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Project Lihou 411 - A Climate Change Odyssey - Video Diary1 December, 2009 From December 7, David and his camera join an expedition to the Coral Sea visiting remote areas rarely seen. The progress of the journey is being recorded as a series of Video Diary stories syndicated across several web sites and are updated every few days. Stay tuned as the voyage unfolds! Ecological consultant & researcher Simon Mustoe of AES (Ecology Solutions), is Organiser & expedition leader of Project Lihou and has setup a blog style web-portal to aggregate field reports at http://lihou.wildiaries.com/ Craig Malina, business manager of The Video Project, helped broker syndication of the web video series with Matter Network, the leading syndicator of news, videos and web applications focused on solutions to environmental and social challenges. Naturally David Hannan and the team at Plankton Productions are delighted to assist with the production of this 'teaser' episode to help kick-off a very topical focus on Australia's Coral Sea. → To follow the journey day by day visit: http://lihou.wildiaries.com and also watch here www.matternetwork.com → Coral Sea Campaigner for AMCS, Nicola Temple, has joined the team and in addition to narrating the webvideos, is also publishing a detailed account of the expedition. You can follow Nicolas version of the story as it unfolds here www.amcs.org.au/WhatWeDo.asp?active_page_id=540 |
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Virtual Decor at Amis Restaurant19 September, 2009 Long cherished desires to complement Cuisine with Digital Art came to fruition on the 'Special Marine Night' of 18th Sept 2009 at Amis restaurant, Nth Stradbroke Island, www.amisrestaurant.com.au Dave Hannan's 'Aquatic Virtual Decor' surrounded diners being treated to a 14 course culinary adventure led by master chef Peter Roelfes currently on a 6 star sabbatical. The occasion of a fundraiser for local youth activities was a perfect opportunity to preview the versatility of some special features of 'Coral Sea Dreaming - Awaken' on 7 different large screens setup around the venue (with several borrowed from willing local home loungerooms). Expansive Moreton Bay and ocean views from the Pt Lookout dress-circle location provided a spectacular backdrop for arriving guests entering reception to be greeted by images of dawn & twighlight moods in 'Serenity-Southern Seas' projected from Blu-ray disc onto a large hanging screen. |
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Seasick - The Hidden Ecological Crisis of the Global Ocean by Alanna MitchellMarch 3, 2009 Hot off the press, Sea Sick is the first book to examine the current state of the world’s oceans - the great unexamined ecological crisis of the planet - and the fact that we are altering everything about them; temperature, salinity, acidity, ice cover, volume, circulation, and, of course, the life within them.
All life - whether on land or in the sea - depends on the oceans for two things:
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Climate Change May Avoid Bleaching of Ningaloo CoralsWritten by Sue Emmett A QUIRK of nature may protect Ningaloo Reef corals from excessive bleaching as climate change increases sea temperatures this century. University of Western Australia School of Environmental Systems Engineeering Professor Charitha Pattiaratchi says winds blowing parallel to the Ningaloo Reef coastline in summer produce upwelling of cold water from the ocean depths to the surface. This colder water acts as an ‘insulator’ between the Leeuwin Current’s warm water and Ningaloo Reef. → To read the full article published on Science Network Western Australia visit |
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Corals in the Keppel Island Region Form New Heat-Beating PartnershipsMarch 20, 2008 In the first observation of its kind, a coral community in the southern inshore region of the Great Barrier Reef is showing signs of adjusting to higher sea surface temperature by quickly changing its main algal partners to types that can better cope with the heat. An AIMS field study near Miall Island, part of the Keppel group of 15 islands on the southern Great Barrier Reef off the Queensland coast near Rockhampton, has revealed a remarkable feat of acclimatisation; the only time such an event has been observed in natural conditions on a coral reef. The work, which appears today in the prestigious UK scientific journal the Proceedings of the Royal Society, has shown that a phenomenon known as "symbiont shuffling" took place after a bleaching event in 2006 in the Acropora millepora coral population studied. → To read the full press release issued by AIMS visit |
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Alarm bells as Evidence of Slowed Coral Growth on the Great Barrier Reef EmergesMarch 5, 2008 Worrying signs that warmer seawater combined with a possible change in the ocean's acid balance may be curtailing the growth of an important reef-building coral species have been documented by a research team from AIMS in Townsville. The paper, published in the journal Global Change Biology*, points to a 21 per cent decline in the rate at which Porites corals in two regions of the northern Great Barrier Reef (GBR) have added to their calcium carbonate skeletons over the past 16 years. The AIMS research team analysed a total of 38 Porites colonies from the two regions. Porites are a common massive coral with a striking spherical appearance. They are long-lived and distributed widely around the Indian and Pacific oceans. → To read the full press release issued by AIMS visit |
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Campaign to Stop Shark Finning on the Great Barrier ReefFebruary, 2008 An alarming new proposal by the Queensland Government will establish a dedicated shark fishery in the Great Barrier Reef World Heritage Area which will service the international trade in shark fin. The Australian Marine Conservation Society (and anyone who cares for our oceans) is astonished by this proposal, in which Queensland's fisheries department (DPI&F) plans to legitimise one of the most unsustainable forms of fishing on the planet - shark fin fishing. With over 90% of the world's sharks and other big fish gone from our oceans, this project is unsustainable, unethical and will be flatly rejected by the Australian public. Not only is the Queensland Government proposing to hand out specific fishing licenses for shark fin fishing, which will entrench the practice for years, they are planning to legitimise shark fishing in the Great Barrier Reef World Heritage Area and in the Marine Parks of Moreton Bay and the Great Sandy Straits with this new license proposal. To read the full article as well as updates visit the AMCS website... You can help stop this madness by taking action: |
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Report Warns about Carbon Dioxide Threats to Marine LifeJuly 5, 2006 BOULDER - Worldwide emissions of carbon dioxide from fossil fuel burning are dramatically altering ocean chemistry and threatening marine organisms, including corals, that secrete skeletal structures and support oceanic biodiversity. A landmark report released today summarizes the known effects of increased atmospheric carbon dioxide on these organisms, known as marine calcifiers, and recommends future research for determining the extent of the impacts. "It is clear that seawater chemistry will change in coming decades and centuries in ways that will dramatically alter marine life," says Joan Kleypas, the report's lead author and a scientist at the National Center for Atmospheric Research (NCAR) in Boulder. "But we are only beginning to understand the complex interactions between large-scale chemistry changes and marine ecology. It is vital to develop research strategies to better understand the long-term vulnerabilities of sensitive marine organisms to these changes." The report, "Impacts of Ocean Acidification on Coral Reefs and Other Marine Calcifiers," warns that oceans worldwide absorbed approximately 118 billion metric tons of carbon between 1800 and 1994. Oceans are naturally alkaline, and they are expected to remain so, but the interaction with carbon dioxide is making them less alkaline and more acidic. The increased acidity lowers the concentration of carbonate ion, a building block of the calcium carbonate that many marine organisms use to grow their skeletons and create coral reef structures. "This is leading to the most dramatic changes in marine chemistry in at least the past 650,000 years," says Richard Feely, one of the authors and an oceanographer at NOAA's Pacific Marine Environmental Laboratory (PMEL) in Seattle. The report follows a workshop funded by the National Science Foundation and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, and hosted by the U.S. Geological Survey Integrated Science Center in St. Petersburg, Florida. [...] → Read the full article published on the University Corporation for Atomspheric Research website www.ucar.edu/news/releases/2006/acidification.shtml |
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Plankton Productions in Papua New GuineaFebruary 13, 2007 Papua New Guinea (PNG), March 2006 - 2009. The world's coral reefs are in serious trouble and many researchers and scientists fear that most are unlikely to survive this century. PNG's coral reefs are arguably the most extraordinary coral reef systems left on the earth. Plankton Productions is now focussed on documenting PNG's marine world as a major project for TV documentaries and education. We are also supporting the expansion of sustainable marine eco-tourism in PNG because we see it as an essential economic pathway to the future health, management and preservation of one of the worlds few last truly wild natural history places. |
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RealClimate.orgJune 6, 2005 RealClimate.org is an online commentary based climate awareness weblog. Climate scientists regularly contribute articles offering detailed responses and often clarification on global climate related news stories. |
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Researchers Link Nutrient Runoff with Crown-of-Thorns Starfish InfestationsMarch 18, 2004 A team of marine researchers has produced a study that shows that an increase in nutrient run-off has led to higher levels of food for starfish larvae. A computer model predicts more frequent outbreaks, consistent with observations on the Great Barrier Reef. The TV Documentary COTS - The Monster from the Shallows, produced by David Hannan and Gulliver Media, follows this story. Original Press Release issued by Australian Institute of Marine Science (AIMS) |
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