Transcript Malcolm McCulloch

Resilience of Coral Reefs of NW Western Australia
to Climatic Extremes and Environmental Impacts
Malcolm McCulloch
WA Premier’s Fellow
ARC Laureate Fellow
Climate Change & Coral Reefs
Key Research Themes:
•
Kimberley
Rowley Shoals
Dampier to
Ningaloo
Reef
•
response of coral calcification to CO2 vs temp. (large
N-S gradient in SST along WA coast)
Rising ocean temperatures
coral bleaching: magnitude, rapidity of change?
Can corals
adapt ? At
what rate?
Houtman
Abrolhos
Rottnest Is
Ocean acidification
Feb-Mar 2011:
•
Projecting coral reef futures
integrating biogeochemical processes with
physical/chemical models
Climate Change & Coral Reefs
Key Research Themes for NW WA
•
Adaption of Kimberley corals to temperature extremes
What controls extraordinary resistance of coral to high SST’s
extremes? Is resilience transferable ?
•
Long-term coral records of change & baseline response
SST records of ocean warming, pH changes, calcification rates,
river runoff (sediment loads, flood plumes, cyclone frequency etc)
•
Community-scale interactions & response to warming, OA
reef-scale interactions, eg corals <-> seagrass to OA,> SST &
environmental impacts (fishing, runoff etc)