ScienceNetwork WA

SCIENTISTS researching light stress indicators in seagrass have gathered and analysed international research in the field to narrow-down 119 variables to 19 robust bioindicators of light stress that can be incorporated into monitoring programs. 

TWELVE years after a catastrophic mass bleaching, WA’s Scott Reef has made a remarkable recovery.

FILTER feeding manta rays provided astounding performances off Broome’s coast over Easter, with the more commonly occurring white manta performing continuous backward, mid-water somersaults close to the coast as the tide peaked.

THE RECENTLY announced marine park to be established at Horizontal Falls along with Kimberley marine parks at Camden Sound and Eighty Mile Beach, will involve joint management between the Department of Environment and Conservation (DEC) and Indigenous rangers.

THE recent release of 30,000 barramundi (Lates calcarifer) fingerlings into the Ord River Diversion Dam, as a service to recreational fishers, completes stage one of a four-year breeding project by the Kimberley Training Institute’s Broome campus.

A RECENT study has not only shed light on the charismatic Nautilus pompilius, but has also illustrated the success of using DNA barcoding as a tool to identify geographic origins, and to study population genetics and evolutionary biology.

SHARK embryo research from UWA’s Oceans Institute has determined embryos can remember previously encountered predator-like stimulus and reduce their response to it, creating implications for the effectiveness of electric shark repellents.

RECENT data shows the Ord River once debouched into the Keep River, and not into the Cambridge Gulf near Wyndham which is its present course.

DOLPHINS in north western Australia are at risk from rapid coastal development says a new study.

DISCOVERING the unique food foraging techniques of Shark Bay’s dolphins is just one project that has won Murdoch University’s Cetacean Research Unit (MUCRU) an animal research award.

THE Department of Agriculture is conducting an airborne geophysical groundwater survey of the La Grange aquifer, in the Kimberley south of Broome.

RESEARCH by the Australian Institute of Marine Science has discovered that proposed dredging works along the WA coast could severely impact certain coral species found in local waters.

AN independent humpback whale survey undertaken in partnership between the Goojarr Goonyool Aboriginal Corporation and the Western Australian Marine Science Institution (WAMSI) has gathered data confirming that Pender Bay in the Kimberley is an important birthing, mating and resting ground for humpback whales (Megaptera novaeangliae).

DNA tracking has been used to monitor the effect of marine sanctuaries on stocks at nearby fisheries.

OCEANIC, climate and weather data collection off the Pilbara and Kimberley coast is set to begin as the State Government invests $6 million into an ocean monitoring program over three years. 

RESEARCH by the Department of Fisheries WA suggests detection rates of acoustic tracking tools are significantly reduced by environmental and technical factors.

CORAL spawning in the Kimberley coastline was recently first-witnessed by WA researchers, as slicks of blue and pink gametes lit the dark waters after sunset.

PERTH university students are set to join the world of some of the best animators and developers helping to create a unique digital experience that allows users to explore the world’s oceans by downloading an app.

THE Western Australian government last month announced a new marine park to be established at Camden Sound off the Kimberley coast.

MARINE biologist Dr Barry Wilson has proposed a theory to explain the formation of the Kimberley’s fringing coral reefs.