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
Feral Pig Reduction for Improved Wetland Health in the Southern Gulf Region
Adam Canning
05 Jan 2026 - 30 Jun 2028
The Southern Gulf NRM are conducting wild pig control works to protect wetlands across the Southern Gulf region. JCU will develop and implement a Wetland Health Report Card. This will involve establishing a monitoring program to collect and analyse data on wetland and riverine health across the Southern Gulf of Carpentaria. Monitoring will include assessing water quality, biodiversity via eDNA metabarcoding, and conducting aquatic habitat assessments.
Feral Pig Reduction for Improved Wetland Health in the Southern Gulf Region
Adam Canning
05 Jan 2026 - 30 Jun 2028
The Southern Gulf NRM are conducting wild pig control works to protect wetlands across the Southern Gulf region. JCU will develop and implement a Wetland Health Report Card. This will involve establishing a monitoring program to collect and analyse data on wetland and riverine health across the Southern Gulf of Carpentaria. Monitoring will include assessing water quality, biodiversity via eDNA metabarcoding, and conducting aquatic habitat assessments.
Protection of the Gulf Snapping Turtle in the Southern Gulf Region
Adam Canning
23 Feb 2026 - 30 Jun 2028
Southern Gulf NRM seek to improve the protection of the Gulf Snapping Turtle through the control of feral pigs and better managing cattle movements. JCU will be supporting this project through applying environmental DNA, collected from soil and water, across the Southern Gulf region to help identify the locations where the Gulf Snapping Turtle and introduced Tilapia are present, along with a broader aquatic biodiversity screen, to help guide where protection efforts should be prioritised.
Protection of the Gulf Snapping Turtle in the Southern Gulf Region
Adam Canning
23 Feb 2026 - 30 Jun 2028
Southern Gulf NRM seek to improve the protection of the Gulf Snapping Turtle through the control of feral pigs and better managing cattle movements. JCU will be supporting this project through applying environmental DNA, collected from soil and water, across the Southern Gulf region to help identify the locations where the Gulf Snapping Turtle and introduced Tilapia are present, along with a broader aquatic biodiversity screen, to help guide where protection efforts should be prioritised.
Identifying sources of fine sediments to protect the Great Barrier Reef (Old ID 22667)
Zoe Bainbridge
04 Jul 2016 - 15 Apr 2021
This fellowship builds on Bainbridge's PhD thesis which identified the sediment fractions preferentially transported from rivers via flood flumes to the Great Barrier Reef lagoon, and which have the greatest influence on photic depth/water clarity. The research will identify both the key properties and the primary sources of this material, enabling more effective prioritisation and direct targeting of control works to improve the quality of water discharged to the Great Barrier Reef. This research is cutting edge in the field of sediment tracing and will contribute locally by identifying specific catchment sources of ecologically-damaging fine sediment, and to the broader international field of sediment tracing.
Maroochy MangroveWatch - Mangrove and Saltmarsh dreaming Project (Old ID 22916)
Norm Duke
01 Feb 2016 - 30 Jun 2017
The intention of this research will be to undertake land and sea assessments of mangrove areas around the Sunshine Coast. Assistance will be provided to the Bunya Bunya Country Aboriginal Traditional Owner group to implement a MangroveWatch shoreline habitat monitoring program in the Maroochy River. This aim of this program will be to implement actions that will improve mangrove and saltmarsh management in the Maroochy River estury through increased traditional owner engagtement and capacity building in tidal wetland management, protection and restoration.
Understanding Population Structures of Chironex fleckeri
Scott Morrissey
01 Aug 2022
An understanding of population structures is fundamental to understanding threats, where do jellyfish come from and how far do they go? If there is great genetic exchange among local populations then the source of jellyfish may be distant to areas where swimmers are threatened. In contrast, if populations are geographically small and, are not connected to other populations then the ability to make predictions on likely threats would be more robust. Our focus is on the deadly stinger, Chironex fleckeri, the species that poses the greatest threat to humans in tropical waters of Australia.
Population connectivity is the exchange of individuals among geographically separated population units. Some local populations may be limited to a small geographic area such as a bay, estuary or island. It is also possible that local populations with little or zero connectivity could contribute to a mosaic of genetic diversity within a stock, and under the right circumstances could become a separate stock (Pineda et al 2007).
Jellyfish have historically been classified as plankton. Accordingly, it would be assumed that connectivity would be high among local jellyfish populations and that populations would vary little in both ecological and genetic clade-level differences over broad spatial scales (i.e., hundreds to thousands of km). However, findings on the behavior and swim speeds of jellyfish suggest they may have swimming behaviour that more aligns with nekton (McManus et al. 2012). Nekton can swim to either maximize dispersal or minimize it by remaining close to natal areas and these strategies can spatially broaden or restrict species population structures, respectively.
Cubozoans have a number of attributes that assist in restricting the dispersal of medusa from localized areas. Although cubozoans are generally small, they are generally highly mobile. The fifty known species of cubozoans range in size from those with a bell diameter of a few cm to about 20ā25 cm and all of the species that have been observed swim well. Chironex fleckeri (size range: 4 to 12 cm IPD) have been measured to swim at speeds of up to 16.6 cm sā1 in the field (Schlaefer et al. 2018).
Cubozoans have excellent sensory abilities including vision provided by 24 eyes. More complex behaviours of cubozoans include responding to objects, conspecifics, currents, diel cycles, shadow and light, bioluminescent plankton, habitat type and small-scale geography (Kingsford et al 2021).. Accordingly, predictions for population structures of jellyfish based on passive dispersal are likely to be highly inaccurate.
Our objective it to use mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA) to identify intraspecific phylogenetic relationships among local populations along the coast of Queensland. We will use this approach to study the gene flow and connectivity of local populations separated by 10s to 100s of kilometres and this will include multiple locations used by swimmers. Using this approach we will determine scales of connectivity.
Mackay Box Jellyfish eDNA Detection
Chironex fleckeri poses the greatest threat to humans in tropical waters of Australia. This application is a follow up for a proposal submitted to LIONS in 2024. Our focus was, and continues to be, on the deadly stinger. There are four elements to the proposed study (1) determine the risk for envenomation near Eimeo Beach, Mackay where there was a fatality in February 2022. This would be done by sampling eDNA at locations we sampled in 2025; (2) sample near beaches, rocky headlands, and estuarine areas, within locations, to determine relative levels of risk; (3) compare our newly developed rapid tests with the established qPCR workflow; (4) expand our study of stingers in a replicate winter to determine the source of jellyfish from the Pioneer river (Mackay) north over a 20 km stretch of coastline that includes Eimeo Beach. With greater information on the polyp stage, we can determine if the source of jellyfish is distant to areas where swimmers are threatened. It is our view that an extra trip and treated analyses would make the study publishable and therefore widely accessible.
Marine Eco-Systems Research & Monitoring Program (ERMP) (Old ID 20392)
Norm Duke
01 Jul 2011 - 31 Dec 2022
As a member of the Expert Panel to advise on the research, monitoring and health of marine ecosystems, notably tidal wetlands, in Port Curtis and Port Alma.
A validation of coral geochemical records to reconstruct suspended sediment loads to the Great Barrier Reef lagoon (Old ID 22242)
Stephen Lewis
01 Jul 2015 - 01 Mar 2016
While coral geochemistry records are widely cited as evidence for increased suspended sediment loads delivered to the Great Barrier Reef since the 1850s, there has been little replication or quantification of the records. Indeed, most records are based on cores collected prior to the year 2000 when limited catchment monitoring data existed to 'validate' the interpretations that certain trace element ratios provided proxies of annual sediment loadings. This project will analyse the geochemistry of coral cores collected in 2012 from sites in the central GBR and compare the ratios to measured sediment and particulate nutrient loads from the Burdekin River.
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01 Jan 2009
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01 Jan 2026
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01 Jan 2009
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01 Jan 2030
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01 Jan 2014
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01 Jan 2030
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01 Jan 2021
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01 Jan 2025
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01 Jan 1981
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01 Jan 1988
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01 Jan 1973
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01 Jan 2024
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01 Jan 2022
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01 Jan 2023
Title:
Conference co-chair
Start Date:
01 Jan 2023
End Date:
01 Jan 2023