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By studying microbial within species adaptation, species distribution, ecosystem composition, structure and biogeochemical rates and functions, and relating these parameters to specific landforms at a range of spatial scales we aim to determine whether:
Understanding the structure and function of food webs is essential to interpreting and understanding the responses of Antarctic coastal ecosystems to human disturbance.
Shallow nearshore marine habitats are rare in the Antarctic but human activities have led to their contamination.
Sea ice and tides are important factors affecting ocean-atmosphere heat transfer and deep water formation. They affect climate and the global thermohaline circulation. Generally, tidal processes were ignored in coupled sea ice/ocean models and sea ice was ignored in tidal models.
Sea ice algae are a crucial component of the Southern Ocean ecosystem, providing food for herbivores such as Antarctic krill, and also contributing to the overall ecosystem primary production.
Ecological sustainability of fisheries is a primary goal for managing human activities in the marine environment.
This work addresses Australian Government marine mammal conservation, management and policy needs with an emphasis on priorities from the International Whaling Commission and the Commission for the Conservation of Antarctic Marine Living Resources.
The extent of Antarctic winter sea-ice influences all aspects of the Antarctic marine food-web. We will use natural variations in inter-annual ice extent, to assess how a key component of that ecosystem, the predators, use the sea ice zone.
Heard Island's pristine and rapidly changing environment makes it a relevant and exciting location to study the regional effects of climate change.
Increasing atmospheric CO2 is predicted to inhibit calcification in the key ocean plankton Emiliania huxleyi , with far reaching adverse impacts expected to be first discernible in the Southern Ocean and with ultimate knock-on effects for global climate.