Holocene benthic foraminiferal assemblages indicate long-term marginality of reef habitats from Moreton Bay, Australia

Since European settlement (ca. 1824 CE), the subtropical inshore reefs of Moreton Bay have undergone rapid deterioration in water quality from changes in land-use practices, resource exploitation and rapid population growth, spurring marine managers to assess the drivers of ecological shifts. However, the short temporal-scale of most studies is an inadequate baseline for understanding the severity and magnitude of biological response. We present millennial-scale records employing palaeoecological and quantitative multivariate techniques within a concise chronological framework to analyse benthic foraminiferal community structure of reefs in Moreton Bay, Queensland. Well-constrained, UM-dated, millennial-scale records from sediment cores were used to document the long-term response of foraminifers to natural environmental variability. The temporal and spatial distribution patterns of foraminifers reveal long-term marginality throughout the similar to 7400 years of Holocene history, prior to European settlement. While specific faunal response to the effects of relative ENSO-climate and sea level fall are difficult to disentangle, the earlier phases of reef development are already represented by marginal taxa indicating possibly an earlier response to a decline in conditions. Overall, long-term consistency in conditions favoured two types of low diversity reef assemblages: 1) high density of small, heterotrophic and opportunistic species and 2) low density of photosymbiotic foraminiferal assemblages. Comparison of foraminiferal community composition between the Holocene and the present day indicates overlap in species composition supporting long-term marginality, particularly in the Western Bay. Such combined palaeoecological and recent studies can benefit long-term initiatives for monitoring present and future water quality conditions in the Bay's reef habitats. (C) 2014 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved

Instability in a marginal coral reef: the shift from natural variability to a human-dominated seascape

As global climate change drives the demise of tropical reef ecosystems, attention is turning to the suitability o refuge habitat. For the Great Barrier Reef, are there historically stable southern refugia where corals from th north might migrate as climate changes? To address this question, we present a precise chronology of margina coral reef development from Moreton Bay, southeast Queensland, Australia. Our chronology shows that ree growth was episodic, responding to natural environmental variation throughout the Holocene, and tha Moreton Bay was inhospitable to corals for about half of the past 7000 years. The only significant change ii coral species composition occurred between similar to 200 and similar to 50 years ago, following anthropogenic alterations of th, bay and its catchments. Natural historical instability of reefs, coupled with environmental degradation sinc, European colonization, suggests that Moreton Bay offers limited potential as refuge habitat for reef species or human time scales

Incorporating historical perspectives into systematic marine conservation planning

Historical perspectives are highly relevant to marine conservation, yet rarely integrated into ocean planning efforts. By its nature, marine conservation planning is forward looking-concerned with measures that should be taken in the future. It usually focuses on mitigating anticipated adverse changes caused by current and future human activities, with the implicit assumption that present or recent conditions should be maintained. In this chapter, we show that without incorporating historical data and analysis, such approaches will, in the best case, cause us to aim too low; and in the worst case, they can result in inappropriate targets for planning and management. We review the role that historical perspectives can provide in marine conservation planning, highlight planning exercises in which this has occurred or has been discussed, and provide recommendations for researchers and planning practitioners. Using the systematic conservation planning framework, we show that each planning stage can greatly benefit from a historical perspective and illustrate that failure to consider historical information reduces the effectiveness of marine conservation planning. We posit that historical perspectives may shift the conservation focus from restoring previous ecosystem states to recovering critical ecosystem functions and processes that maintain resilience. Historical perspectives can fundamentally change the conservation vision for a region, providing a window into possibilities for the future

Insight: Anticipating the Future, Assessing the Impact (semester?), IPRO 341: Insight IPRO 341 Project Plan F06

IPRO 341’s objective is to extensively research and evaluate the societal, economical and environmental implications of nanotechnology-based products, mainly building materials, and detail the possible obstacles in integration of this technology into design, public policy issues and general public engagementDeliverables for IPRO 341: Insight: Anticipating the Future, Assessing the Impact for the Fall 2006 semeste

Insight: Anticipating the Future, Assessing the Impact (semester?), IPRO 341

IPRO 341’s objective is to extensively research and evaluate the societal, economical and environmental implications of nanotechnology-based products, mainly building materials, and detail the possible obstacles in integration of this technology into design, public policy issues and general public engagementDeliverables for IPRO 341: Insight: Anticipating the Future, Assessing the Impact for the Fall 2006 semeste

Insight: Anticipating the Future, Assessing the Impact (semester?), IPRO 341: Insight IPRO 341 Brochure F06

IPRO 341’s objective is to extensively research and evaluate the societal, economical and environmental implications of nanotechnology-based products, mainly building materials, and detail the possible obstacles in integration of this technology into design, public policy issues and general public engagementDeliverables for IPRO 341: Insight: Anticipating the Future, Assessing the Impact for the Fall 2006 semeste

Insight: Anticipating the Future, Assessing the Impact (semester?), IPRO 341: Insight IPRO 341 Poster F06

IPRO 341’s objective is to extensively research and evaluate the societal, economical and environmental implications of nanotechnology-based products, mainly building materials, and detail the possible obstacles in integration of this technology into design, public policy issues and general public engagementDeliverables for IPRO 341: Insight: Anticipating the Future, Assessing the Impact for the Fall 2006 semeste

Insight: Anticipating the Future, Assessing the Impact (semester?), IPRO 341: Insight IPRO 341 IPRO Day Presentation F06

IPRO 341’s objective is to extensively research and evaluate the societal, economical and environmental implications of nanotechnology-based products, mainly building materials, and detail the possible obstacles in integration of this technology into design, public policy issues and general public engagementDeliverables for IPRO 341: Insight: Anticipating the Future, Assessing the Impact for the Fall 2006 semeste

Insight: Anticipating the Future, Assessing the Impact (semester?), IPRO 341: Insight IPRO 341 Midterm Report F06

IPRO 341’s objective is to extensively research and evaluate the societal, economical and environmental implications of nanotechnology-based products, mainly building materials, and detail the possible obstacles in integration of this technology into design, public policy issues and general public engagementDeliverables for IPRO 341: Insight: Anticipating the Future, Assessing the Impact for the Fall 2006 semeste