Northern Territroy News

How vagrants can help us understand the impacts of species geographic redistributions

Vagrant animals are those that turn up well outside their normal range. These individuals present an opportunity to investigate the underlying factors facilitating or inhibiting climate-induced changes to species distributions. In this article, Redmap guest authors and budding marine science experts Kai Paijmans and Dr Paloma Matis provide a concise rundown of what can be learned from studying vagrant marine critters...  

Citizen scientists contribute to new global database of marine forests

“All around the world we’re seeing changes in our underwater forests due to climate change and other human-caused disturbances. Some marine forests are sadly disappearing, while others are starting to appear in places where they traditionally haven’t occurred”, says Dr Cayne Layton, a marine ecologist at IMAS and a volunteer regional coordinator for the Marine Forests citizen science project. “And so this project is partnering with citizen scientists from around …

Bioluminescence: the ocean’s shining light

Bioluminescence is undoubtedly a wonder of the natural world that’s capable of captivating the imaginations of those who witness the phenomenon, including the father of evolution Charles Darwin whose first notebook entry while aboard the famous Beagle voyage remarked that:

“The sea was luminous in specks and in the wake of the vessel, of a uniform slightly milky colour. When the water was put into a bottle, it gave out …

Redmap Winter Newsletter 2018

Dive into our Winter 2018 Newsletter to learn about how we're expanding our engagement with Queensland's marine users to SPOT, LOG and MAP species in this iconic region, and to also access a free-to-downlaod poster of ocean temperature changes that have occurred in south-eastern Australia over the past 24 years. You'll also find fascinating articles about the hottest topics in marine science, from ocean heatwaves to artificial reefs.

Redmap launches into Queensland waters!

Redmap’s Queensland chapter has been operational since our national launch in 2012, but today we announced our intent to enhance our engagement with Queensland’s marine users to better understand the changes that are occurring in one of the world’s most iconic marine environments. Read on to learn more about what was announced at the formal launch held at James Cook University in Townsville today, and to also see our revised …

Increasing opportunity for kingfish in Tasmanian waters

Sightings of yellowtail kingfish in Tasmanian waters have been regularly logged with Redmap since the program began. These records are particularly valuable because they indicate that kingfish from eastern Australia could be on the move south, suggesting that some dedicated scientific research may be necessary to get to the bottom of what’s going on. 

In this article, PhD student and kingfish project leader Curtis Champion describes recently published findings that …

Diving into the genetics of range shifts

Jorge E. Ramos is a marine biologist with a PhD in Natural and Physical Sciences from the University of Tasmania. His PhD project focused on examining the life-history characteristics, genetics and population dynamics of the range extending common Sydney octopus (Octopus tetricus).

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Searching for patterns in the genetics of range-shifting animals can help us to understand why some animals, and not others, are shifting where they live …

Marine heatwaves: a formal classification system

Just as floods, cyclones and droughts are considered extreme weather events on land, extreme climatic events also occur in the ocean. Work being undertaken by the Marine Heatwaves International Working Group has resulted in the development of a formal definition and classification system for these extreme marine events, allowing for global patterns in their occurrence and duration to be assessed.

ARTificial reefs

Artificial reefs are commonly deployed off coastlines around the world to restore degraded marine habitats and provide new fishing opportunities, but they also provide an opportunity to put a little art into the ocean.

Freely available field manuals to help scientists, managers and students design and conduct fieldwork

A suite of manuals that describe best practises for collecting data from the marine environment have been created and made publicly available by the team at the Marine Biodiversity Hub, National Environmental Science Program.