentrations of chlorophyll and total suspended solids. This provides a wide spatial and temporal coverage of marine water quality. However, the current water quality metric has a number of issues such that the Independent Science Panel has recently expressed a lack of confidence in it and suggested that a new approach was needed. This proposal outlines a research program to deliver elements of this new approach.

Port of Townsville Long Term Seagrass Monitoring Program October 2025 & Project Optimisation

Michael Rasheed

01 Sep 2025 - 31 Aug 2026

Assess and report on seagrass condition pre-wet season in the Townsville Region as part of the Port of Townsville Long Term Seagrass Monitoring Program.

Intertidal seagrass mapping of Mornington Island

Caitlin Smith

01 Jun 2025 - 31 Mar 2027

The objectives of this work are to produce a comprehensive and complete map of the intertidal habitats of Mornington Island by completing mapping in collaboration with WILLSSED rangers.