Symposia
Symposia are listed below, with a brief overview. For further information please email the coordinator.
When uploading your abstract, you will note that some session titles have been abbreviated.
SS1: Optical remote sensing of aquatic ecosystems: measurements, modelling and applications
Coordinators: Dr Hannelie Botha (Phone: +61-2-6246 5744) and Dr Nagur Cherukuru
The effect of climate change and the anthropogenic pressures have significant impacts on inland, estuarine and coastal aquatic environment. These heavy pressures can induce changes in the pattern of river runoff, salinity regimes, water quality and biogeochemical processes, thus affecting the health of the aquatic ecosystem. It is thus essential to monitor and manage these sensitive environments as they can influence the economic, social and physical wellbeing of communities depending on these systems. Monitoring aquatic systems has always been difficult and expensive, but adequate monitoring at appropriate spatial and temporal scales is essential to maintain and preserve their biogeochemical status. Advancements in remote sensing (RS) technology, with its ability to monitor at a wide range of temporal and spatial scales, can play a critical role in this monitoring process. Availability of new optical sensors and evolution in data processing and analysis has significantly improved monitoring and management practices.Assimilation of earth observation (EO) and in situ data with biogeochemical models has the potential to deliver better predictive planning in complex estuarine and coastal waters. With this background it is the objective of this session to discuss the recent advances made in the optical remote sensing, in situ bio-optical measurements, modelling, data assimilation and applications focussing on inland, estuarine, coastal and oceanic aquatic ecosystems.
SS2: New waves in Marine Science: Breaking frontiers in phytoplankton research
Convenors: Martina Doblin and Leanne Arnand
Phytoplankton play a critical role in global biogeochemical cycles, underpin pelagic marine foodwebs and are used universally as water quality indicators in near shore habitats. Their culturability, cellular composition and short generation times have made them suitable for industrial and food production applications and experimentation.
Preserved remains or geochemical signatures from certain phytoplanktonic taxa exported from the surface and trapped in sediments provide indispensable times-series proxies for past environmental change. This session will focus on the contemporary and emerging issues in microalgal research, encompassing disciplines such as physiology, biotechnology, ecology, biogeography, climate science and oceanography.
SS3: Mangroves as proxies and benefactors for coastal, estuarine and catchment condition
Convenors: Norm Duke and Marcus Sheaves
Mangroves – love them or hate them, we all know they are important. But, did you know that, as well as providing habitat, nurseries, shelter and food for fisheries, they also provide: support for shoreline stability in the face of storms, large waves and catchment flooding; a generous sink for carbon sequestration; refuges to endangered birds and bats; filters as coastal kidneys to sensitive seagrass beds and coral reefs; and, assessable proxies for shoreline and catchment condition that can be used as valuable indicators of coastal ecosystem health.
At this special forum for Australian mangrove and tidal wetland research, there will be key researchers from across the country – and overseas. We will hear about current research directions concerning mangrove habitat in Australia, from a diversity of disciplines, focusing on a diversity of interests ranging across habitat components to associated biota as well as processes, functioning and change. This is a special opportunity to meet those with like interests, to contribute to our greater understanding, and to support the better management of these dwindling ecosystems. Yes, they are in decline - even in Australia, where we have some of the best management practices in the world.
A chief goal with this forum is to promote not only much needed intellectual exchange, but also to expand the national research capacity, to target key research directions, and to enhance mutual opportunities. In recent decades, keystone mangrove projects have become increasing rare in this country. And this lack of national focus is a troubling issue as we become increasingly aware of imminent global impacts, like sea level rise coupled with accelerating direct, and indirect human pressures. It is troubling also where the skills and knowledge base we are losing in not having big picture visionary projects is that these are the very resources needed to tackle the future challenges. Added objectives include the maintenance of respected scientific rigour, methodology, risk assessment and relevance.
This is an invitation to all those who have an interest in the biota and habitat of tidal wetlands, including tidal saltmarsh, saltpans and mangroves. This is an opportunity to identify and tackle for this important niche, the key questions and challenges of our time. We hope you will come.
SS04: Communicating Climate Change – Achieving Effective Outcomes
Convenor: Gina Newton
Man-made climate change is one of the world’s most urgent scientific, public policy, environmental and public health issues. Achieving effective outcomes to deal with this problem will require a huge leap in the understanding of climate change by the public and their ‘appointed’ decision-makers. While there have been great advances in the science of climate change, its impacts, and related adaptation strategies over the past two decades, the shift to more accessible and accurate public communication of this complex topic has only recently begun. Recent research suggests that successful communication of climate change needs to be tangible, relevant and tailored to its audience. According to a report by the Metcalf Institute for Marine and Environmental Reporting on this subject, the responsibility for this communication falls within the ambit of two main groups – scientists and journalists. Furthermore, for climate change policy to be effective, there needs to be strong links between scientists and policy makers, particularly with respect to the implications of decisions. Importantly, the role of the oceans in the climate change story, from both the science and impacts perspectives, has limited attention and understanding in the community. This mini-symposium will include presentations from a panel of experts utilising a range of methods and media to convey the scientific messages of climate change related to the marine realm. There will also be an ‘open-panel’ discussion session, with the opportunity for plenary discussion to further benefit from the ‘captured’ wisdom of our presenters.
SS5: Trace elements in marine systems: source, cycling and bioavailability
Convenors: Christel Hassler, Michael Ellwood and Edward Butler
Trace elements and isotopes (TEIs) are pivotal for the functioning of marine systems; they can affect biodiversity as well as the ability of our Ocean to take up atmospheric CO2. Amongst the trace elements being essential for life, iron is considered the ultimate limiting micronutrient in the Ocean. Iron limits up to 30% of primary productivity and co-limits nitrate assimilation in other oligotrophic regions of the Ocean. However, little is known on the ability of other trace elements such as Co, Zn, Se, Cu to co-limit primary productivity. TEIs can also shape marine biodiversity by exerting toxic effects (e.g. As, Hg). It is the fraction of the TEI accessible to the biota (viz. the bioavailable fraction) that is controlling both the biodiversity and the biological carbon pump. TEIs? source, chemical and size speciation are all pivotal to predict their bioavailability to organisms, as well as their biogeochemical cycling.
The study of TEIs can, thus, provide a better understanding of the dynamics and functioning of marine systems - a first step towards predicting the oceanic response to changing conditions.
SS6: Drivers of Marine Invasibility
Convenor: Emma Johnston
As biological invasions increasingly threaten the structure and function of ecosystems worldwide, researchers have sought to identify factors that increase the risk of establishment success of non-native species. Historically, marine invasions have been investigated through observational studies and surveys. These have guided researchers towards the processes most relevant to invasion, but we are becoming increasingly aware of the limitations of observational studies alone. It is clear that different factors may influence invasion success at different stages of the invasion process and a major challenge is to quantify the relative importance of these factors. Understanding the intricacies of invasion dynamics will require a range of approaches including modeling, experimental work and surveys. This symposium will cover recent progress in understanding invasion success in marine ecosystems.
SS7: Intertidal and Subtidal Benthic Habitat Mapping
Convenor: Richard Mount
Coastal, estuarine and marine habitats provide many "ecosystem services" to people living and working in the coastal zone, many of which are unrecognised by those same people. For example, seagrasses, saltmarshes and mangroves buffer wave energy and stabilise the seabed and shoreline. They also constitute key ecosystems vulnerable to climate change and multiple other pressures and threats. However, it can be argued that the habitat mapping we do have has not been used effectively for national level assessments in spite of progress in coordinating and collating national data sets (e.g. on OzCoasts via the DCC and the NLWRA). A key enabler of further progress is the consolidation of the existing National Intertidal Subtidal Benthic (NISB) Classification Scheme.
The Second National Intertidal Subtidal Benthic Habitat Classification Workshop in October last year produced a draft "attribute" based classification scheme that could replace the existing hierarchical NISB Habitat Classification Scheme. This shift in methods is intended to deliver a more flexible scheme that better aligns with the methods many scientists and professionals use when deriving habitat level information from field data. It also enables the definition of "mixed" or proportional classes. However, technical challenges exist in developing standard nationally agreed classes. For example, the new form of the classification scheme can create difficulties around mutually exclusive classes. If the new national scheme can be clarified and the groundwork laid for national agreement, opportunities exist for nationally significant habitat work to be conducted. For example, the Australian National Data Service is showing interest in supporting improved data management of habitat maps by their creators with a view to making them more accessible via the national research "data commons" i.e. a national habitat data pool. Other habitat relevant national data sets and activities (in no particular order) are to
* refresh the OzCoasts estuarine, coastal and marine portal with new habitat data
* conduct national photic depth mapping including seasonal and annual averages
* collate inshore and nearshore bathymetry (e.g. LADS, LiDAR) with freshwater catchments
* conduct national saltmarsh refugia/migration pathway modelling
* conduct national coastal wind fetch modelling
These activities have many research and technical issues of interest and are all designed to support the users of coastal and marine habitat data. For example, all of these activities will support coastal climate change vulnerability studies and adaptation planning. This symposium is intended to encourage exploration of the technical and scientific issues around habitat mapping, the NISB Habitat Classification Scheme and the development of an effective national habitat data pool.
SS8: Estuarine condition assessment - multidisciplinary approaches
Coordinator: Adam Pope
Assessment of the environmental condition of estuaries is a part of their management where science has a major role to play. In Australia over the last decade there have been major efforts at the state and national levels to develop ways of measuring overall environmental condition of estuaries so that management efforts can be prioritised and their success can be measured.
A key challenge for science in the management of estuaries is to develop measures, or combinations of measures that reliably and sensitively reflect responses of estuaries to human pressures but are also cost-effective enough to be used across large numbers of systems on a regular basis. Most methodologies for condition assessment include indicators related to a range of scientific disciplines. The aim of this symposium is to encourage meeting of those disciplines and of scientists and managers.
SS9: Abiotic surrogates for marine biodiversity
Convenor: Rachel Przeslawski
Improved technology and protocols have greatly facilitated biological sampling in Australian waters, but it is unfeasible to catalogue all marine life using direct sampling techniques. To that end, surrogacy research provides a promising avenue in which suitable environmental variables are identified to predict patterns of marine biodiversity. We know that some surrogates, such as temperature, mud content of sediment, and other depth-related factors, are often linked to species richness and biomass. Other surrogates, such as geochemical factors and animal remnants (e.g. shells), have not been investigated as thoroughly, but recent research suggests they may be appropriate surrogates in certain systems. In this symposium, we explore potential abiotic surrogates and how they relate to marine biodiversity on local, regional and national scales, as well as how the suitability of certain surrogates may vary across habitats and communities. Research presented here will contribute to our understanding of national biodiversity patterns and the utility of national habitat classification systems, the latter of which will be addressed in a separate AMSA symposium.
SS10: Coastal Interactions with Boundary Currents
Convenor: Iain Suthers
Recent studies reveal that our coastal ecology, waves, geomorphology and climate are strongly influenced by ocean boundary currents.
Coastal zone scientists and managers are increasingly aware of the role of the East Australian Current, Leeuwin Current and Flinders Current on processes as diverse as river-estuarine discharge, nutrient enrichment, algal blooms, beach erosion, connectivity, fisheries and genetic diversity.
This symposium will bring together multi-disciplinary studies of boundary currents with continental shelf and coastal processes. Two sub-sessions around this theme maybe created, depending on the diversity of responses.
SS12: Marine Biodiversity Symposium: 2010 International Year of Biodiversity
(Proposed one-day symposium - Tuesday 6th July)
Convenor: Piers Dunstan
2010 is the International Year of Biodiversity, endorsed by the United Nations. In 2002, the Convention on Biological Diversity committed themselves to achieve by 2010 a significant reduction in the current rate of biodiversity loss at the global, regional and national level as a contribution to poverty alleviation and to the benefit of all life on Earth. Marine biodiversity is also an increasing focus of Australian governments and forms the basis of many planning decisions currently being made, at both state and federal levels. It is highly relevant from both a scientific and policy perspective. This Symposium and associated sessions will cover the spectrum of biodiversity research including historical biogeography and evolution, the development of new methods to characterise and describe different aspects of biodiversity, biodiversity in different environments, and applications of biodiversity research to planning and management. It is intended to highlight the links and synergies in research across all realms of biodiversity research.
Topics may include: Biogeography, genetics, taxonomy, analytical techniques, planning and management, microbial diversity, Antarctic, temperate and tropical biodiversity.