Kimberley corals offer hope for reefs

Flip Prior, The West AustralianNovember 21, 2012, 5:30 am
Marine scientist Ali McCarthy popped out of the turquoise water at Shell Island, grinning around her snorkel and holding a purple-tipped staghorn coral - one of many colourful reef specimens turning the shallows near Cygnet Bay into an underwater wonderland.

Despite being bombarded daily by the biggest tides of any tropical reef system in the world, early studies suggest the Kimberley corals survive big fluctuations in temperature, water flow and light intensity to grow at a phenomenal rate.

"The ranges in parameters that they cope with on a daily basis are beyond the thresholds for most other coral reefs throughout the world," Ms McCarthy said.

"Learning what's different and what makes these corals able to adapt and cope with the environment up here may well hold part of the key to helping other reefs elsewhere to be able to survive in a changing climate."

The corals are one reason scientists are flocking to the Kimberley Marine Research Station, on the tip of the Dampier Peninsula at Cygnet Bay, to dive into its pristine waters.

James Brown, a third-generation pearler and marine biologist, established KMRS in 2009 to give students low-cost and easy access to three marine bioregions - King Sound, Canning Basin and the Kimberley.

The area is highly biodiverse and scientists suspect many species are yet to be discovered or understood.

Mr Brown said now that the State Government's investment of millions of dollars into the Kimberley Science and Conservation Strategy was starting to hit the ground, interest in the region was growing.

In the past year, more than 20 teams of scientists have visited to begin projects - some of which will last years.

As research officer, Ms McCarthy co-ordinates a busy schedule of scientists studying everything from cetacean distribution and abundance to coral bleaching and sedimentation in what she says is a "remarkable environment"."Because it is so isolated, there is a huge amount of diversity up here and relatively very little human impact," she said.

Kimberley coral spawning treats scientists to rare show

Thursday, 24 May 2012 10:00
Science Network Western Australia

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.


Dr Andrew Heyward from the Australian Marine Science Institute, who provided guidance to the KMRS leading up to the event, says observing the coral spawning is a first step in identifying the key seasonal patterns for corals along the Kimberley coast. Image:hjk_888

Recorded about 6.30pm on March 17 at the WAMSI partnered Kimberley Marine Research Station (KMRS) in Cygnet Bay, Research Officer Ali McCarthy says “the combination of natural phenomena with the wild wet season weather overhead and this remarkable spawning snowstorm under the surface was genuinely awe-inspiring.”

“We saw the first signs of spawning activity as turquoise gametes were released from the Faviid and Mussid corals and shortly afterwards, the Acroporid corals began releasing their gametes into the water and the aquariums were awash with slicks of blue and pink spawn.”

“From a scientific perspective, it was really exciting in that this was something new, not just for me or for us at KMRS, but for the greater Kimberley coastline as a whole, where it had been acknowledged that in general the finer details of spawning activity along the mainland Kimberley coast were not well studied and had not yet been observed directly for science.”

Dr Andrew Heyward from the Australian Marine Science Institute, who provided guidance to the KMRS leading up to the event, says observing the coral spawning is a first step in identifying the key seasonal patterns for corals along the Kimberley coast.

“If it turns out most corals spawn along the Kimberley at certain times of year then we can look at the currents and get a much better idea of which way the spawn will travel and hence, how connected different parts of the coast are.

“At a broader level, these initial observations at Cygnet Bay show that for some coral species at least, their reproductive patterns and timing are the same as offshore reefs in the region such as Scott Reef and the Rowley Shoals.

“As we extend these studies, it may be that the biology of corals in the region is shown to be quite similar to what we know from better studied reef areas.”

Although spawning demonstrates a time of renewal for our reef building corals, Ms McCarthy says the Kimberley corals as a whole are not well understood due to their remoteness.

“It is only in recent years that their uniqueness and high biodiversity have been explored and recognised in a western science perspective,” she says.

The observations are just a building block from which to launch further investigations and establish monitoring programs.

It is hoped the KMRS can begin to collate a series of data over time and start to fill the knowledge gaps that surround the Kimberley marine environment.

Secret Life of Kimberley Corals

GRAHAM LLOYD 

From:

The Australian 

March 24, 2012 12:00AM

THE remote Kimberley coast, widely considered to be the planet's last great tropical marine frontier, is slowly beginning to yield its secrets.

At the height of tropical cyclone Lua, which this week hammered the region with winds of up to 160km/h, marine scientist Ali McCarthy, 24, became the first person to witness the spawning of Kimberley onshore corals.

The event took place nine days after the full moon and after two wet, windy nights of monitoring aquariums at Cygnet Bay, about 200km north of Broome.

The captive spawning mirrored exactly what was happening on reefs a few hundred metres away, where the waters were awash with slicks of bright blue and pink secretions as corals released their gametes into the water for fertilisation.

The event, which can be accurately predicted, is remarkable for more than the way in which it will help explain the lifecycle of one of the world's least understood coral regions. The Kimberley coast is recognised as the most coral diverse area in Western Australia and may rival the Red Sea with 280 species of hard coral from 55 genera, many new to science. The research will help unlock the secrets of why Kimberley corals are thriving where contemporary marine science says they should not even exist.

"The environment in which the corals exist is almost beyond the normal parameters for coral survival, let alone growth," said Ms McCarthy.The onshore reefs of Cygnet Bay experience water temperatures of up to 40C without bleaching. They also withstand 12m tides, extreme turbidity and ocean acidification that would be devastating to other coral systems.