Amazing workshop on Climate Change Genomics, certainly getting outside of my comfort zone. Eye-opening talks on methods, evidence and applications to understand and predict future ecosystems including corals Ecological Genetics Line K Bay

Cruise day 29 and we are wrapping up our search for heat tolerant corals on the #GBR for #RRAP and #globalsearch . Could NOT have been done without the amazing expertise of Veronique Mocellin. What would we do without tech officers? A lot less than what we did. THANKS Vero! ❤️❤️❤️

Cruise day 28:
Wrapping up sampling for #globalsearch on #GBR w 2300 samples in the bag. Next - common gene expression signatures of top and bottom performers across four spp to identify molecular signatures of heat tolerance.

Forget about the Berlin Wall, the Wailing Wall, Walls of Jerusalem... – introducing the wall of Falcon tubes. Keeping samples neat and tidy as Samantha Goyen and michael wooster sample for the #globalsearch project. (My most significant contribution to this field trip so far😉)

One of our offices :) We are out on and under the water almost every day to study the Reef. #GreatBarrierReef

GBR Cruise day 25 - not just about the corals…
Please meet Hugo Denis ex IRD New Cal - finishing Masters but🤞 soon PhD student w Emily Howells and I. Project on the genetic basis of heat tolerance in hardy Acropora spathulata across #GBR

I know - not supposed to have favorites but I❤️the reef around Lady Musgrave Island. It's just spectacular.
Lovely to also see healthy and unbleached reefs on our month-long search for heat tolerant corals on the #GBR . Lets unite in doing all we can to keep the Reef great!

Here is an 8-day old sea urchin larva spawned in SeaSim this year. At 15-days they begin settling on the reef before metamorphosing into the ball of spines they're known for.

We’re researching if they can adapt to future climate conditions across generations.

Heads up to AMSA-NQ members. Grants will be available to students and ECRs for AMSA 2023 Conference, so make sure to get your abstract in by tonight and join us in #Cairns for a great conference!

Join us!

4️⃣ exciting opportunities available at our Townsville HQ:
🐠 Health Safety & Environment Officer
🐠 #RRAP Field Technician
🐠 Benthic Ecologist - Long-term Ecological Monitoring
🐠 Project Management Office Project Coordinator

Visit aims.gov.au/employment for details

When you co-supervise with your ex-PhDs does this make you a supervisor grandparent?
If yes, then I now proudly have three grand-grad students: Dr Luke Morris and Josephine Nielsen with Dr. Kate Quigley and Melissa Naugle w Emily Howells. What a joy to work across science generations🥰

The last sentence in the latest #IPCC report sums it all. Doesn’t it?

Please meet @Melissanaugle – New PhD student co-supervised by Emily Howells and I. Very excited to have this brilliant emerging scientist ex @clogan_sci lab. Melissa will use Genome Wide Association to search for markers of heat tolerance in plating coral in our #RRAP project.

Cruise day 12: Spent our #RRAP #globalsearch collection dive photographing very bleached corals at this site on Chicken Reef. The effects of global heating are real and impacting corals right now. We need action on climate change to give our reefs the future they deserve.

Hurrah for volunteers:
Daily safety briefing: “Blowing 20 knots out there - be extra careful”. Enzo from Sicily: “This field trip is like a video game, it gets harder every day”
A good laugh made the work much easier – Go Team Coral Kong.

Cruise day 10: Spent sampling for #RRAP in beautiful Manbarra sea Country where we sadly experienced very hot waters and signs of bleaching. Fingers crossed for a cool change (and action on climate change)

Thankful to spend #InternationalWomensDay2022 working on #rrap #globalsearch with these competent, strong, intelligent, humorous, and supportive women (and a few equally great men but not your day sorry). Australian Institute of Marine Science employer of choice for us!
Bonus pink cake from chef Dave😍

Hurrah for volunteers!
Second year undergrad Millie with a 'millie' coral (A. millepora)- both are adding incredible value to our #rrap #ReefTrust #globalsearch projects to map heat tolerant corals across the GBR

Cruise day 7: We have arrived in Gunggandji sea Country and ready to begin work at Fitzroy and Moore Reefs. We are honored to have permission from Traditional Owners across the GBR for our research and pay respect to the first scientists of the Reef that we all love.

Reef research from a car ferry is a first for me but loving the space. Two SeaSim aquarium systems on board, four tenders, up to 16 people. Heaps of space for both #globalsearch and #rrap projects. Makes Australian Institute of Marine Science (fantastic) research vessels look small in comparison😘