ARC Centre of Excellence for Coral Reef Studies
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The ARC Centre of Excellence for Coral Reef Studies undertakes research on the science that underpins the sustainability and management of the world's coral reefs.
The Centre' s research programs are multidisciplinary and global in focus. Managing corals reefs proactively, in anticipation of future uncertainty is a key unifying theme in all of the Centre’s research programs (especially Program 5 - Resilience of linked social-ecological systems - and Program 6 - Conservation Planning). The ARC Centre is ranked #1 globally for citations in coral reef science, and is the world's largest provider of graduate training in coral reef research, with over 150 PhD students currently enrolled.
Key researchers
Centre researchers are also affiliated with the NCCARF Marine Biodiversity & Resources Network.
Dr Tracy Ainsworth
ARC Australian Postdoctoral Research Fellow
Phone: 61 7 4781 4442
Tracy's broad climate change adaptation research interests include stress responses, cell biology, immunity and disease of marine invertebrates.
Dr Glenn Almany
Senior Research Fellow
Phone: 61 7 4781 5721
Glenn’s climate change adaptation research interests are broadly focused on the ecology of coral reef fishes.
Dr Andrew Baird
Principal Research Fellow
Phone: 61 7 4781 4857
Andrew’s climate change adaptation research focuses on the evolution of life histories and biogeographical patterns in reproductive ecology of scleractinian corals.
Dr Natalie Ban
Postdoctoral Research Fellow
Phone: 61 7 4781 6067
Natalie’s research incorporates dynamics into conservation planning, with a focus on patch dynamics and their potential changes due to climate change.
Dr Line Bay
Queensland Smart State Fellow
Phone: 61 7 4781 5979
Line’s current research uses genetic tools to examine the role of thermal stress on corals and their endosymbiotic algal communities.
Professor David Bellwood
Professor
Phone 61 7 4781 4447
David’s research centres on the ecology of fish on coral reefs. The major emphasis is on the functional capabilities of fish, their evolutionary history and the role of fish in ecosystem function.
Dr Joshua Cinner
ARC Australian Postdoctoral Research Fellow
Phone: 61 7 4781 6751
Josh does research on societal response to environmental change and quantifying aspects of social resilience. His research is highly interdisciplinary, and links social, ecological and environmental systems. A key goal of his research is to better understand how conservation priorities should differ based on site-specific levels of environmental susceptibility to climate change and differing levels of associated human communities’ adaptive capacity.
Professor Sean Connolly
ARC Australian Professorial Fellow
Phone: 61 7 4781 4242
Sean combines mathematical and statistical modelling in conjunction with fieldwork and laboratory experiments to study the dynamics of biological turnover at all scales, including population dynamics, species interactions and biodiversity, and macroevolution.
Dr Maria Dornelas
Senior Research Fellow
Phone: 61 7 4781 6072
Maria studies morphological and life history diversity of corals. Her research interests include community ecology, macroecology and biogeography. She is interested in understanding the processes that shape biodiversity patterns and determine the structure of ecological communities as it applies to climate change.
Dr Toby Elmhirst
Senior Research Fellow
Phone: 61 7 4781 6747
Toby is currently using pod systems, bifurcation theory, coupled cell systems and singularity theory to study resilience in coupled social-ecological systems.
Dr Kathryn Ferguson
ARC Australian Postdoctoral Research Fellow
Phone: 61 7 4781 6749
Kathryn investigates how places accrue various cultural meanings and different social valuations over time. Her current research examines the cultural history and social significance of Australia's Great Barrier Reef.
Dr Pedro Fidelman
Senior Research Fellow
Phone: 61 7 4781 6517
Pedro’s research interest is in social-ecological resilience of coastal and marine systems and adaptation of environmental governance institutions to climate change.
Dr Simon Foale
Principal Research Fellow
Phone: 61 7 4781 6785
Simon's research includes the study of demographic and socio-political dimensions of near-shore marine resource management in the Asia-Pacific region, including the relationships between fisheries and other resource sectors, particularly agriculture. Climate change is a significant factor in this as it will impact on fisheries, agriculture and demography in complex and interacting ways, and the research aims to describe some of these impacts and their interactions.
Debora De Freitas
Research Associate
Phone: 61 7 4781 6282
Debora’s research interests focus on the use of geospatial technology (i.e. GIS) in systematic conservation planning, integrated coastal zone management, and stakeholders’ engagement in the management of natural resources.
Dr Nick Graham
Research Fellow
Phone: 61 7 4781 6291
Nick ‘s current research focuses on the impacts of climate change to reef systems, and the physical, ecological and management properties that promote recovery and resilience.
Dr Lauretta Grasso
Research Fellow
Phone: 61 7 4781 4354
Lauretta’s current research interests include the molecular control of coral settlement and metamorphosis, and symbiont recognition. This has direct application to the role of climate change in coral survival.
Professor Terry Hughes
Federation Fellow
Phone: 61 7 4781 4000
Knowledge of the past improves our ability to predict future influences of natural environmental variability, human impacts, and of climate change on coral reefs. Terry and his collaborators are analyzing historical information using novel statistical and meta-analytical methods, to identifying potential causes of global shifts in biodiversity and their consequences for ecosystem function.
Professor Geoff Jones
Phone 61 7 4781 4559
Geoff’s research interests include the ecology, behaviour and life histories of reef fishes, and their interactions with reef communities. Recent work has focussed on the local and regional impacts of natural and human disturbances to coral reef habitats and associated fish populations. The role of larval connectivity in determining the spatial scales of human impact and recovery programs has been central to his research program.
Professor Michael Kingsford
Phone 61 7 4781 4345
The focus of Mike’s research is on fishes at all stages of life history; their population dynamics, where they live and the organisms they interact with in pelagic and reef environments. Major areas of climate change adaptation research include interactions between reef fish and organisms associated with reefs and the use of microchemistry to elucidate the environmental conditions experienced by fishes (especially those related to pollution) and the connectivity of populations of fishes.
Dr Johnathan Kool
Senior Research Fellow
Phone 61 7 4781 6134
Johnathan's research involves the development of models to project the dispersal of marine organisms over time. These models can be used to assess the potential spread of invasive organisms, or changes in connectivity due to shifting oceanographic conditions. He has a joint position with the Australian Institute of Marine Sciences.
Dr Bill Leggat
Lecturer
Phone: 61 7 4781 6923
Bill is using a functional genomics approach to investigate the extent to which different phylotypes of the algal symbiont (Symbiodinium) of corals can acclimatise to increasing temperatures. The upper thermal threshold of the intact coral symbiosis is to a large extent dictated by the temperature sensitivity of Symbiodinium. As such acclimatization of Symbiodinium to increasing temperatures has the potential to significantly affect coral reef resilience under predicted climate scenarios.
Dr Mark McCormick
Reader
Phone: 61 7 47814048
Mark has a very broad range of climate change adaptation interests within the field of reef fish population dynamics. His major research field explores the links between life history stages of coral reef fishes, and how events in earlier phases influence subsequent population dynamics.
Professor David Miller
Phone 7 4781 4473
David’s expertise is in molecular genetics, evolutionary biology and genomics. His research has pioneered the use of the coral Acropora millepora as a model organism and its application to understanding early animal evolution via comparative molecular developmental biology and genomics. Some of his recent research has applications to climate change and its affect on coral symbiosis and survival.
Dr Philip Munday
ARC Australian Queen Elizabeth II Research Fellow
Phone: 61 7 4781 5341
Philip has conducted extensive research on the reproductive ecology of reef fishes. His current research focuses on fish-habitat associations and the impact of climate change on reef fish communities. His interests include temperature and acidification impacts.
Dr Morgan Pratchett
ARC Australian Research Fellow
Phone: 61 7 4781 5747
Morgan’s current research focuses on major perturbations and threats to coral reef ecosystems, such as climate induced coral bleaching and outbreaks of crown-of-thorns starfish.
Professor Bob Pressey
Professorial Fellow
Phone: 61 7 4781 6194
Bob works on the theory, techniques and practice of conservation planning. An important feature of his new research program is the close involvement of practitioners and other stakeholders representing local, regional, state and national agencies, non-government organisations and community groups.
Member of Advisory Board for National Climate Change Adaptation Research Network for Terrestrial Biodiversity.
Professor Garry Russ
Phone 61 7 4781 4432
Garry studies the biology of reef fish of commercial and recreational fishing significance. A major area of applied research involves population and community dynamics of reef fish of commercial/recreational significance on coral reefs opened and closed to fishing. In Southeast Asia and Australia, he is undertaking long-term (>20 year) monitoring of reef fish populations inside and outside marine reserves.
Professor Bette Willis
Phone 61 7 4781 5349
Bette's research activities focus on questions concerning the capacity of corals to cope with climate change through their potential to form symbiosis with a range of Symbiodinium (zooxanthellae) clades that affect their physiological performance, specifically their thermal tolerance. A second research focus is understanding the ecological significance of coral disease on the Great Barrier Reef and the links between disease and ocean warming.
Professor David Yellowlees
Phone 7 4781 6249
David’s research interests combine genomic and biochemical approaches to understanding the metabolic reactions between corals and their symbiotic dinoflagellates. Carbon dioxide acquisition and fixation are a particular focus and how climate change and increasing oceanic CO2 concentrations will affect the symbiosis.
Research Collaborations & Activities
The Research School for Earth Science: at the Australian National University is a node of the Centre of Excellence. Research Program leader Malcolm McCulloch leads research on the application of isotopic and trace element geochemical methods to better understand the impacts of both climatic and anthropogenic processes on the Earth’s environment. http://rses.anu.edu.au/people/mcculloch_m/
The Centre for Marine Studies at the University of Queensland is a node of the ARC Centre of Excellence and is home to a number of the Centre’s scientists. Led by Ove Hoegh-Guldberg, Program 4 draws on researchers across multiple nodes to understand coral reef organisms at a molecular and physiological level and to examine potential mechanisms of coral reefs for adaptation and acclimatization to environmental change. Genomics and microarray technologies are integrated with physiological measurements and field experiments. http://www.marine.uq.edu.au/.
Researchers at the Stockholm Resilience Centre http://www.stockholmresilience.org/ are working with Centre researchers in Program 5 to provide new solutions to managing resilience and coping with change, uncertainty, risk, and surprise in complex social-ecological systems.
The ARC Centre of Excellence for Coral Reef Studies and The Nature Conservancy http://www.nature.org/wherewework/asiapacific/coraltriangle/ have shared interests in the marine environments of the Asia-Pacific region, particularly the Bismarck Sea, Papua New Guinea and the Coral Triangle region.
Recent publications
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