Postgraduate seminar September

Using Remote Sensing to Quantify the Relationship between Light Pollution and Sea Turtle Nesting on Heron Island

Presenter: James Vandersteen, Honours candidate at the School of Biological Sciences, collaborating with CBCS, CEED and NESP

Abstract: Advanced ground-based remote sensing tools open new opportunities to study and quantify light pollution, its spatial distribution, and impact

on a wide range of animals including sea turtles. Such tools include the newly available state-of-the-art calibrated DSLR cameras, equipped with fish-eye lens to take hemispheric photos of light intensity.

This technology was employed on Heron Island to investigate the relationship between spatial patterns of light pollution on Green Sea Turtle (Chelonia mydas) and Loggerhead Sea Turtle (Caretta caretta) nesting. These results will enable the mapping and characterisation of light sources on Heron Island

to facilitate the planning and mitigation of light pollution, enhancing the conservation of sea turtles.

Climate Velocity in the Ocean and its Implications for Conservation

Presenter: Isaac Antonio Brito Morales, PhD candidate, School of Earth and Environmental Sciences / CSIRO

Abstract: Climate change is shifting species’ ranges. Simple predictive metrics of range shifts, such as climate velocity, that do not require extensive

knowledge and data on individual species could help guide conservation. Climate velocity describes the rate and direction at which a species would need to move to keep pace with changing climate.

The aim of my project is to analyse how climate velocity might influence species’ distribution shifts at different ocean depths, and the resultant implications for the global marine protected area network (MPA), both currently and under future climate change.