Malcolm McCullochWA Premier’s FellowARC Laureate Fellow

Resilience of Coral Reefs of NW Western Australia to Climatic Extremes and Environmental

Impacts

• Ocean acidification 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?

• Projecting coral reef futures integrating biogeochemical processes with physical/chemical models

Climate Change & Coral ReefsClimate Change & Coral ReefsClimate Change & Coral ReefsClimate Change & Coral Reefs

Rowley ShoalsRowley ShoalsKimberleyKimberley

Dampier to NingalooReef

Dampier to NingalooReef

HoutmanAbrolhos HoutmanAbrolhos

Rottnest IsRottnest Is

Key Research Themes:

Feb-Mar 2011:

Can corals adapt ? At what rate?

• 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)

Climate Change & Coral ReefsClimate Change & Coral ReefsClimate Change & Coral ReefsClimate Change & Coral ReefsKey Research Themes for NW WA