Latest news with #NingalooReef
New York Times
4 days ago
- Science
- New York Times
How Healthy Are the Oceans? Ask a Whale Shark
On a calm morning in May, Brianna Beaulieu, a master's student in marine biology at the University of Western Australia, and several researchers from around the world boarded two research vessels bound for Ningaloo Reef on Australia's west coast. The scientists have invested months of planning to spend just a few minutes in the water collecting data on one of the ocean's most mysterious animals. Whale sharks are not whales. They are fish, the largest in the sea, and can grow up to 60 feet long. Yet, surprisingly little is known about their life cycle. Researchers still don't know where whale sharks mate, how often they breed or where they go to give birth. Ms. Beaulieu and her colleagues hope to gain at least some insights into these giants. A whale shark can easily be spotted from the air, cruising just below the surface of the crystal-clear waters of the Indian Ocean. In May, whale sharks gather off the reef in numbers so high that, for the half-dozen spotter planes overhead, finding them is simple. For the past 20 years, a team from the University of Western Australia has conducted annual fieldwork at Ningaloo Reef. Ningaloo is one of the world's longest fringing reefs, formed unusually close to shore, and is listed as a UNESCO World Heritage site. The reef's shallow, turquoise waters are home to an extraordinary range of marine life. The whale sharks that migrate there each year offer a rare window for scientific study. Mark Meekan has overseen the research since 2004. His work focuses on the biology and ecology of whale sharks – how they grow, how they live and what can be done to protect them. At the reef, the scientists measure the lengths and dimensions of the animals and collect tissue samples for chemical analysis. They also use drones to assess the body condition of the whale sharks: Are they getting fatter? Thinner? 'Whale sharks can live for over 100 years and grow very slowly,' Dr. Meekan said. 'To track that growth, you need long-term monitoring.' One thing that the team has learned over the past two decades is that whale sharks are highly susceptible to the impact of human activities on the oceans.'By monitoring them, we're not just learning about the sharks, we're learning about ocean health more broadly,' Dr. Meekan said. 'These animals travel thousands of kilometers, so each one is like a sentinel or autonomous sampling unit moving across the Indian Ocean and returning to Ningaloo each year to tell the tale.' Much of Ms. Beaulieu's research focuses on measuring the overall health of whale sharks and the impact of manmade threats on them, including boat strikes and 'forever chemicals' in the water. Whale sharks gather at Ningaloo Reef to feed on plankton that appear each year when coral spawn. As Ms. Beaulieu dives into the water, she takes a compact underwater camera to document a whale shark's appearance. Her colleague Sophie Jones often joins her in the water, gripping a yard-long reference pole. The pole provides a crucial scale to help researchers precisely determine the animal's size, while a drone captures the scene from above. The whale shark typically remains relatively calm as Ms. Beaulieu swims beneath it and holds a small ultrasound device above the surface of its skin, just behind the dorsal fin. The data, which measures skin depth and the condition of the animal's muscles, is sent to a veterinarian to assess the whale shark's internal health and reproductive status. The encounter lasts just a few minutes, before the whale shark disappears again into the deep blue. Ms. Beaulieu and the other researchers then swim to the surface and signal for pickup. Then they do it all again. The team repeated the sequence 11 times on that day: spotting, diving, documenting and collecting data. These few minutes with the whale sharks are the culmination of a year's planning, a gigantic logistical effort to shadow a giant. In the 12 days of fieldwork, the researchers documented 101 whale shark encounters — a bumper year. In 2023, after their boat broke down, they only had four. Jessica Strickland, the ship's captain. Researchers have developed tools that allow the public to contribute to whale shark science. Platforms like Shark Guardian and Wildbook for Whale Sharks invite divers, tour operators and marine tourists to upload their photographs of whale sharks, ideally with a clear view of the area just behind the gills, where the spot patterns are most reliable. Sophisticated pattern-matching algorithms then compare these images with an international database of more than 8,000 individual whale sharks, improving the ability of scientists to monitor their movements, residency, growth and health. 'Every day during the season, guides are in the water filming the sharks, and those videos provide us with ID images,' Dr. Meekan said. 'That allows us to track which sharks are resident and which are just passing through.'
BBC News
22-07-2025
- Science
- BBC News
Ningaloo: Australia's coral reefs bleached by 'underwater bushfire'
Australia boasts plenty of superlatives when it comes to its natural landmarks. The Great Barrier Reef, the world's biggest coral reef system on the north-east coast, is rightly recognised as a Unesco World Heritage Site. Buzzing with biodiversity, it's a diver's there's a lesser-known record breaker on the other side of the country, on Australia's north-western coast: Ningaloo Reef.A 14-hour drive north of Perth, Ningaloo is unique. The world's largest fringing reef and another of Australia's Unesco World Heritage Sites, it is home to a lush oceanic forest that spreads out along the coast for hundreds of kilometres. From the region's remote desert beaches, you can wade into vibrant turquoise waters and almost immediately start snorkelling in a seascape as famous for its vibrant corals as the wildlife that surrounds them - manta rays, reef sharks and whale this year, Ningaloo has found itself in trouble. Hit by a marine heatwave, higher water temperatures have stressed the corals and they've been turning white, in an effect known as 'bleaching'. While some may recover, it's not a given – and the damage has astounded only that, but the heatwave is responsible for another, more worrying superlative. This is the first time that the reefs on both Australia's western and eastern coasts have been bleached."It's like a raging underwater bushfire that has persisted for months now, wreaking harm right along the coast," says Paul Gamblin, who heads up the Australian Marine Conservation Society. "It's an absolutely devastating event and people are reeling from it. It is enormous. It's unprecedented. It's absolutely not normal." What's going on? The marine heatwave that's damaging Ningaloo started in the Caribbean in 2023 . It then made its way across the Indo-Pacific, damaging coral reefs in its path. In 2024, while the Great Barrier Reef saw bleaching, Ningaloo was spared. But by the end of last year and the beginning of 2025 – peak summer – temperatures had begun to soar in Western all part of the fourth global bleaching event, which experts say has affected more than 80% of the world's coral Kate Quigley, principal research scientist at Minderoo Foundation, likens the effect to a stomach bug."Instead of having bacteria in the human gut, corals have this little algal symbiont that lives inside their cells that allow them to do biological processes," she explains, adding that this algae is what gives the corals their colour. When water becomes too warm, that relationship breaks down and bleaching begins."So, kind of like, if we got a stomach bug and the human body doesn't function the same way, [it's the] same thing with the coral," she explains. "The warm water causes the biological processes inside that coral to go haywire. And just like humans get sick, corals get sick too."Of particular worry to Dr Quigley is the prolonged warming scientists have seen. They expected temperatures to drop by April as peak summer passed. This year, that didn't happen. "In previous warming events, water temperatures might have increased for a bit of time and then gone back down again so the corals can essentially recover - they can bounce back," explains Dr Quigley. "But what we're really afraid of seeing, especially in the coming months, is really high levels of death."While government scientists have been monitoring the reef, there's still a lot they don't know."The natural world is an incredibly variable place, and sometimes we're... shocked by what we see, [because] it doesn't seem to follow the rules," says Dr Tom Holmes, the Marine Science Programme Leader at the Department of Biodiversity, Conservation and Attractions in Western Holmes and his team are doing follow-up surveys between three and six months after the bleaching to assess how many corals have died."There are certainly records of corals [being] in a bleached state for that period of time and still surviving," he says. "So we just need to play the waiting game now."Ningaloo attracts around 200,000 tourists to its waters each year. For swimmers and divers, though, the damage is clear."It was like snorkelling on a corpse," says British-South African tourist Jenna-Rae Clark, who has been up and down the coastline of Ningaloo in recent weeks. "It was so grey and lifeless. You can sometimes hear fish munching on the coral - there was nothing."For residents, there's an additional fear: that tourists will turn their back on Ningaloo."People have been really devastated off the back of summer, and a lot of people are talking about how they were crying in the water, coming out of the ocean just really upset," says Sara Morgillo, who moved here from Perth to dive and work in conservation."There's still amazing parts of the reef here that are worth seeing and we're still running dive tours every day," she adds."I think it's also really important to witness what's happening and [see] the effects of the marine heat wave that we've had." Why is this happening? Scientists are all in agreement about what's causing this heatwave: rising carbon emissions are heating up the planet and its oceans. According to Nasa, the ocean is where 90% of global warming is happening – and the last decade was its warmest since the 1800s. Last year was its warmest on more worrying superlatives are threatening Australia's famous landmarks. But there's another, more home-grown problem up the coast from Ningaloo is one of the world's largest fossil fuel projects, the North West Shelf gas plant. In May, the Australian government announced it would allow Woodside, the company which runs the project, to keep it operating until same company is also trying to get approval to develop Australia's biggest untapped gas reserves in the Browse Basin, further up the coast. While these projects alone don't create the heat that's damaging Ningaloo, it's a symbol of the competing interests in Western Australia – where the gas industry fuels the economy far more than tourism."The Great Barrier Reef and Ningaloo are sources of deep wonder, the equivalent of Antarctica or the Serengeti or the Amazon," says the Australian Marine Conservation Society's Paul Gamblin. "The juxtaposition is incomprehensible: at a time when places like Ningaloo are clearly suffering the consequences of climate change, for government even to contemplate opening up new fossil fuel projects... It shouldn't happen, and governments need to draw a line in the sand and make a clear commitment not to make the situation even worse." Finding a fix While the larger debate continues over the use of fossil fuels, scientists are working to better understand the reef in an effort to help University of Queensland's Dr Chris Roelfsema and his team are mapping Ningaloo by taking photos of the corals and linking them with drone images. That way they can better track their health."People ask me, what can we do? Well, the first thing you can do is choose politicians that are considering reducing fossil fuels and are [supportive of] renewable energies," says Dr Roelfsema. "Your vote has a voice for politicians, so you can choose that. But you can also drive less, [use] public transport, not have your air conditioning on all the time - these are all things that can help reduce our footprint."There's also science being done in the lab. Dr Quigley and her team at Minderoo have been selectively breeding combinations of corals to find out which types are the most tolerant to higher temperatures."We have these fertilized eggs from many, many different genetic backgrounds and we raise them over a series of days until we have coral babies, coral teenagers," she explains. "Just like butterflies, corals also undergo different metamorphoses and stages."By testing those corals, researchers can assess which ones are more tolerant to higher temperatures. Then the idea is to place them back in the water. While Dr Quigley has done this in the Great Barrier Reef, it's at a much earlier stage here in Ningaloo - and she admits that the method is not ideal."It would be very hard to scale for all reefs around the world," she concedes. "It would make much more sense to get at the root cause, which is emissions, for that long-term livelihood of coral reefs."Viewed by critics as merely a sticking plaster, there's pressure for authorities to do more. That brings Dr Quigley back to the bushfire analogy."Interestingly, when bushfires happen here in Australia, the authorities are on it very quickly – there's a lot of response," she says. "You don't see that on the coral reefs in Australia."One reason may be because it's corals at risk, not people. After all, there are no houses in the path of the underwater however, say such a view is shortsighted. Coral reefs are home to 25% of all marine life. But they also look after human life."They are absolutely supercharged with nature and diversity and support the tiniest creatures to the biggest," says Paul Gamblin. "They also support millions of people's livelihoods all over the world, and protect the coast from storm surges and extreme storm events that we're seeing more with climate change. So they provide enormous services to the planet."These services often get forgotten by those above the surface. But as fossil fuels continue to warm the planet, life in the oceans is feeling the heat.
Daily Mail
14-07-2025
- Entertainment
- Daily Mail
Billy Brownless poses cryptic question to his Instagram followers, as he and girlfriend Crystle pose for loved-up snaps during romantic getaway
Billy Brownless and his girlfriend Crystle Fleur have been celebrating their one-year anniversary in style, as the pair shared several snaps of themselves looking smitten during their romantic getaway. Fleur has taken to Instagram over the past week to share several snaps of the couple taking in the scenery on Western Australia 's stunning coast. They stopped off to take in the stunning crystal-blue waters overlooking Ningaloo Reef, Australia's largest fringing coral reef. The pair beamed from ear-to-ear as they posed for a quick hug together while standing on a sandy hill next to the beach. Brownless revealed on his Instagram that the pair had 'left Shark Bay without even seeing a single shark,' before revealing the one thing that left him amazed about Western Australia. 'I can't believe how big the Ants are over here,' he said. Fleur, 52, and Brownless, 58 then headed in-land for a tour of the Karijini National Park, which is nestled in the Hamersley Ranges. They posed for a snap in front of a lagoon on the Hamersley Gorge, with Brownless showing the couple scaling rocks and taking a dip in the lagoon. Earlier in the week, Brownless revealed the relationship question he posed to Crystle, asking: 'If I came with a warning label, what would it be?' But on Saturday, he published a set of images, along with a question and a picture of the sky. 'If you knew I'd never ask again, what truth would you finally tell me?' the question read. He captioned the post: 'Day five, six and seven of our big adventure!!! Coral Bay to Karijini National Park - Seven hours!! Breakfast at Bullara Station. We discovered Joffre Gorge where I sat and reflected.' Brownless admitted that camping was 'not so bad' while listing several other locations that they had visited. He then wrapped up the caption by writing: 'And finally the question... Help.' The pair then headed further north to Cable Beach. Fleur revealed that the pair had been out along the coast and had spent the day spotting humpback whales in the ocean. 'A little windswept but what an awesome day with humpback whales,' she wrote, having also shared a snap of the pair enjoying a cold beverage at the luxurious Cable Beach Club Resort. It comes after Fleur, a mum-of-three, had hinted that they would be marking their relationship milestone with 'their biggest adventure yet'. 'Happy 1st anniversary to this amazing man!' she added. The pair were congratulated on the milestone by many friends, family members and some big names from the footy world. Ex-Collingwood and Carlton star Dale Thomas dropped into the comments, alongside 7News presenter Rebecca Maddern. Fleur is the owner of Geelong-based equestrian company Erinvale Thoroughbreds. A legend of the Geelong football club, Brownless enjoyed a glittering 11-year career in footy's top flight. He made 198 appearances for the Cats, kicking a whopping 441 goals during that time to be crowned the club's leading goal kicker for the 1991 and 1992 seasons. After retiring in 1997, Brownless pursued a career in the media, going on to join up with Nine's The Sunday Footy Show, and Triple M Melbourne's The Rush Hour with James Brayshaw. He had previously been married to Nicky Brownless for 18 years before the couple parted ways in 2015.
ABC News
08-06-2025
- Science
- ABC News
Selective breeding doubles heat tolerance of Ningaloo Reef coral, study finds
Unnatural selection has bred life in all shapes and sizes, and a globe-spanning team of scientists says the same practice might help save Western Australia's Ningaloo Reef. Mining billionaire Andrew "Twiggy" Forrest will share that finding at the United Nations Ocean Conference this week, after research backed by his philanthropic Mindaroo Foundation discovered that selective breeding could harden certain Indian Ocean corals against rising ocean temperatures. Kate Quigley, a molecular ecologist at the foundation's Exmouth laboratory, led the study. She said years of selective breeding trials had shown great promise for protecting the World Heritage site from coral bleaching. In the past summer alone, the reef faced widespread damage amid a record-breaking marine heatwave. But by manipulating its annual coral spawn, researchers claim they have confirmed a long-held hope. The new study re-engineers techniques first developed at the Great Barrier Reef. Samples of two Acropora coral species were taken from two sections of the Ningaloo Reef, separated by more than 100 kilometres. "We collected parent corals, so 'mum' and 'dad' corals from an on-average hot reef," Dr Quigley said. "Then, we also went down south to the southern part of Ningaloo Reef and collected what we call 'cool' parents. Alexandra Kler Lago, a master's student from the University of Bremen in Germany, said coral "matchmaking" came with "some pressure". Transporting fragile organisms from the southern tip of the world's largest fringing reef required a specially designed boat. "We had to develop these coolers with a pumping system to keep the water at a stable temperature," Ms Kler Lago said. Although the journey from the reef's more accessible northern colonies was passable by road, that too brought challenges. "We actually had to go to the shallow part with buckets and then carry them filled with water to the trucks," she said. The white-knuckle drive home aside, the breeding process was ultimately an exercise in extreme patience. "All the spawning happens at night, so if we shine a big bright light, that might disturb and hinder the whole process," Ms Kler Lago said. "We have to watch, look at buckets for hours, and look at specific cues that can tell us that breeding is imminent. When "the big night" arrived, Dr Quigley described sorting gametes, or egg and sperm bundles, into groups and allowing them to produce offspring. "We reared up these baby corals to essentially become teenager corals, and we put them through a stress test," she said. Repeated experiments suggested Acropora tenuis, a structural coral found throughout Ningaloo, with at least one "hot" parent and particularly a 'mum' possessed twice the ability to survive temperatures of 35.5 degrees Celsius than other genetic combinations. Australian Institute of Marine Science principal research scientist Chris Fulton said selective breeding was one possible solution for safeguarding the Ningaloo Reef. "We need to protect those corals … that have been robust and have resisted this heatwave event, so they have the best chance possible to repopulate the reef with a new warm-adapted … more resilient coral population." Dr Fulton returned from a trip to the World Heritage site earlier this month. He said water temperatures were only now beginning to drop. "This is the first time we've seen every part of the WA coast show signs of coral bleaching … it has been so hot for so long, over such a large scale that we obviously need to act on emissions reduction." Dr Quigley said further research was needed before attempting to grow heat-resistant corals in vulnerable parts of the reef. She echoed calls for carbon emissions reduction, saying conservation strategies such as selective breeding could only work "hand in hand" with climate policy. "We absolutely need emissions reductions to happen immediately in order for these techniques to have a meaningful impact," she said.
Herald Sun
28-05-2025
- Sport
- Herald Sun
Adam Sherry's tips, inside mail for Gosford, Inverell on Thursday, May 29, 2025
Form analyst Adam Sherry provides his best bets, value selection and analysis of the quaddie legs for Gosford and Inverell on Thursday. • PUNT LIKE A PRO: Become a Racenet iQ member and get expert tips – with fully transparent return on investment statistics – from Racenet's team of professional punters at our Pro Tips section. SUBSCRIBE NOW! ■ ■ ■ ■ ■ GOSFORD TIPS BEST BET Race 4 No.1: DONWON Bumped into a smart one first-up at Canterbury and okay after a slow start last start. NEXT BEST Race 7 No.3: GLORIOSO Narrowly beaten on the heavy last start. Can go one better. VALUE BET Race 3 No.2: NOW YOU'VE DONE IT Handy runs in her first campaign. Trialling well. QUADDIE Race 5: 1, 5 Race 6: 1, 3, 5 Race 7: 2, 3 Race 8: 1, 2, 3 JOCKEY TO FOLLOW Apprentice BENJAMIN OSMOND has two rides and can land a double. GOSFORD INSIDE MAIL RACE 5: PROVINCIAL BENCHMARK 64 HANDICAP (1000m) FORMAL (1) has had a long campaign but continues to race in terrific form. Followed four consecutive minor placings with an all-the-way 4¼-length win from Shoutaboutit on a heavy track at Wyong. Drawn gate one again. BODGIE (5) boxed on for third to the talented Lonhro's Queen on a Heavy 8 at Scone on Mar 21 and was third to Executive Decision on a Heavy 10 at Wyong last start. LEASE (3) loves it wet with a win and seven placings from 11 starts on heavy tracks. BET: FORMAL to win. RACE 6: SUPER MAIDEN HANDICAP (1200m) LOUISBURGH (1) was resuming from a long break when he raced outside the leader and finished a 2¼-length second behind odds-on fav Ninette at Wyong on May 8. Given time to get over the run and can break through here. PURPLE HAZE (2) got back and battled away when third to Yes Siree when he debuted on a Heavy 10 at Wyong on May 1. Will be better for the experience. RAINBOW GODDESS (5) raced wide without cover when runner-up behind big winner Ningaloo Reef at Hawkesbury on May 15. BET: LOUISBURGH to win. RACE 7: BENCHMARK 68 HANDICAP (1200m) GLORIOSO (3) came charged home to finish a half-length third to Oakfield Badger at Wyong first-up before heading to Caulfield and finishing sixth to Smart Little Miss. Returned to Sydney with a head second to Are Ee Que on a Heavy 10 at Wyong. TITANIUM MISS (2) dropped in class when second to Bend The Knee on a Heavy 10 at Wyong before a close second to Equilibrist at Kembla. Gets a 1.5kg claim from Zac Wadick. ORYX (5) finished fourth to Monte Kate in a Midway here on Cup Day. BET: GLORIOSO to win. RACE 8: CLASS 1 HANDICAP (1200m) DIVINE BENE (1) kicked off this preparation with a nice win from The Piccolino on the Beaumont before a third to Lutetia at Newcastle both on heavy tracks. Second on a Soft 5 at Quirindi last start. Will appreciate getting back on a heavy track. HONEY PERFUME (2) resumed with a nice win from Quein Step on a 1000m maiden at Goulburn before a fast finishing second to Shropshire Lad at Scone on Cup day. TONKATSU GODDESS (5) trialled nicely on a heavy track at Warwick Farm recently. Can run well first-up. BET: DIVINE BENE to win. ■ ■ ■ ■ ■ INVERELL TIPS BEST BET Race 5 No.4: NO MORE ROMANCE Was good in his first campaign including a win. Trialling well and can kick off with a win. NEXT BEST Race 1 No.3: ANGELS CLOUD Knocking on the door for her maiden win and gets her chance. INVERELL INSIDE MAIL RACE 4: MAIDEN HANDICAP (1400m) YANABAH (1) knuckled at the start and settled a clear last before making good ground in the straight when seventh to The One Time when resuming over 1000m at Tamworth on Apr 24. Led at Gunnedah when runner-up to Takeover Lad over 1250m last start. At his peak now. JU TWO (2) was a handy second to Gold Melody when resuming on the heavy at Taree before a sixth to Skeptical here last start. MAD HARRY (8) didn't have a lot of luck from a wide draw and at Scone last start. Chance on previous form. Bet: Yanabah to win. RACE 5: BENCHMARK 58 HANDICAP (1100m) NO MORE ROMANCE (4) had a good first campaign including a win at Tamworth followed by two close placings on soft tracks last winter. Has had three trials ahead of his return including a nice third in his latest Gunnedah heat. WHISTLING STRAITS (1) scored back-to-back wins at Gunnedah and Dubbo before failing at Tamworth last September. Was off the scene until his second to Lady Olenna at Gunnedah on May 5. OSTRACISED (2) race wide without cover when resuming with an eighth at Grafton. Drawn well and can improve. Bet: No More Romance to win. RACE 6: CLASS 1 HANDICAP (1100m) CALICO MISS (4) was good winning her Apr 15 barrier trial at Armidale when coming from back in the field. Was well supported on debut and duly saluted with a near three length win from Clan D'Oro at Quirindi. Big chance again. POSEIDON'S SON (2) scored a big win at Coonabarabran at his last run before a spell. Trialling well including a win in his Apr 30 heat at Tamworth. EJECT (1) makes his NSW debut here. Spelled after one run last December. Was a winner over 1000m at Ballarat last June. Bet: Calico Miss to win. RACE 7: CLASS 2 HANDICAP (1400m) Local mare MEDDLESOME (8) was held up between the 600m and 400m when third to Better Tomorrow in a BM58 here last week. On a quick back-up and winkers go on. DIVINE BENE (5) won well on the heavy track on the Beaumont first-up this campaign and placed his next two runs. Likely runs at Gosford. ARRABBIATA (3) will take improvement from her first-up third to Wanda River at Quirindi on May 12. Bet: Meddlesome each-way.
