The University of Queensland’s (UQ) research project on manta rays will be featured in a television documentary airing on Tuesday, 6 March.
UQ biologist in the School of Biological Sciences, Dr Kathy Townsend, and the Project Manta team share some secrets of these large marine animals, which can weigh up to two tonnes.
“Although manta rays are commonly seen and dived with at popular dive sites, there is relatively little is known about most aspects of the biology and ecology of manta rays and there was no scientific data available on the Australian east coast population prior to our study,” Dr Townsend said.
“Our work is providing valuable information on population size, migration patterns, growth rates, size at maturity, reproductive biology, longevity and age at maturity.
“A longer-term goal of the study is to use manta rays as an indicator species to assist in monitoring the effects of environmental change. Global warming has caused marked changes to the global oceanic conditions.
“Changes in water temperature, current patterns, and ocean acidification are all effects that may have dramatic consequences on the distribution, movements and behaviours of manta rays.
“Correlating large-scale oceanographic variables with manta ray distributions and movements may make them the perfect candidate as an easily spotted bio-indicator of global oceanic health.”
Featuring also UQ postgraduate students Lydie Couturier and Fabrice Jaine and UQ/CSIRO academic Professor Anthony Richardson, the filming of the documentary takes place in manta hotspots in Mexico, Micronesia, the Maldives and Australia's Great Barrier Reef and captures breathtaking feeding frenzies, and rare mating rituals.
Project Manta, which is the fourth episode in the Wild Ones wildlife documentary series, will be broadcast at 8.30pm, Tuesday, 6 March 2012 on ABC1 TV.
