Resolving the warming East Australian Current's impact on a marine food web

Project Member(s): Doblin, M.

Funding or Partner Organisation: Australian Research Council (ARC Linkage Projects)

Start year: 2016

Summary: Warming waters due to strengthening western boundary currents have unknown consequences for coastal marine food webs. This project aims to integrate data on oceanographic conditions and fish distribution with the foraging patterns and breeding success of seabirds. The project is significant for understanding the effects of climate change on marine food webs, from plankton production to predation by iconic marine fauna. Innovative prey capture signatures from accelerometers, together with advanced movement models from satellite locations will be used to show how fish schools are located and preyed upon by predators. The outcome will be new insight into how changing resource availability in the oceans affects ecosystem resilience.

FOR Codes: Marine and Estuarine Ecology (incl. Marine Ichthyology), Ecological Impacts of Climate Change, Biological Oceanography, Ecosystem Adaptation to Climate Change, Marine Flora, Fauna and Biodiversity, Marine Oceanic Processes (excl. climate related), Ecological impacts of climate change and ecological adaptation, Marine biodiversity, Oceanic processes (excl. in the Antarctic and Southern Ocean)

Acknowledgement of Country

UTS acknowledges the Gadigal people of the Eora Nation, the Boorooberongal people of the Dharug Nation, the Bidiagal people and the Gamaygal people, upon whose ancestral lands our university stands. We would also like to pay respect to the Elders both past and present, acknowledging them as the traditional custodians of knowledge for these lands.