Heron Island Research Station highlights
Noddies and novels: Long term project returns to the Island
Dr John Ogden revisited the station to continue collecting long term data on Pisonia forest growth and associated sea bird nesting. John first visited the station in 1978 to set up his plots and has previously returned in 1979, 1983, 1992 and 2000, providing information on Pisonia forest tree growth rates and mortality over a 40-year timespan, additionally providing a long-term census of nesting for noddy tern and shearwater populations on Heron. His wife Jenni has accompanied him on every trip, and has produced a best-selling novel based on her experiences with turtles on the Island. In her most recent trip she conducted research for an upcoming novel again based on her experiences on Heron Island.
Shifting Sands to save the Reef
Dr Adam Kessler visited the station again this year to continue laboratory experiments looking at microbes and mineralisation reactions in the calcium carbonate sands surrounding Heron Island. Microbial communities in sediment can help resist against sediment dissolution through a series of mineralisation reactions. Adam Kessler and his team are determining the dynamics of carbon mineralisation and sediment dissolution in these sands under current and future projections of oceanic conditions in order to predict how these may affect future reef communities.
The Diverse World of Marine Sponges
PhD candidate Davide Poli came to the end of his degree after many visits to Heron Island Research Station investigating the assemblage of the sponge A. queenslandica and the microbial species that live within the sponges. Using gene expression analysis, Davide has focused on the interactions between sulphur-oxidising bacteria and the environment they inhabit within and around the sponge. Over the course of his PhD he has also used the Station’s facilities to assess the daily and seasonal changes in the physiology of this holobiont. Congratulations Davide!
Davide taking measurements on the HIRS Research Deck (photo: Tiffany Nay).
Heron Island marks the spot
In November, Dr Chris Roelfsema and his team again visited Heron Island to conduct their annual reef mapping and survey project. The team were joined by Reef Check Australia who helped contribute to the assessment of overall health on Heron Reef. The team conducted transects at 27 sites around Heron and Wistari reefs using the Station’s new boat ‘Ranina’. Chris and the team found that reef health was excellent with high coral cover at most sites. The data and photography will contribute to the larger project of creating the most comprehensive detailed map of the Great Barrier Reef to date.
Left to right: Chris Roelfsema, Jodi Salmond, Josh Passenger, Eva Kovacs, Jenni Calcraft, Rodney Borrego, Phil Danbaven, Doddy Yuwono.
Location, location, location
Grace Wall is an honours student from the Coral Reef Ecology Laboratory (CRE), who visited the station twice in 2019 to set up and monitor coral translocation experiments. Her work focuses on coral symbionts and resource allocation, understanding the differences between corals on the reef slope and reef crest in spring and summer. Using the aquaria tables on the Station, Grace prepared her corals before placing them in their new locations on the Reef to examine whether they responded differently to their new environment.
Grace and the CRE lab placing coral fragments on the reef slope (photo: Grace Wall).