1. Language analysis
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5JWQOLjmqzI
Seminar Terry Hughes “securing the future of the Great
Barrier Reef @ UWA 4.00pm today 15th October 2012″
Posted on October 18, 2012 by ningalooatlas
UWA, Woolnough Lecture Theatre, School of Earth and Environment
by: Distinguished Professor Terry Hughes FAADirector, ARC Centre of Excellence for
Coral Reef Studies, James Cook University, Australia
October 18th Thursday 4-00 -5.00 pm
The Great Barrier Reef is a valuable natural asset that provides
$6 billion per annum to the Australian economy and supports
more than 50,000 jobs, primarily in tourism. It’s an
irreplaceable resource, a national and international icon, and it
is slowly declining. In the past 50 years more than half of the
corals have disappeared, and the number of sharks, dugongs
and turtles today is a small fraction of only a few decades ago.
Increasing fishing pressure has made it harder to catch a
decent-sized fish. Three major outbreaks of crown-of-thorns
starfish have swept along the GBR since the 1960s, and a
fourth is underway. In 1998 and again in 2002, global
warming caused coral bleaching along the length of the Reef
leading to further loss of corals. Since 2000, more than half of
the individual reefs comprising the Great Barrier Reef have less
than 10% coral cover, compared to an average of close to 40%
in the 1960s. Many people assume that the decline is caused
primarily by cyclones and crown-of-thorns starfish, but it’s not
that simple. In this talk, I investigate the impact of recruitment
failure on the abundance and species composition of corals
across the Great Barrier Reef. I’ll conclude with an overview of
how management of the Great Barrier Reef could be improved.