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Moving to better climes
23 July 2008: In the latest edition of the scientific journal Science, University of Queensland researchers, including the Chair of the CRTR Program's Centre of Excellence in Australasia, Professor Ove Hoegh-Guldberg, argue we need to consider the radical step of moving plants and animals, including marine life, to help them survive the impact of climate change. [Read summary]

Ultimate guide to managing coral disease
8 July 2008: The definitive management guide - handbook plus id cards for Caribbean and Indo-Pacific regions - to identifying, assessing and managing coral reef diseases was launched at the 11th International Coral Reef Symposium (ICRS) and can be ordered online now.
[Read media release] [Read summaries] [Order online]

Top award for CRTR researcher
21 May 2008: CRTR Program researcher, Professor Ove Hoegh-Guldberg, has been awarded the Queensland Government’s top science award. Chair of the CRTR Bleaching Working Group, and also of its Australasian Centre of Excellence, Professor Hoegh-Guldberg was one of the world's first scientists to show how projected changes in global climate threaten coral reefs including Australia's Great Barrier Reef......
[Read UQ News]

Indian Ocean coral shows partial recovery
15 May 2008: An unusual spike in sea temperatures a decade ago killed coral throughout the Indian Ocean, dropping the average healthy, hard coral cover to 15 percent of reefs from 40 percent before. CRTR researcher, Dr Tim McClanahan, said hard coral cover had recovered to 30 percent by 2005, although the data masked big variations.....
[Read Reuters Africa article]

Strange days on planet earth
5 May 2008: The award winning National Geographic program Strange Days on Planet Earth recently premiered Episode 6 (Dirty Secrets). This features the CRTR Program’s Roberto Iglesias-Prieto and his colleagues in the Caribbean who are “studying how CO2, one of our largest industrial waste products, is impacting coral reefs”.
[Read article]

Coral disease under the spotlight
Coral reef managers and researchers across the Western Atlantic and the Indo-Pacific now have new tools to help identify and address coral disease – the Coral Disease Handbook: Guidelines for Assessment, Monitoring and Management and two sets of underwater identification cards.
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Carbon crisis: time for action
Seventeen leading marine scientists from the CRTR Program review the likely impact of climate change on the oceans' coral reefs. The paper also spells out steps that must be taken to address this issue.
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Restoring Coral Reefs - what works, what doesn't
New guidelines from the CRTR Program provide coastal managers, decision-makers, technical advisors and others with an overview of research exploring successful and unsuccessful coral reef restoration approaches from around the world. French edition now available. Read more >

On-line toolkit for selecting image data and mapping techniques
This toolkit shows managers, scientists and technicians working in coastal marine environments how images, collected from satellites and aircraft, can be used to map and monitor changes to indicators of coastal ecosystem health. This toolkit focuses on coastal water bodies, seagrass, coral reefs, and mangroves. Read more >

Satellite in bleaching alert
NOAA, in partnership with the CRTR Program (Remote Sensing Working Group), has expanded its Satellite Bleaching Alerts – e-mails warning that a bleaching event is about to occur. Free alerts to researchers and managers, covering 60 coral reef sites from Aruba to Zanzibar, allow local officials to limit human activity that could add to the stress from high temperatures.
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Marine population connectivity
Theoretically, population connectivity should contribute to the resilience of reefs. However, modeling has been hindered by a lack of empirical data and knowledge of the processes controlling population connectivity in reef ecosystems. A special issue of Oceanography features two papers, including a review, co-authored by members of the CRTR Program’s Connectivity Working Group.
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Coral bleaching
A study in marine parks in Kenya that has measured the size of more than 21,000 corals over a 14-year period found that corals are growing smaller and these changes are associated with coral bleaching events and fishing.
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