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The Australian Government's Innovation Report

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Many of these Keppel Island corals which bleached in 2005 are now on the road to recovery thanks to a unique ability to adapt to changing temperatures. Photo<br />

credits: R. Berkelmans, AIMS<br />

What makes Keppel Corals more resilient: <strong>The</strong> warmest year in the <strong>Australian</strong> instrumental record was 2005,<br />

with high temperatures throughout the year leading to initial summer water temperatures two degrees Celsius<br />

above average. Extensive cloud cover and heavy rain in January 2006 suppressed temperatures long enough<br />

to prevent coral bleaching on most of the Great Barrier Reef, except around the Keppel Islands where 63 to<br />

100% of corals bleached.<br />

AIMS scientists investigated the Keppel bleaching event which occurred up to a month earlier than events<br />

seen in 1998 and 2002. During these earlier two bleaching events, almost every coral in the Keppels bleached.<br />

Most recovered three to six months later, revealing a remarkable resilience not seen at other locations on the<br />

Great Barrier Reef.<br />

Research in the Keppel Islands is showing that corals in this area have an ability to quickly change their algal<br />

symbionts (called zooxanthellae). <strong>The</strong> coral’s ability to adapt by altering their zooxanthellae allows them to endure<br />

greater temperature fluctuations as different types of algae are better suited to varying thermal conditions.<br />

Corals in the Keppels also grow faster than their northern counterparts and have an ability to store more fats.<br />

This may be at least part of the reason why the Keppel corals were able to bounce back from a heat wave in<br />

2002 that had adverse consequences for other regions.<br />

Climate research on the Amery Ice Shelf: Antarctic ice shelves are important components of the climate<br />

system. Basal melting and freezing processes can substantially modify large water masses circulating in the ocean<br />

cavities beneath them. Significant collapse of ice shelves may lead to accelerated discharge of continental ice<br />

with direct impact on global sea level variations.<br />

<strong>The</strong> <strong>Australian</strong> Government Antarctic Division is undertaking the Amery Ice Shelf Ocean Research Project,<br />

which aims to investigate interaction between the 60 000 square kilometre floating Amery Ice Shelf and its inland<br />

Lambert Glacier drainage basin, with an area of 1 550 000 square kilometres. <strong>The</strong> Lambert is the largest<br />

glacier-ice shelf system in East Antarctica.<br />

Chapter 3 - National research priorities 101

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