Thank you for your contributions to the CERF Marine Biodiversity Hub in 2009 – it’s been a great year. Best wishes for a happy and successful 2010 and join with us in celebrating the International Year of Biodiversity.
Prof Nic Bax
Director
Finding the ASX200 for marine ecosystems
Researchers are building the environmental equivalent of the ASX200 as a means of monitoring the health of Australian marine ecosystems.
Marine ecosystems get a climate form guide
Scientists from CSIRO, Australian universities, State and territory environmental agencies, Australian Institute of Marine Science and Bureau of Meteorology, released the Australian benchmark of climate change impacts on marine ecosystems and options for adaptation.
First high seas MPA designated in Antarctica
The first high seas MPA has been declared in the Antarctic, south of the South Orkney Islands.
Census of Marine Life News
World Ocean Census: A Global Survey of Marine Life
The Census of Marine Life has published a new book that is described as a “distillation of a decade of exploration, magnificently illustrated and eloquently written. Some will treasure World Ocean Census as a valuable reference, others as a place to find white-knuckle adventures.”
Taxonomic error in 1926 could contribute to skate extinction
A taxonomic error made in 1926 could contribute to one of the world’s largest skates being the first marine species fished to extinction.
Addressing marine biodiversity decline
- the Marine Biodiversity Working Group
This is the second article on the national advisory groups that the Marine Biodiversity Hub works with to improve the management of marine biodiversity.
2010 International Year of Biodiversity
The United Nations has declared 2010 to be the International Year of Biodiversity.
by Prof Nic Bax, Director, CERF Marine Biodiversity Hub
More than 190 countries agreed to achieve a “significant reduction” in the rate of biodiversity loss by 2010. The European Commission announced in April of this year that Europe will fail to meet that target.
This month focuses on marine environmental monitoring and includes abstracts from presentations given at the Nationally Relevant Environmental Monitoring workshop held in Canberra on 20 and 21 October 2009.
Workshop brings environmental monitoring into focus
It was standing room only at the Optus Theatre in the CSIRO Discovery Centre (Canberra) for many of the talks at the workshop ‘Nationally Relevant Environmental Monitoring: Existing Approaches and Future Opportunities’.
Crowded in to hear over 30 speakers on 20 -21 October 2009 were more than 180 people from environmental policy, science and management, representing 40 organisations including universities, CSIRO, government departments and agencies.
by Wentworth Group of Concerned Scientists
Why, given how much environmental data is already collected by researchers, government, interest groups and industry, is it we are still unable to get a national picture on the state of our environment? Why are monitoring programs frustrated by temporary funding? Why can’t we account for the benefits from the dollars invested in the environment?
SEQ ecosystem health monitoring program
- Providing a basis for an environmental accounting framework
South-East Queensland Healthy Waterways Partnership, University of Queensland
“By 2026, our waterways and catchments will be healthy ecosystems supporting the livelihoods and lifestyles of people in South East Queensland, and will be managed through collaboration between community, government and industry.”
Monitoring programs for the Great Barrier Reef
Hugh Sweatman, Australian Institute of Marine Science
The Great Barrier Reef (GBR) is an iconic marine ecosystem. It has been declared a World Heritage Area for its intrinsic natural values but is also a busy multiple-use marine park generating over $5 billion dollars per annum for the Australian economy from marine tourism and fisheries within a core area of over 200,000 square kilometres.
Great Barrier Reef Outlook Report
The Great Barrier Reef Outlook Report 2009 was provided to the Minister for the Environment, Heritage and the Arts on 30 June 2009 and subsequently tabled in the Australian Parliament.
Australian Fisheries - actively using an integrated monitoring and decision making framework
Dave Johnson*, Senior Manager - Environment and Research, AFMA
The key question for any environmental monitoring program is how will the information be used by managers to support better decision making?
Keith Hayes, CSIRO Mathematics, Informatics and Statistics
Ecological indicators reduce the complexity of real-world systems to a small set of key characteristics that are useful for management and communication purposes.
New research findings from hub partner Geoscience Australia
Three stories are featured in this edition of the newsletter:
* Drowned shorelines and coastal dunes provide important reef habitat - Carnarvon Shelf, Western Australia
* New species populate Marine Hub samples from Lord Howe Island
* Modelling seabed exposure and disturbance
Drowned shorelines and coastal dunes provide important reef habitat
from hub partner Geoscience Australia
New high resolution multibeam sonar mapping of the seabed along the Carnarvon continental shelf in Western Australia reveals in unprecedented detail a complex submarine terrain of coral reefs and sandy seabed.
New species populate Marine Hub samples from Lord Howe Island
from hub partner Geoscience Australia
The Marine Hub’s visit to the shelf that surrounds Lord Howe Island aboard Australia’s National research vessel, the ”Southern Surveyor”, was the first survey to sample infauna from this remote World Heritage area.
Modelling seabed exposure and disturbance
from hub partner Geoscience Australia
The amount of energy delivered to the seabed by waves, tides and associated currents is one of the fundamental factors that shape the physical and biological character of the seabed.
Reports from our collaborators
The number of researchers collaborating with the Marine Biodiversity Hub continues to increase. In this newsletter, there are reports from two researchers working with the Off-Reserve Management Program:
Linking microfinance and payments for ecosystem services
A tool for conservation and poverty alleviation in the Coral Triangle region and beyond.
Finding ways of measuring opportunity costs for potential and future uses by subsistence fishers
Vanessa Adams, Australian Research Council Centre of Excellence for Coral Reef Studies, James Cook University
Much of the recent debate in designing and implementing marine protected areas (MPAs) has shifted recently to understanding the ‘costs’ associated with them.
Hideyasu Shimadzu, Geoscience Australia - CERF Prediction and Surrogates Program
Hideyasu received his MSc and PhD in Statistics under the supervision of Professor Ritei Shibata from Keio University in Japan.
Conferences and Workshops
* World Conference on Marine Biodiversity 2011
* Japan Joint Statistical Meeting
* Hub annual science workshop
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Newsletter banner caption:
Whale Shark,
Christmas Island
Photo Credit: Claire Davies, CSIRO
