Supporting regional planning in northern Australia: Building knowledge, skills and partnerships for understanding seagrass distribution

Supporting regional planning in northern Australia: Building knowledge, skills and partnerships for understanding seagrass distribution

Advisor/s

Dr Catherine Collier (JCU), A/Prof Karen Joyce (JCU), Dr Alex Carter (JCU), Dr Rachel Groom (CDU), A/Prof Kathryn McMahon (ECU)

College or Research Centre

College of Science & Engineering; TropWater

Summary of Project

Northern Australia has vast development opportunities but limited knowledge of the environment to inform decision-making. The region has globally significant seagrass habitat, supporting dugong, green turtle, and commercially important fish and prawns. Key to managing impacts to species in these habitats is reliable data on seagrass distribution and how this changes over time and in relation to human pressures. Achieving this requires large-scale mapping and modelling, integration of remote sensing data, and development of ranger-led seagrass monitoring programs in remote locations.

A PhD project is available as part of a National Environmental Science Program (NESP) Marine and Coastal Hub funded project that aims to increase our knowledge of seagrass habitats across northern Australia. Outcomes of the NESP project include: (1) benthic habitat maps, with a focus on seagrass; (2) establishing a benchmark of seagrass habitats for Traditional Owners, Indigenous communities, rangers, management agencies, ports, industry, and researchers to assess change; (3) partnering with management agencies and ranger groups to co-design mapping and monitoring methods in remote areas that use novel technology (drones, satellite imagery and artificial intelligence); (4) compiling historical seagrass data into a publicly available spatial database to create a permanent record; (5) interpreting and reporting on survey findings, including providing advice on options for establishing monitoring programs.

How to Apply
Send a cover letter outlining your research experience, area of intended focus for your PhD, CV, examples of recent scientific publications and academic transcript to Catherine Collier (catherine.collier@jcu.edu.au) by 28 June 2023. Start date negotiable.

Key Words

Northern Australia; development; regional planning; seagrass distribution; seagrass habitat; NESP

Would suit an applicant who

is a high-achieving graduate with outstanding Masters or Honours results and ideally publication(s) to join our research team. We welcome applicants with an interest in modelling benthic habitats at different spatial scales for predicting current, historical and future distributions. Successful applicants will have access to operational and logistical support and the opportunity to travel to remote locations across northern Australia and will engage with local communities in all field work. There will be a large component of desktop analysis for this project. The student would ideally have experience in modelling, R and large spatial data sets. Other desirable skills include use of drones, remote sensing, ArcGIS or QGIS. The research and PhD scholarship is supported through a NESP research grant, with the student to be based at James Cook University, Cairns.

Updated: 07 Jun 2023