Taleatha is Noongar woman from Whadjuk country (Perth) with family ties to Wardandi in the South-West and Burduna in the North-West of WA. Her research aims to understand how coral early life history processes can aid reef recovery and restoration applications. She is interested in coral demography and ecology in the early life stages and capacity building of women and traditional owners for reef monitoring and restoration.

Significance of early-life history processes in recovery post-disturbance to aid coral restoration

2024 to 2028

Project Description

This project aims to develop a greater understanding of early-life processes of scleractinian corals on the Great Barrier Reef (GBR) in the context of increasing disturbance regimes and contrast this against current restoration methods for effective restoration interventions. The key underlying question relates to density-dependent survival across major bottlenecks in population replenishment of corals. It will combine the analysis of monitoring data on natural coral recruits in-situ across a range of temporal (3 months – 10 years) and spatial (microhabitat, depth, habitat, reef, latitude) scales, with experiments in aquaria and field deployments of coral recruits to determine strategies for enhanced survival in a range of coral reef habitats that have undergone some level of disturbance.

Project Importance

Developing a greater understanding of whether density-dependence affects coral demographic processes in relation to recovery and in response to restoration interventions will result in effective restoration applications

Project Methods

Examine existing datasets (Ecological Intelligence for Reef Restoration [EcoRRAP], AIMS Long Term Monitoring Program [LTMP] and Marine Monitoring Program [MMP]) on the GBR which have spanned multiple years and reef environments to determine processes affecting large-scale patterns in the abundance of juvenile corals. Experimental work will build on results from analyses of established monitoring studies to determine relevant density-dependent mechanisms of recruitment, growth and mortality for corals in the early-life history stages.

Project Results

The above plan will generate insight into limiting factors and mechanisms of density-dependence on natural reefs and in the context of interventions using coral replenishment that could promote effective application in relation to target species for restoration.

Keywords

Algae,
Aquaculture,
Artificial reef,
Benthic,
Climate change,
Controlled Environment,
Coral reefs,
Corals,
Ecology,
Field based,
Human use,
Manipulative experiments,
Modelling,
Monitoring,
Natural disturbance,
Quantitative marine science