News

Heron Island Station Manager Dr Stuart Kininmonth is trading in his snorkel for snow boots, as he temporarily takes up the highly coveted position of Winter Station Leader at Scott Base in Antarctica.

UQ’s Heron Island Research Station recently hosted 8 Traditional Custodians from the Bailai, Gooreng Gooreng, Gurang and Taribelang Bunda Elders Council.

Work to combat coral-eating crown-of-thorns starfish across the Great Barrier Reef is working even under increasing environmental pressures, according to an assessment by University of Queensland researchers.

Each time University of Queensland Associate Professor Chris Roelfsema sets foot on the sun-bleached timber jetty of Heron Island, the Dutch national feels like he’s come home.

University of Queensland surveys reveal the peak of the southern migration of humpback whales down the east Australian coast is now weeks earlier than it was 21 years ago, and a warming Southern Ocean may be the reason.

Understanding how far Great Barrier Reef corals are from their parents could be key to identifying and protecting at risk populations, University of Queensland research has found.

Ahead of this week’s crucial United Nations ocean conference, federal Environment Minister Murray Watt promised that by 2030, 30% of Australian waters would be “highly protected”.

Satellites orbiting Earth offer great potential to better understand the world’s reefs over time beyond the sites visited by researchers, The University of Queensland research has found.

University of Queensland research has revealed that informing tourists visiting the Great Barrier Reef about climate impact doesn’t negatively affect their experience and can help encourage climate action.

The Great Barrier Reef will continue to deteriorate, largely due to climate change, and the window to secure its future is rapidly closing. That is the sobering conclusion of a major new report into the state of the reef.

Leading scientists have found that sea surface temperatures on the Great Barrier Reef have reached a 400-year critical level, with human-induced climate change to blame.

Researchers have uncovered an under the sea phenomenon where coral-destroying crown-of-thorns starfish larvae have been feasting on blue-green algae bacteria known as ‘sea sawdust’.

Scientists are one step closer to combatting coral-destroying crown-of-thorns starfish, following a University of Queensland study into the pest’s genetics.

Elijah Richardson might be just nine years old but already he is already a force to be reckoned with. His passion for the ocean and for saving the environment has led him to cities and towns across Queensland as a CoralWatch Ambassador.

Turtle hatchlings scurrying across the beach, stingrays lumbering in waters so clear they can be seen from the jetty, the eerie lament of mutton birds – these are just some of the sights and sounds that greeted UQ grads and guests at a recent Heron Island Alumni Weekend. 

As I leap into the warm, subtropical waters off Heron Island, on the southern Great Barrier Reef, I’m instantly immersed in a visual riot of triggerfish, fusiliers, coral trout and sea perch, swimming against a colourful backdrop of coral.

On the southern side of the Great Barrier Reef lies a marine wonderland of unparalleled beauty. The waters are teeming with fish, rays, dolphins, sharks, and you might even see turtle hatchlings bursting out of the sandy shore like clock-work toys.

The University of Queensland’s Honorary Professor John Jell AM, lauded geologist and reef scientist, has been recognised with a 2021 Queen’s Birthday Honour.

A new study shows the coastal protection coral reefs currently provide will start eroding by the end of the century, as the world continues to warm and the oceans acidify.

In a discovery spanning millions of years, scientists have found that humans, and most likely other animals, share important genetic mechanisms with a prehistoric Great Barrier Reef sea sponge.