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The Great Barrier Reef Biology, Environment and Management Second Edition Pat Hutchings, Michael Kingsford, Ove Hoegh-Guldberg (Eds) Describes the animals, plants and other organisms of the reef, and the biological, chemical and physical processes that influence them. The iconic and beautiful Great Barrier Reef Marine Park is home to one of the most diverse ecosystems in the world. With contributions from international experts, this timely and fully updated second edition of The Great Barrier Reef describes the animals, plants and other organisms of the reef, as well as the biological, chemical and physical processes that influence them. It contains new chapters on shelf slopes and fisheries and addresses pressing issues such as climate change, ocean acidification, coral bleaching and disease, and invasive species. The Great Barrier Reef is a must-read for the interested reef tourist, student, researcher and environmental manager. While it has an Australian focus, it can equally be used as a reference text for most Indo-Pacific coral reefs. February 2019 488pp, Paperback ISBN: 9781486308194 FEATURES $125.00 • Up-to-date and accessible account of the issues that face the world’s most complex publish.csiro.au/book/7763 marine ecosystem • Examines the diversity, physiology, ecology and conservation of the reef, as well as its role in monitoring global warming Available in Australia and New Zealand through • Written by leading authorities on the biodiversity of the Great Barrier Reef CSIRO Publishing. and highly illustrated throughout Elsewhere, please contact CRC Press. 2 THE GREAT BARRIER REEF 1 – INTRODUCTION TO THE GREAT BARRIER REEF 3 26 THE GREAT BARRIER REEF 3 – THE GREAT BARRIER REEF IN TIME AND SPACE: GEOLOGY AND PALEOBIOLOGY 27 experts to contribute to this book. The ACRS (which Australian continent and repeated episodes of 365–452 kya. This is coincident with Marine Isotope repeatedly during high sea level episodes associated changes in several parameters of Earth’s orbit (so started out as the Great Barrier Reef Committee) is global environmental change associated with the Stage (MIS) 11, perhaps the warmest interglacial of with major environmental fluctuations in sea level, called Milankovitch cycles). These cycles influ- the oldest coral reef society in the world and most late Tertiary and Pleistocene ice ages. The ‘reefal’ the past 450 000 years (ky), and one with climatic temperature and carbon dioxide (CO2) over the past ence the amount of energy from the sun received of the authors are members and associates of this GBR is a relatively young geological structure that conditions most similar to those we are now experi- several hundred thousand years. Moreover, these by the Earth. The cycles include obliquity (changes society. It was also intimately involved in the estab- was slow to respond to favourable environmental encing. Some workers believe that the ‘switching- reefs have maintained a similar coral and algal spe- in the angle of Earth’s axis of rotation with respect lishment of the world’s largest marine park, the conditions early on. In fact, the central Queensland on’ of the GBR was related to the mid-Pleistocene cies composition during their repeated formation to the sun), eccentricity (changes in the circularity GBR Marine Park in 1975. This huge park, with continental shelf has enjoyed warm tropical waters transition from 41 ky to 100 ky-long climatic cycles, (see later section on Paleoecology) (Fig. 3.1B, C). of Earth’s orbit around the sun) and precession of some of the largest no-take areas in the global that could well have supported coral growth for the and to the development during MIS 11 of a marked the equinoxes (changes in the position of the ocean, was enlarged and rezoned in 2004 based on past 15 million years (My). However, the best evi- high stand that enabled sustenance of both a cyclone Earth in its orbit around the sun at the time of the our much increased scientific understanding of dence indicates that the initiation of the GBR did not corridor and a reef tract along a relatively wide and Reef growth and global sea level change equinox). The cycles are 41 000, 100 000 and 23 000 coral reefs and their challenges and solutions. occur until around 600 thousand years ago (kya), deeper water continental shelf (Fig. 3.1A). The growth and decay of ice sheets in the north- years, respectively. During the last 500 000 years, The book is divided into three sections. The first and the regional province of reef systems as we now Cores drilled through Ribbon Reef 5 have shown ern hemisphere were controlled by 104- to 105-year global sea level underwent at least 17 such cycles section focuses on the geomorphology, paleobiol- know them probably did not occur until around that the GBR has been able to re-establish itself scale climate changes forced by natural cyclic of rise and fall. Average rates of sea level change ogy and oceanography of the GBR. Here, various habitats of the GBR are discussed, not only from (A) (A) (C) the point of view of coral-dominated ecosystems, but also with regard to the important associated inter-reefal areas (Chapters 2–9). These compo- nents of the GBR, along with catchments and off- shore deeper waters, are highly interconnected (Fig. 1.2). The second section of the book focuses on the major processes that are affecting the reef and includes the description of organisms and pro- cesses that contribute to photosynthetic activity Fig. 1.1. Quasi-true colour image from space showing the and primary production, as well as the flow of Fig. 1.2. Crossing the Blue Highway. Designed and written by science communicator Russell Kelley and published by Great Barrier Reef along the continental shelf of north- energy and nutrients within coral reef ecosystems. eastern Australia from Cape York to Gladstone (~2000 km). the ACRS, the Blue Highway poster portrays the reefs of the Great Barrier Reef as part of a larger supporting system that A mosaic of reefs can be seen parallel to the mainland Other chapters deal with the major forces within includes the coastal catchments and connects numerous interacting ecosystems from ridge to reef. The poster illustrates how natural nutrient loads from runoff and ocean upwelling fuel a connected mosaic of ecosystems and the role inter- (B) (C) and extending hundreds of kilometres across the GBR. and around the reef, illustrating its inherent 18 THE GREAT BARRIER REEF 2 – GEOMORPHOLOGY OF CORAL REEFS WITH SPECIAL REFERENCE TO THE GREAT BARRIER REEF 19 38 THE GREAT BARRIER REEF 4 – OCEANOGRAPHY 39 (Source: Image generated from the Moderate Resolution dynamic nature. This section also reviews our cur- reef habitats play in supporting migrating species as they move from inshore nursery grounds to the outer reefs. The Lutjanus sebae Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS), data courtesy of rent understanding of how local challenges (i.e. model species of fish is (red emperor snapper) that spawn near the shelf edge and recruit to estuaries as NASA/GSFC, image courtesy of Dr Scarla Weeks, Centre larvae. Juveniles move from recruitment habitat to reefs and inter-reefal habitats, before they mature. Printed copies of (B) (D) declining water quality and over exploitation of for Marine Studies at The University of Queensland. Inset this poster are available from the GBRMPA (Artwork: G. Ryan). (ii) lagoonal reefs that form as the outer reef flat depth of Pleistocene foundations on the GBR was (A) (B) fisheries) as well as aspects of climate change (e.g. shows a closer cross-shelf view of the reefs out from extends around the margins enclosing a not random, with shallow depths in the north and Box 4.1. Tropical boundary currents (D) Hinchinbrook, near Townsville). ocean warming, acidification and intensifying through the unique and spectacular biodiversity of being severely degraded in the next few years if we lagoon that is slowly infilled by patch reef far south, a cross-shelf gradient in the southern- A warm, southward flowing tropical boundary storms) have changed the circumstances under coral reefs. By weaving the basic taxonomy of these don’t understand the problems and apply evidence- growth and by transport of sediment from central GBR, and generally depths greater than current is also found on the west coast of Australia. This book is aimed at undergraduate and post- which coral reefs have otherwise prospered for groups together with fascinating details of their based solutions. the windward margins into the lagoon 20 m on the central GBR shelf. Reef types reflect This is the Leeuwin Current (LC) that is the graduate students, the informed public, as well as thousands if not tens of millions of years (Chapters lives, it is hoped that the interest of the reader will It has been 11 years since the first edition of this (iii) a final senile stage consisting of planar reefs, this variation with submerged reefs, patches and continuation of the ‘Indonesian Throughflow’ from researchers and managers who would like to famil- 10–14). be inspired to explore this incredible diversity. book was published (2008). With a new decade, the with the lagoon infilled and reef flat the Indonesian seas, and flows south down the crescentic reefs dominatingFig. 3.1. the(A) central GBR and iarise themselves with the complexity of coral reefs The third and final section of this book deals Throughout this book we come back to the pressures on the GBR have increased and trends Plot for the past 1.5 million years showing the change in frequency and amplitude of the climatic, and by coast of Western Australia. It turns east at Cape extending across the entire reef. Sediment and most planar reefs foundinference, north sea-levelof Cairns fluctuations or south ofafter the mid-Pleistocene transition (MPT) at 0.9–0.6 Mya (MPT, a shift in the periodicity such as the GBR.

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