School of Botany
Welcome to the Marine Lab

As we humans increase in number, and so many of us live in coastal areas, we place greater and greater demands on coastal seas.  We use the sea as a dumping ground for our wastes, to supply food, and to transport our goods. Many of us also use the sea for recreational activities.  It is essential to both our well-being and that of the seas, that we identify and understand the impacts we have on this environment, and that we do our best to minimise those impacts. Seaweeds and seagrasses are basic structural elements in the assemblage of organisms that inhabit the seabed.  Their attached life style makes them particularly susceptible to localised man-made disturbances.

The Marine Lab in the School of Botany is a teaching and research facility for the study of macroscopic algae and seagrasses.  We undertake fieldwork and courses in the unique living laboratory of the intertidal and subtidal habitats of Port Phillip Bay, Western Port, the ocean coast of Victoria and further afield.  Our focus is on the dynamics of algal and seagrass communities, their structures and species compositions, and their responses to natural environmental factors and to man-made disturbances.

Research

• Optimizing the allocation of resources for defending marine protected areas against invasive species - a new ARC Linkage project in collaboration with Parks Victoria (July 2008 - June 2011).  In the past, concern with non-indigenous marine species (NIMS) establishing in Australian waters has largely focussed on ports receiving international shipping. However, such species may subsequently be spread locally by other vectors such as recreational boats. Areas at risk include marine protected areas valued for their diversity of native species. This project will use the Victorian system of marine national parks and marine sanctuaries as a case study to develop a decision support framework to assist in the management of NIMS in marine protected areas. The project aims to identify non-indigenous species, including seaweeds, which are promising candidates for eradication, and the parks to which they have the highest probability of being carried. This information will enable Parks Victoria to focus the limited resources available for surveillance monitoring where there is greatest potential for successful detection and eradication. The project will involve both mathematical modelling (Bayes Nets and habitat models) and field studies (in situ testing of surveillance methods, and surveys of potential park users).
  

• Seagrass health in Yaringa Marine National Park - Wei Xin Sue (Honours student, 2008)

• Monitoring the outcomes of an adaptive experimental management program in Victoria's Marine National Parks and Marine Sanctuaries - Jessica Taylor (Honours student, 2007)

• Hazard identification, risk assessment and decision analysis for conservation and management of Australian marine parks - ARC Linkage project in collaboration with Parks Victoria (2004 - 2007)

Possible honours projects include:

• Occurrence and phenology of the introduced macroalga Undaria pinnatifida in Port Phillip Bay

• Field-testing of surveillance methods for non-indigenous marine species such as Undaria pinnatifida, using artificial mimics (a sub-project within the marine invasive species project above)
  

Teaching

606-302 Marine Botany is a 25 point, intensive field-based subject held over fourteen days in late November and early December. The bulk of the subject is undertaken at the Victorian Marine Science Consortium in Queenscliff, where Victoria's rich marine flora is readily accessible at beach sites including the Port Phillip Heads Marine National Park at Point Lonsdale.  (Note that the format of this subject will change in 2009)

606-203 Phytoplankton and Seaweeds of Australia will not be available after 2008. But watch for news of a new generation, second year, marine science subject - including of course, a good dollop of marine botany!

650-111 Biology of Australian Flora & Fauna - topics included in this wide-ranging first-year subject include marine ecosystems and seaweeds, seagrasses and mangroves, and seaweeds of coral reefs.


Useful Links

AlgaeBase - listing the world's algae
Phycologia Australica - electronic version of Harvey's 5 volume work on Australian seaweeds (1858 - 1863)

Australasian Society for Phycology and Aquatic Botany
Australian Marine Sciences Association - Australia's major professional association for marine scientists from all disciplines

Tidal predictions for Victoria - Bureau of Meteorology, Oceanographic Services
Victorian weather forcasts, including marine forecasts - Bureau of Meteorology
Point Lonsdale lighthouse web cameras - Port of Melbourne Corporation

Marine and Coastal Community Network - information service for marine and coastal conservation issues
Parks Victoria - Marine National Parks and Sanctuaries - home page for Victoria's sytem of marine protected areas

Contact

Dr Jan Carey Marine Environmental Botanist Room G08B, Natural Philosophy Building phone: 8344 3336 email: janetmc@ unimelb.edu.au web: http://www.botany.unimelb.edu.au/envisci/about/staff/carey.html