College of Science & Engineering


Sophia Love

Sophia Love

Elle Robertson

Elle Robertson

Romain Vaucher

Romain Vaucher

Jenny Fisher

Jenny Fisher

Ambili Narayanan

Ambili Narayanan

Sarfaraz Ali

Sarfaraz Ali

Tom Lloyd

Tom Lloyd

Coral Sea Bright Spot Reef Health and Resilience Survey – 2022-24 (Old ID 27830)
The Coral Sea Marine Park (CSMP) covers approximately 990,000 km2 and includes over 30 individual reef systems that are surrounded by deep waters. Extensive bleaching of corals was recorded across shallow reef habitats within the CSMP in 2020 and 2021. This project will use surveys of benthic, fish and invertebrate communities to assess the ongoing effects and potential recovery from these back-to-back bleaching events.
Coral Sea Bright Spot Reef Health and Resilience Survey – 2022-24 (Old ID 27830)
Eva McClure - Marine Biology & Aquaculture
23 Nov 2022 - 31 Dec 2024
The Coral Sea Marine Park (CSMP) covers approximately 990,000 km2 and includes over 30 individual reef systems that are surrounded by deep waters. Extensive bleaching of corals was recorded across shallow reef habitats within the CSMP in 2020 and 2021. This project will use surveys of benthic, fish and invertebrate communities to assess the ongoing effects and potential recovery from these back-to-back bleaching events.
Intensive Breeding Potential of Redclaw Crayfish, Cherax quadricarinatus: Evaluation and Improvements of Egg and Embryo Quality, and In Vitro Fertilization Perspectives (Old ID 27486)
John Cavalieri - Veterinary Science
07 Feb 2022 - 31 Dec 2023
The commercial expansion of redclaw is hampered by suboptimal methods used to produce fertilised eggs, asynchronous hatching, and mortalities of juveniles. This project seeks to characterise female broodstock fertility and improve hatchery productivity by developing tools to assess egg and embryo quality, induce gonadal maturation and egg release using dietary supplementation and hormonal treatments and by establishing artificial fertilization techniques. The study outcomes include validation of tools to select for egg quality and to develop strategies to facilitate synchronised spawning of redclaw within hatcheries to enhance reproductive performance and facilitate intensification of production.
Modelling unseen flow pathways of water and contaminants in the Wet Tropics: the role of alluvial palaeochannels (Old ID 27748)
Alex Cheesman - Zoology & Ecology
01 Jul 2022 - 01 Aug 2023
Approximately 50% of nitrogen loss from agricultural landscapes in the Wet Tropics occurs via subsurface flow pathways. We know little about the partitioning of subsurface flows, especially through palaeochannels where field evidence shows them to be zones of preferential pathways of water movement and likely nutrients. This project, led by JCU, seeks to develop an adequate understanding of the role palaeochannels play in subsurface flow movement. We then make recommendations to the modelling community on how to model these landscapes better in order to guide intervention measures (e.g. bioreactors, constructed wetlands) to reduce nutrient release into environmentally sensitive coastal areas (GBR).
Conservation genetics and population trends in the endangered Mahogany Glider (Petaurus gracilis) (Old ID 27035)
Conrad Hoskin - Zoology & Ecology
31 Aug 2020 - 26 Oct 2021
Forest clearances has resulted in severe habitat fragmentation that threats population connectivity and genetic diversity of Mahogany Gliders, an endangered gliding possum endemic to Australian Wet Tropics. Using species distribution modelling, we aim to map the glider’s current theoretical distribution, and based on that, conducting fieldworks to collect DNA samples from different populations. These DNA samples enable us to do fine-scaled genomic analyses to estimate the population size and structures of the Mahogany Gliders, and to know whether the population suffers from inbreeding. Knowing these information helps to identify important corridors to connect populations and guide future conservation plans.
NESP Tropical Water Quality Research Plan 7 (Old ID 27291)
Nathan Waltham - Marine Biology & Aquaculture
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.
Improving the quality of water for release from land-based aquaculture in northern Australia (Old ID 26373)
Alex Cheesman - Zoology & Ecology
01 Apr 2019 - 31 Mar 2020
Effluent from land-based aquaculture farms is problematic because of its nutrient content. This project will be the first in Australia and the tropics to assess the ability of 'denitrification bioreactors' (woodchip-filled trenches) to remove suspended solids and nitrogen from effluent leaving an aquaculture farm. It will be carried out on a barramundi farm the Great Barrier Reef catchment in North Queensland. Changes in quality of water flowing through bioreactors will be measured under a range of likely operating conditions, including differences in salinity and effluent retention rate. The results will be applicable to aquaculture farms throughout the tropics, enabling a reduction in negative environmental impacts, and facilitating intensification and expansion of fish production without increasing nutrient export.
Can species interactions drive rapid niche evolution? (Old ID 23427)
Conrad Hoskin - Zoology & Ecology
01 May 2017 - 30 Apr 2018
Climate change can alter the distribution of speies and cause novel interactions This project will test whether such interactions can actually drive adaptation to the changing environment. Two Australian fruitfly species will be lab-reared separately and together along a thermal resource gradient. Estimates of each species' niche will be obtained. Using experimental evolution, resource space will then be manipulated to create competition and test whether either species/ niche will evolve into new space. A shift of either species beyond its former niche limits would provide evidence of the potential for evolutionary rescue via rapid adaptation to changing environmental conditions.
Can species interactions drive rapid niche evolution? (Old ID 23427)
Megan Higgie - Zoology & Ecology
01 May 2017 - 30 Apr 2018
Climate change can alter the distribution of speies and cause novel interactions This project will test whether such interactions can actually drive adaptation to the changing environment. Two Australian fruitfly species will be lab-reared separately and together along a thermal resource gradient. Estimates of each species' niche will be obtained. Using experimental evolution, resource space will then be manipulated to create competition and test whether either species/ niche will evolve into new space. A shift of either species beyond its former niche limits would provide evidence of the potential for evolutionary rescue via rapid adaptation to changing environmental conditions.
Dugald River Mine Pre-Baseline Limnology Assessment and Design (Old ID 20419)
Nathan Waltham - Marine Biology & Aquaculture
30 Apr 2012 - 30 Nov 2021
This project covers completion of mine site recon and preliminary limnology assessment of local rivers within and adjacent to Dugald River mine site operation. The data collected during this pre-baseline assessment will be used in the design of a full baseline limnology survey, scheduled to be completed before mining operations commence. The full baseline survey will support the development of mine site closure targets.
Reseracher: Thomas Napier (Doctor of Philosophy (Information Technology))
Start Date: 01 Jan 2025
Reseracher: Mohanathas Gobikrushanth (Senior Lecturer, Veterinary Reproduction Theriogenology)
Start Date: 01 Jan 2022
End Date: 01 Jan 2024
Reseracher: Mohanathas Gobikrushanth (Senior Lecturer, Veterinary Reproduction Theriogenology)
Start Date: 01 Jan 2010
End Date: 01 Jan 2011
Reseracher: Kranthi Addanki (Lecturer, Information Technology)
Start Date: 01 Jan 2025
Reseracher: Kranthi Addanki (Lecturer, Information Technology)
Start Date: 01 Jan 2024
Reseracher: Kranthi Addanki (Lecturer, Information Technology)
Start Date: 01 Jan 2024
Reseracher: Kranthi Addanki (Lecturer, Information Technology)
Start Date: 01 Jan 2025
Reseracher: Kranthi Addanki (Lecturer, Information Technology)
Start Date: 01 Jan 2025
Reseracher: Kranthi Addanki (Lecturer, Information Technology)
Start Date: 01 Jan 2024
Reseracher: Mohamadreza Chalak Qazani (Lecturer, Mechanical Engineering)
Start Date: 01 Jan 2024