Sex plays a much more important role in the reproduction of vitally important seagrasses than previously thought, according to important new findings by researchers from Western Australia. It forms a major re-think of the way seagrass populations spread and is regarded as critically important to help conserve and restore endangered seagrass meadows.
Healthy seagrass populations are extremely important for coastal stability and carbon sequestration. They grow predominately via vegetative growth or cloning, using rhizomes that spread under the seabed, then sent out roots and shoots. But the researchers found that seagrasses also relied a great deal on sexual reproduction involving male and female flowers, pollen, seeds and seedlings.
Prof Gary Kendrick, Oceans Institute, School of Plant Biology, University of Western Australia
Bioscience; http://www.news.uwa.edu.au/201201164278/research/secret-sex-life-help-save-worlds-endangered-seagrasses
While contact with dolphins is often a unique and incredible experience for us, it is important to realise that ‘watching’ activity can have an adverse effect on the dolphins themselves.
Research shows that in cases where human–wildlife interactions turn into large-scale tourism industries, these activities can negatively impact wildlife – for example – by disrupting resting or feeding. Wildlife tourism therefore needs regulations aiming to ensure both a healthy wild population of animals and satisfactory wildlife encounters for humans.
Andre Steckenreuter, Graduate School of Environment, Macquarie University
Journal of Environmental Management;
http://www.sciencealert.com.au/features/20120801-22978-2.html
Australian scientists have urged greater consideration for the brilliantly hued parrot fishes that tend and renew the world’s imperilled coral reefs. In a major new study published marine biologists have investigated parrot fish populations on 18 coral island reefs from Mauritius in the west Indian Ocean to Tahiti in the central Pacific.
“Parrot fish fulfil a number of key roles on the reef. They remove sick and dead corals and clean areas for new corals to settle, they remove weedy growth, and they cart away literally tonnes of sand and sediment that would otherwise smother the corals.”
Prof David Bellwood, Dr Andrew Hoey and Prof Terry Hughes, ARC Centre of Excellence for Coral Reef Studies (CoECRS) and James Cook University
Proceedings of the Royal Society
http://www-public.jcu.edu.au/news/JCU_094633
Australian scientists have discovered that some tropical fish have a greater capacity to cope with rising sea temperatures than previously thought – by adjusting over several generations. The discovery sheds a ray of hope amid the rising concern over the future of coral reefs and their fish under the levels of global warming expected to occur by the end of the 21st century.
Understanding the ability of species to acclimatise to rising temperatures over longer time periods is critical for predicting the biological consequences of global warming – yet it remains one of the least understood aspects of climate science. The scientists were seeking to discover how fish would cope with the elevated sea temperatures expected by 2050 and 2100.
Professor Philip Munday, Ms Jennifer Donelson, ARC Centre of Excellence for Coral Reef Studies, James Cook University
Nature Climate Change
http://www-public.jcu.edu.au/news/JCU_094504
Eggs that talk to each other, the stressed hearts of the broken-hearted and online chat fighting depression are just some of the interesting stories that emerged from Australian research published in the last week. Find over a dozen other stories below.
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Australian scientists have thrown new light on the mechanism behind the mass death of corals worldwide as the Earth’s climate warms. A team of scientists from Townsville has shown that as sea water begins to warm a complex cascade of molecular signals is triggered leading up to the self-inflicted death of corals and their symbiotic algae .
Lead author Dr Tracy Ainsworth, ARC Centre of Excellence for Coral Reef Studies, James Cook University
Scientific Reports, Nature
http://www-public.jcu.edu.au/news/JCU_093922
Human activity is significantly weakening the ability of coastal ecosystems to dampen the impacts of rising CO2 levels, according to a new study by Sydney environmental scientists. The team has recommended that a high priority be placed on protecting and conserving seagrass, salt marsh and mangrove ecosystems.
Dr Peter Macreadie, Prof Peter Ralph, Prof Greg Skilbeck, University of Technology Sydney
Global Change Biology
http://newsroom.uts.edu.au/news/2011/11/human-activity-pulling-the-plug-on-a-vital-carbon-sink
Sydney researchers have investigated the rules underlying how big groups of animals move in a coordinated fashion. They found that each fish in a shoal uses very simple rules to respond to its neighbours.
Mr James Herbert-Read, Dr Tim Schaerf and A/Prof Ashley Ward, School of Biological Sciences, University of Sydney
Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences
http://sydney.edu.au/news/84.html?newscategoryid=2&newsstoryid=8145
Climate change resulting in more frequent flooding of the Wooramel River that leads into Shark Bay is threatening the unique ‘living rock fossils’ that make Shark Bay a World Heritage site. These stromatolites – rocky structures formed over millennia by blue-green algae or cyanobacteria in which a new kind of chlorophyll has been found – thrive in Shark Bay’s Hamelin Pool, where an unusual undersea landscape has created an environment twice as saline as normal seawater.
Emeritus Prof Diana Walker, Oceans Institute, UWA
http://www.news.uwa.edu.au/201111104129/research/shark-bay-stromatolites-risk-climate-change
Marine life in the areas to the north of Australia and elsewhere along the Equator, as well as the waters off Australia’s east coast, have emerged as being at particular risk from temperature changes due to climate change, international marine scientists have warned.
Prof Carlos Duarte, Director, Oceans Institute, The University of Western Australia
Prof John Pandolfi of the ARC Centre of Excellence for Coral Reef Studies and The University of Queensland
Science
A international team of biologists including an Australian has reorganised the molluscs by showing that monoplacophorans—shelled limpet-like creatures in very deep water known as living fossils—are closely related to octopus.
Dr Nerida Wilson, Australian Museum.
Nature
Marine biologists have written an open letter against shark culls, and calling for non-lethal alternatives.
Over 100 academics and professionals in the shark and ray field have signed the letter. In addition, a petition from the public has already collected over 5000 signatures.
Barbara Wueringer, Research Associate, School of Animal Biology, University of Western Australia and Adjunct Research Associate, School of Marine and Tropical Biology, James Cook University.
Tracy Ainsworth James Cook University Coral interactions more complex than ever suspected. Dr Tracy Ainsworth’s research is changing our understanding of the life of the tiny coral animals that built Australia’s iconic Great Barrier Reef. Her work comes at a critical time for the future of coral reefs—threatened by a warming ocean and by coral [...]
