Exploring how ecosystems cope with climate change

30 July 2009

Strategic research on how climate change, human use and new pressures and uses affect the marine environment is beginning to bring results.

Increased human populations, water runoff, changed ocean temperatures, fishing, larvae dispersion and climate change came under the spotlight at a Western Australian Marine Science Institution symposium in Perth.

CSIRO’s Wealth from Oceans Flagship researchers lead most of the eight projects that focus on the effects of activities that have a significant impact on the environment.

Participants also discussed eddies, water circulation in lagoons, nutrient changes, new marine species and the interim results of how kelp communities - which play a criticial role in marine food webs and fisheries – cope with natural and human-induced changes.

More than 100 people attended.

Image copyright WA Museum/Clay Bryce