CReefs
ABRS National Taxonomy Research Grant Program
ABRS is pleased to announce that CReefs is ABRS’s first Substantial Supplement Partner. Beginning in the 2009/2010 grants round, CReefs is partnering with ABRS and providing $200 000 per year for three years to supplement matching funding from the ABRS National Taxonomy Research Grant Program. This combined pool of $400 000 p.a. will support a number of taxonomic research projects focussed in the area of tropical reef systems.
CReefs is a field project of the international Census of Marine Life focused on filling gaps in our knowledge of what lives on coral reefs. A partnership between BHP Billiton, the Great Barrier Reef Foundation, and the Australian Institute of Marine Science (AIMS) will allow Australian reef sites to be included in the CReefs global research initiative. A consortium of scientists will sample and analyze coral reef biodiversity at three key Australian reef sites: the Great Barrier Reef’s Heron and Lizard Islands and Ninglaoo Reef in Western Australia. The consortium currently includes scientists from AIMS, the Australian Museum, the Museum and Art Gallery of the Northern Territory, Museum Victoria, the Queensland Museum, the South Australian Museum and the Western Australian Museum, as well as the University of Adelaide, Murdoch University, the Australian Herbarium and the Smithsonian Institution. The consortium is open to additional collaborators.
Grants associated with CReefs funding will be awarded through the normal ABRS grants process. CReefs will provide input to this process in terms of priorities for research and expected deliverables (see below) and formal input to the assessment process for grants that include CReefs funding.
ABRS/CReefs Tropical Marine Research and Capacity-Building Grants
ABRS/CReefs grants are available to researchers to work on material collected in association with CReefs expeditions to Heron Island, Lizard Island and Ninglaoo Reef. Please note: some material has already been collected, however it is intended that additional material may be collected in association with the CReefs project. Please also note: proposed projects need not be solely focused on this material but may involve (for example) a national treatment of a taxonomic group for which material has been collected as part of the CReefs project.
Priorities for research
The following are priority taxonomic groups (by location) for CReefs grants:
| Taxonomic group | Heron Island | Lizard Island | Ningaloo Reef |
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| Porifera (Demospongiae) |  |
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| Porifera (Calcarea) | |
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| Octacorals | |
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| Micromolluscs | |
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| Macromolluscs | |
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| Echinoderms | |
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| Bryozoa | |
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| Polychaetes | |
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| Opisthobranchs | |
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| Decapods and General crustacea | |
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| Amphipods | |
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| Peracarids | |
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| Ostracods | |
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| Isopods | |
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| Ascidians | |
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| Marine parasitic worms | |
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| Algae | |
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Collected material
The following collected material that has already been collected in association with the CReefs project is available in the following institutions:
| Taxonomic group | Heron Island | Lizard Island | Ningaloo Reef |
|---|---|---|---|
| Molluscs | WAM | ||
| Echinoderms | QM and AM | ||
| Bryozoa | MV* | MV* | |
| Polychaetes | MAGNT | MAGNT | MAGNT |
| General crustacea — tanaid shrimp | MV | MV | |
| Amphipods | AM | ||
| Isopods | QM and MTQ | QM and MTQ |
* Intended final destinations — WAM, QM
Key
- AM — Australian Museum
- MAGNT — Museum and Art Gallery of the Northern Territory
- MTQ — Museum of Tropical Queensland
- MV — Museum Victoria
- QM — Queensland Museum
- WAM — Western Australian Museum
Examples of expected deliverables
- estimates of morphospecies numbers
- barcoding
- the serving of data to OBIS (the Ocean Biogeographic Information System)
For further information on expected deliverables, please contact Julian Caley at j.caley@aims.gov.au.
Key
Links to another web site
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