The University of Queensland

Current Biology, September 2011.
Demographic links among marine life-history stages are increasingly well recognized but the phenotypic and genetic links between the radically different life-history stages remain less understood. Drawing on data in other systems, as well as the sparse data available in marine systems, Dustin Marshall and Steven Morgan reiterate earlier calls for marine life-histories to be viewed and studied in a more holistic way. In the meantime, they wonder whether some adult traits are simply byproducts of selection on larval traits and vice versa. Read more...

PNAS, October 2011.
New research has found that hurricane activity appears to be clustered rather than randomly distributed over time which may be good news for coral reefs. Professor Peter Mumby and colleagues found the clustering pattern in a review of 100-years of hurricane tracks in the Americas. The prolonged interval between hurricane clusters allows greater coral recovery and stability than assumed in forecasts based on random distribution models which predict habitat collapse at least 10 years too early. Read more...

Science, November 2011.
Climate change challenges organisms to adapt or move to track changes in environments. In a new study published in Science, Professor Pandolfi, A/Professor Anthony Richardson and colleagues analysed the shifting climates and seasonal patterns on land and in the oceans over the past 50 years. The ‘velocity of climate change’ was higher in the ocean than on land at some latitudes, despite slower ocean warming. A particular concern for conservation is that areas of high marine biodiversity often have greater velocities of climate change and seasonal shifts.
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Nature Communications, November 2011.
Humans are no longer the only species known to receive fitness-enhancing benefits from physical contact. UQ's Dr Lexa Grutter and colleagues found that cleanerfish, known for removing parasites from 'client' fish, influence client decisions by physically touching them, a behaviour known as tactile stimulation. They simulated this behaviour by exposing surgeonfish to mechanically moving cleanerfish models and found that the physical contact alone, without a social aspect, is enough to significantly lower levels of cortisol in the surgeonfish, thereby reducing stress. Read more...

(Photo by Richard Smith)