Marine Research at UOW

Research activity by staff and research students is spread throughout the science faculty and includes both fundamental and applied research.

In Biological Sciences

The University of Wollongong is well placed and equipped for fundamental research in marine biology including intertidal and subtidal ecology (Davis, Ayre and Wright), reproduction and dispersal of tropical corals (Ayre), the effects of ultraviolet light on antarctic ecosystems (Davis and Robinson) , the nuritional and reproductive physiology of sea birds (Buttemer) and the physiology of microalgae distrurbance ecology of mangroves and saltmarshes (Minchinton).

Areas of applied research include assessments of the impact of harvesting on fisheries species (Davis and Ayre) and the ecology and demography of invasive marine pests (Wright and Davis)

Diving census of invertebrate populations

Current Student Research Projects Include

• Assessments of gene flow in corals and bryozoans
• The effects of urchin grazing on community structure
• Development of a sustainable turban shell fishery
• The metabolic requirements of wandering albatross

Larvae collected from these colonies of the coral Pocillopora damicornis were being collected to allow genetic tests of their mode of production.

Transplanting intertidal sea anemones

In Environmental Science

Research is focussed on nutrient transformations in estuaries, including modelling nutrient budgets, the impact of eutrophication in shallow estuarine lakes, mangroves and saltmarshes as indicators of environmental health and the Biodiversity of shallow water estuarine fish - including the effects of manipulation of entrances to intermittently open lagoons and the effects of structural differences among sea grass beds/communities.

Current PhD projects focus on:

• The ecology of sea grass
• Factors determining the community structure of fish in rock pool and estuarine habitats
• The fate of heavy metals in aquatic systems

Seine netting to sample sea grass fish.

In Geosciences

The Australian coastline is one of the most diverse in the world. The adjacent seas provide unparalleled opportunities for unravelling past climates, defining coastal processes and establishing baselines for marine conservation. Research actively includes most of Australia
answering questions beginning locally to those that have world wide implications. For example, how do heavy metals accumulate in coastal lagoons such as Lake Illawarra (Brian Jones, Bryan Chenhal), what are the constraints on coral reef growth at their most southerly extend on Lord Howe Island (Colin Woodroffe), is sea-level as stable as we want it to be (Murray-Wallace) and what is the signature in tropical seas of global climate change during Ice Ages (Allan Chivas)? The legacy of marine geoscientific research today is the preservation of marine environments tomorrow.

Current student projects include

• Evolution of Lake Illawarra
• Origin of pumice on NSW beaches
• Remobilisation of trace metals in dredge spoil
• Palaeosealevels and palaeoclimates in Gulf St Vincent, SA

Collection of a vibracore sample at Middleton Reef.

In Chemistry

The recent emphasis of marine projects has been in the area of Marine Bioprospecting but now includes emphasis on transformations and bioavailability of heavy metals, contamination of ports and the design of environmental monitoring programs for ports, and contaminants in processed marine products (see Dr Dianne Jolley)

PhD student Craig Sherman at Lord Howe Island: the site of several major studies in Marine Geology and Marine Biology