Why this Cluster exists 

Marine and coastal systems provide a range of essential ecosystem services vital to human wellbeing, including providing​ the living marine resources​ ​that are ​a key source of protein for more than four billion people​,​ worldwide​​.  

Understanding how marine ecosystems work, how we interact with and influence them, and how they might change in the future is critical for sustainable use of living marine resources and adaptation to climate change.  

Ocean Futures brings together researchers working towards a climate-smart future for marine ecosystems, focusing on fisheries sustainability, conservation of threatened, endangered or protected (TEP) species, marine spatial planning, ecological forecasting, marine ecosystem modelling, spatial ecology, new frontiers in aquaculture and mariculture, and coastal resilience.

We work in collaborative partnerships with industry, government agencies and non-governmental organisations to develop applied solutions to ongoing and emerging climate risks in marine systems. 

Below are summaries of some of the Ocean Futures research projects the team have been involved with.

Prof. David ​​​​Schoeman is a world leader in climate and marine ecology, who has published more than ​122​​​ peer-reviewed papers, including highly-cited publications in journals such as​ Science,​ Nature and Nature Climate Change​. He served as Coordinating Lead Author of the Oceans and Coastal Ecosystems and their Services chapter of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) Sixth Assessment Report (AR6).

A/Prof. Kylie Scales is a quantitative marine ecologist with research interests in fisheries sustainability, marine biodiversity conservation and ecological forecasting. She was awarded an ARC DECRA on predicting fisheries bycatch of protected species in 2021 and an Advance Queensland Industry Research Fellowship on fisheries climate adaptation in 2019. She was a Contributing Author to the IPCC AR6, serves on the Scientific Steering Committee of the Integrated Marine Biosphere Research (IMBeR) Climate Impacts on Oceanic Top Predators (CLIOTOP) programme, and is Senior Editor for the journal Remote Sensing in Ecology & Conservation.  

Dr. Ross Dwyer is an applied ecologist specialising in animal movement behaviour and human-wildlife conflict.​ Ross is an experienced field ecologist, who coordinates a number of large-scale research programs in coastal, freshwater, and terrestrial environments around Australia. This includes a continuing 15-year study into crocodile, shark and sawfish movement behaviour in the Gulf of Carpentaria, and tracking the movements and population status of east Australian grey nurse sharks. He is an active member of Australia’s animal tracking community, and sits on the Scientific Steering Committee and the Data Subcommittee for the Integrated Marine Observing System (IMOS) Animal Tracking Facility.​​​

Dr. Alexis Levengood is a marine ecologist whose research pivots around two central themes, (1) the behavioural ecology of marine mammals and (2) the impacts of anthropogenic effects on marine megafauna. Alexis largely focuses on dolphins, whales, and dugongs, but has experience working with various sharks, rays, penguins, and pinnipeds, as well as a range of terrestrial species. Alexis uses a diverse set of classic and innovative methods, including techniques from ethology, evolutionary biology, ecology, genetics, psychology, mathematical modelling, acoustics, and environmental chemistry to assess conservation-based issues in the marine environment.​​

Dr. Bonnie Holmes’ research is designed around applied fisheries or biosecurity-related information needs that directly feed into assessments (policies or stock) or contribute in some way to improved management and/or conservation regimes for fish, shark, and other TEP species. Much of her biological and ecological research is centred around understanding spatial and temporal movements of large sharks under changing climate conditions, to better predict human-shark encounters and inform future shark education initiatives.

Dr. Christopher Henderson is a marine ecologist with research interests in conservation, restoration, spatial and functional ecology. His work focuses on improving our understanding of functioning ecosystems and using this knowledge to optimise coastal conservation and restoration, monitoring frameworks, water quality interventions and monitoring, and community engagement, both locally and internationally.

Some of the key achievements and impacts made by the Ocean Futures cluster team:

• ​​Climate-smart conservation planning for Australian national waters
• ​​Exploring the consequences for global marine biodiversity of overshooting the goals of the Paris Climate Accords
• Dynamic predictive modelling and ecological forecasting for predicting the likelihood of fisheries-wildlife interactions
• Marine Reserve Use by Coastal Sharks – focusing on critically endangered grey nurse shark, this long-term program has determined the importance of Marine Protected Areas (MPAs) for this and other apex shark species
• Unravelling Cryptic Bull Shark Ecology – dedicated to understanding nearshore human-shark interaction risks, critical for informing contemporary shark control programs on Australia’s east coast
• Dolphins as Marine Bioindicators – focusing on anthropogenic impacts, how does dolphin health reflect habitat quality in a climate changes hotspot? 
• ​​Working with Indigenous communities to develop coastal ecosystem management plans throughout Australia and the south Pacific​​​

Contact: A/Prof. Kylie Scales