Research impact

Our research community works to minimise or reverse a range of threats to Moreton Bay and its islands, from environmental degradation and habitat losses to the effects of climate change.

Experts also seek solutions that drive social change and promote healthy and resilient environments and livelihoods.

Projects

Conserving the cultural and environmental values of Moreton Bay while in close proximity to a major metropolitan area and facing a changing climate is a primary challenge.

Decades of sandmining on North Stradbroke Island combined with bushfires, has resulted in terrestrial habitat losses and associated ecosystem impacts. The bay is impacted by urban and coastal development in some areas, but remains virtually pristine in others, offering a gradient of local and global anthropogenic impacts to study.

See a selection, below, of recent and ongoing projects based at Moreton Bay Research Station. To discuss basing your research group at our station, email our Academic Director, Associate Professor Karen Cheney, at k.cheney@uq.edu.au.

Assessing marine turtle foraging grounds

David Booth, PhD candidate Owen Coffee and Colin Limpus (DES) established that multiple techniques are needed to assess marine turtle foraging locations. Stable isotope analysis, often used for migratory species, wasn't reliable when compared with capture-mark-recapture and satellite telemetry methods. Accurate data is needed for evidence-based population management.

Carbon sequestration by mangroves

Catherine Lovelock and PhD candidate Anne Ola’s recent fieldwork on North Stradbroke Island showed the red mangrove, notable for its large “prop” roots above the ground, has increased biomass of the below-ground root development in high-density soils. Therefore, red mangroves are expected to have higher carbon sequestration potential in these soils.

Communication behaviour of humpback whales

Humpback whales communicate using vocal signals, breaching and slapping on the surface, and by singing. The function of most of these communication behaviours is still unknown. This project, led by Rebecca Dunlop and Michael Noad, aims to determine the function of singing behaviour as a likely sexual signal and the function of vocal and surface sounds in mediating interactions.

Examining osmoregulation in dugongs

Dugongs are the only fully marine herbivorous mammals that survive without freshwater. By measuring electrolytes and osmolality in blood and urine, researchers determined that dugongs obtain most of their water directly from their seagrass food by metabolising this to carbon dioxide and water. Very little comes from drinking seawater. This study was led by Janet Lanyon.

Improving wetland and water management

Understanding rainwater replenishment of Stradbroke groundwater is critical for wetland and water management. Led by Harald Hoffmann, researchers showed the island’s complex soil structure holds and diverts water so much that it takes between 40 years and thousands of years to reach the ocean. Much older water in perched lakes and aquifers may give insights into climate history.

In search of trematode parasites in tube-worms

Researchers led by Thomas Cribb identified two species of trematode parasite in the tube-worm Thylacodes sp, the gastropod worm shells of which grow in Moreton Bay on rocks outside Moreton Bay Research Station. These parasites probably mature in marine turtles or dugongs. This is the first report of this group of trematodes infecting these tube-worms.

Insights into early occupation

Re-excavation of Wallen Wallen Creek, an early occupation site near Dunwich, is allowing new dating techniques to be applied to test the 23,000-27,000 year date for initial occupation. Research into the preserved stone tools, charcoal and animal bones will provide insights into the people who lived on North Stradbroke Island from the last glacial period to more recent times. Andrew Fairbairn is the project lead.

Saving Queensland’s threatened wetlands

Pollen, micro-charcoal and radiocarbon analyses of peat cores extracted from Jumping Grass Marsh, a threatened wetland in Dunwich, showed it is unique among South East Queensland sand masses. Insights into fire management from this 27,000-year peat record show more local burning in the last glacial to de-glacial period than in more recent times. Patrick Moss led this project.

Understanding animal vision and its applications

Mantis shrimp vision uses 12 colour receptors compared to only three in human vision. The shrimp also see polarised light. Justin Marshall’s lab at the Queensland Brain Institute studies how the crustaceans collect and process this rich visual information. This could improve optical sensors and cameras, with applications from disease detection to improved satellites.

Projects

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