We have many exciting Honours and Masters projects already approved.
If you don't see something that fits your interest or passion, please explore our find a supervisor tool, and get in touch with a supervisor who may be able to help you.
Topics noted below may be subject to final IMAS approval, due to issues such as laboratory space, resourcing and supervision.
Dr Phil Reid
Suitable for February or July start date.
Contact Dr Phil Reid (P.Reid@bom.gov.au) for more details.
Supervision team:
Dr Scott Hadley
Recirculating Aquaculture Systems (RAS) are land based and present several potential advantages compared with open water systems that include enhanced biosecurity and a controlled environment. A RAS is a flow through system where matching nutrient sources to sinks is the general aim as this reduces the cost (of removing nutrients) making the RAS a more efficient process. The Experimental Aquaculture Facility (EAF) at IMAS Taroona holds salmon in several tanks. The salmon are fed and the holding water receives the salmon waste, which is comprised of nutrients (nitrogen, carbon and phosphorous) in the form of; particulates (faeces and feed), ammonium (released though the gills from metabolic processes) and urea. Salmon discharge is the only nutrient source into the tank water, which is constantly replenished with fresh water, flushing the waste from the tanks into the RAS sinks. Determining the nutrient flux rates of salmon waste into the surrounding water necessarily forms part of the mass balance equation. Removal of waste can be done using bacteria, microbial processes, filtering, flushing or in a process called Integrated Multi-Trophic Aquaculture (IMTA). IMTA uses organisms from different trophic levels to manage the nutrient fluxes and these include extractive species such as microorganisms, plants, filter feeders and deposit feeders. RAS and on-shore IMTA aim to achieve a net waste of zero; this reduces the need for replenishing with new water thus reducing costs. There is also the potential increase in biomass yield of the identified IMTA crop, which contributes to reducing the system cost. As experiments in the EAF facility often vary environmental variables, particularly temperature, establishing the interaction between temperature and the processes involved in the mass balance would also be highly desirable.
Supervision team:
Associate Professor Catriona Hurd
Dr. Anusuya Willis (CSIRO)
Oyster spat at Shellfish Culture are fed a diet of well-known aquaculture algae species. But some of the species that are unreliable in long term culture, and some are imported species. This project will look at nutrient profiles of the algae to optimise the diet of oysters and identify potential new local the species. These new species will investigated as to replace the current problematic species and/or improving the existing diet of the oysters.
This project will characterise the nutrient profile of the aquaculture algae species, identify new species and trial feedstock on oyster spat.
Supervisor team may include:
Do they squeal, glow or create a stink when stressed? Many marine organisms will exhibit changes in their ecophysiology when put under environmental pressure, and these responses could be used to measure/ monitor environmental conditions. This project proposes to examine the responses of key species, which are known to have a clear ecological response to contamination (e.g. brittle stars (bioluminescence), polychaete (pheromones/ smell) to determine whether their responses can be quantitative measured and attributed to specific environmental.
Supervisor team may include:
Projects relating to core nutrition and animal performance research themes: Fishmeal replacement, nutrient requirement, digestive physiology or feed assessment in Atlantic salmon, trout, abalone, barramundi or prawns. Links with IMTA Nutrition-Environment and modelling. Please discuss directly with supervisors.
Supervisor: Dr Christine Crawford
Please send project enquiries before October 2016 to Course Coordinators Louise.Adams@utas.edu.au or Philip.Crosbie@utas.edu.au. Dr Crawford will be available to discuss details with candidates from October 2017.
Farming Pacific oysters has been an important primary industry in rural Tasmania for over three decades. However, the viral disease Pacific Oyster Mortality Syndrome (POMS) was first detected on farms in southern Tasmania in January 2016 with devastating effects; juvenile mortalities were > 80% on some farms. The native oyster O. angasi is being proposed as an alternate species to farm in southern Australia; however, it has a reputation as being very difficult to culture. A recent review of native oyster aquaculture in Australia found that a major issue in the farming of this species is that most farmers try to grow them using the same techniques and environmental conditions as Pacific oysters. It was recommended that culture methods are developed that are specific to O. anagsi requirements.
The proposed Honours project would investigate the survival, growth and condition of O. angasi in a range of culture conditions, including extent and periodicity of aerial exposure from mid intertidal to subtidal, using different types of rearing containers, degree of handling including grading, and density of culture. This project would be conducted on commercial farms in collaboration with the oyster growers. Likely locations are Bruny Island or Pittwater. This project would be part of the CRC-P Future Oysters, an Australian Government funding program in collaboration with State Governments to support the oyster industry in Australia.
Projects by negotiation with Barbara Nowak (July start only 2017), Andrew Bridle or Phil Crosbie
Projects can be developed directly with interested students in a range of areas including:
Research species may include: salmonids, tuna, flathead, barramundi, Greenland sculpin, lobster and others. Suitable for February or July start date.
Projects can be developed directly with interested students in a range of areas including:
Research species may include: salmonids, tuna, flathead, barramundi, Greenland sculpin, lobster and others.
Suitable for February or July start date.
Contact Barbara Nowak (Barbara.Nowak@utas.edu.au) for more details.
Dr Neville Barrett
Tim Lynch (CSIRO)
Mark Green (CSIRO)
The spotted handfish is one of only a few Australian fish species listed as highly endangered under the EPBC act. The species is primarily only found in the Derwent Estuary, with a life history (site-attached adults producing guarded egg masses that hatch as miniature adults with no dispersal phase) that restricts their capacity to move in response to a changing environment. There are multiple threats to this species, including a physically degraded environment within the river and an increasing abundance of introduced pest species that may compete for resources and modify habitats. Previous studies have suggested that predation on stalked ascidians by the introduced seastar Asterais amurensis may be particularly problematic for the handfish as they preferentially use the ascidians as substrates for deposition of egg masses. Certainly the short egg mass stage (up to six weeks) may be the most critical stage in their life history. As a management response to this, artificial spawning substrates have been developed and planted out at known handfish 'hotspots" throughout the Derwent estuary. Brief surveys of these substrates suggest they are indeed utilised by the handfish, although the extent that they are utilised in preference to other natural substrates has yet to be determined, nor has the likely survival of eggs on such substrates during the incubation period. A potential Honours project would examine the success of artificial substrates at a range of sites throughout the estuary relative to natural substrates, and document the overall survival of egg masses over this period and the types of threats that they are exposed to, (e.g. predation by seastars, fish, crabs etc) and the methods that guarding adults may use to prevent egg loss. It would utilise a range of technologies such as underwater GPS (to relocate each spawning substrate with eggs) and time-lapse GOPRO cameras. This project is supported by the Derwent Estuary Program (DPIPWE) with a $2000 grant towards operating expenses of a dive-based research program, and with supervisory support from the Spotted Handfish advisory team, including representatives from IMAS, CSIRO and the Derwent Estuary Program.
Suitable for February or July start date.
Contact Dr Neville Barrett (neville.barrett@utas.edu.au) for more details.
Gretta Pecl
Emily Ogier
Catriona Macleod
Scientists all have an obligation to society to contribute their observations and knowledge to the wider world. Additionally, to maintain public support, researchers need to be able to adapt to the rapidly changing needs of society and to clearly demonstrate the impact and value of their work. Across Australia, via initiatives like 'Science Week' and throughout many similar activities worldwide, many staff from various universities, institutes and research departments undertake science communication and engagement activities with school groups.
IMAS also undertakes such activities but how do we know these efforts are effective, and how can we improve the benefits and impacts of these activities? This project will work with selected schools and teachers to undertake an evaluation of the success and impact of science engagement and communication activities from the perspectives of students, teachers, parents and the scientists involved in the outreach activities.
Aims:
From this project you may gain skills in: community engagement processes and science communication strategies, experimental design, conducting social science experiments, statistical analysis, stakeholder interactions and publication of results.
Suitable for February start date.
Contact Gretta Pecl (Gretta.Pecl@utas.edu.au) for more details.
Supervision team:
Dr. Gianluca Amoroso (Petuna Seafoods)
Professor Abigail Elizur (University of the Sunshine Coast)
Salmonids have been farmed for decades in Australia, and ~50 000 tonne is produced annually in Tasmania, yet the industry faces challenges to long term stability due to climate change. This can be observed in outdoor pond and tank systems where the water reaches in excess of 22 °C in summer. To date, the impacts of outdoor pond culture on the physiology and reproductive performance of female Atlantic salmon (Salmo salar) has never been studied systematically, and it is therefore difficult to gauge the costs/benefits of using different broodstock management strategies. Thus, the first broad aim of the proposed work is to 1) characterise the impacts of pond and tank culture techniques on broodstock physiology and development, egg quality, and offspring performance.
The spawning period for the Tasmanian stock of Atlantic salmon is typically compressed relative to their northern hemisphere counterparts, and the reduced window for stripping and fertilisation increases the difficulty of managing a large number of broodstock during the spawning season. This project will trial the use photothermal manipulation as means of fine tuning the onset of ovulation and spawning in female Atlantic salmon, with the ultimate goal being to 2) stagger the spawning period for subsets of fish without reducing reproductive performance.
By utilising a range of molecular techniques, we will also assess the physiological responses of female salmon to the conditions tested, and understand the molecular processes that underpin reproductive performance.
Supervisor team may include:
Dr Brad Evans (Tassal)
During marine farm production not all of the fish stocked in a cage survive through to processing; a proportion of stock die due to natural causes along with losses to predators such as seals and escapes as a result of gear failure. A requirement of Aquaculture Stewardship Council (ASC) certification is that operators are able to account for the fate of all of the stocked fish. While in cage mortalities are counted directly (collected by divers) and losses due to predator incursions and significant losses (escapes) due to gear failure or human error are estimated with some degree of accuracy, smaller losses through holes in the cages are more difficult to assess. Using detailed information provided by diver inspections and potentially underwater camera observation this project will seek to correlate and model the relationships between net damage and unaccounted losses across a number of lease sites and individual cages. This is expected reveal the extent to which unaccounted losses can be directly linked to maintenance practices and potentially predator interactions other than those due to obvious net breaches.
Suitable for February or July start
Contact: email Jeremy Lyle for more details.
Supervision team:
Dr Jonny Stark (Australian Antarctic Division)
More than 90% of the world’s oceans occur at depths below the photic zone rely on food that sinks through the water-column, a link referred to as pelagic- benthic coupling. A newly developed technique that estimates patterns of food availability on the seafloor based on ocean models and patterns of surface productivity, has shown the link between seafloor communities and surface productivity largely depends on which types of seafloor organisms are considered. While current research mainly focuses on megabenthos such as corals and sponges, the sediment infauna play a vital role in the functioning of this unique benthic ecosystem and is less studied. Quantifying patterns of both the megabenthos and the infauna and their relation to environmental variables such as food availability can help to better manage, understand and protect this unique environment.
This project aims to quantify and predict patterns of marine infauna biodiversity in East Antarctica using maps pf food availability and other relevant environmental variables. The project will also use the food availability maps to test hypotheses about productivity-biodiversity relationships.
The project will involve the sorting and identification of infauna and will utilise new biodiversity modelling techniques. The project is a collaboration with the Australian Antarctic Division.
Supervisor team may include:
This project will look at how we can better relate community concerns and values to specific environmental outcomes and monitoring data.
Nutrient models for salmon farms use information on nitrogen and phosphorus input and waste to predict nutrient output and wider impacts of salmon farms. This project will interrogate historical nutrition experimental data to generate more accurate models of nutrient cycling from salmon farms under current feeding regimes and stages of production. In addition, experiments may be designed to examine the theoretical basis for environment nutrient loading calculations based on different diets, fish sizes and environmental conditions, to experimentally compare environmental performance and to model nutrient losses under different production scenarios.
Suitable for February or July start date.
Contact Louise Adams (Louise.Adams@utas.edu.au) or Catriona Macleod (Catriona.Macleod@utas.edu.au) for more details
Supervisor team may include:
Models are only as good as the data that is put into them. There is potential for a couple of student projects here to test some of the established assumptions/parameterisation in our existing aquaculture interaction models (e.g. digestibility co-efficient, sediment resuspension and/or for the more mathematically minded how some of the model calculations are derived).
Supervision team:
Associate Professor Catriona Hurd
Dr. Anusuya Willis (CSIRO)
Chaetoceros calcitrans is a fast growing diatom with high nutritional value for filter feeders and it is used as primary feed stock in oyster hatcheries. C. calcitran is part of a suite of micro algae used at the Shellfish Culture (SC) oyster hatchery in Pipeclay Lagoon, Tas, where the algae are grown to large quantities to feed the developing oysters. But, C. calcitran can be unreliable in culture, frequently forming clumps of cells that are indigestible for oysters, or completely crashing (e.g. an annual spring crash is typical). This means that the oysters are sometimes without one of their principle foods. When these culture crashes occur new stock has to be ordered from the Culture Collection to restart the large-scale production, and this can be costly. This is a major concern to the logistical operation of SC algae production facility.
This project will look at the life-cycle, culture conditions and water chemistry of C. calcitran to determine the cause to of the culture crashes and suggest methods for avoiding or mitigating the culture crashes for Shellfish Culture.
Dr. Juan Diego Gaitán-Espitia (CSIRO) juandiego.gaitanespitia@csiro.au
Dr. Alistair Hobday (CSIRO) Alistair.hobday@csiro.au
Dr. Philip Boyd (IMAS) Philip.Boyd@utas.edu.au
Climate-related changes in SST are expected to affect the distribution, physiology and survival of marine organisms. In addition to gradual warming trends, different regions of the world have experienced changes in the frequency and intensity of marine heatwaves (MHWs). These extreme climatic events may have a profound influence in the dynamic of marine populations as well as in the community structure and biodiversity patterns of marine ecosystems. A MHW off the coast of Tasmania this past summer lasted almost 250 days. Understanding and predicting biological responses to these short-term extreme events is important when projecting the impacts of climate change. In this project, we will use realistic MHWs simulations exploring the effects of duration, intensity and rate of evolution of MHWs on the physiological performance, population dynamics and community structure of marine primary producers. Through comparative laboratory experiments we expect to assess the sensibilities, tolerances and dynamics in a range of marine phytoplankton species in response to MHWs. The successful candidate will lead part of an important research project and develop a range of skills as part of the Honours year.
Suitable for February or July start date.
Contact Philip Boyd (Philip.Boyd@utas.edu.au) for more details.
Limited data from the 2012 and 2013 blooms indicate that up to 3 different genotypes of differing toxicity (Type 1, 4 and 5) were present and detected in toxic shellfish during blooms. Each type have potentially different environmental preferences.
This project aims to compare the temperature, salinity and nutrient preferences of the three different genotypes in order to predict their seasonal contribution to shellfish toxicity.
Suitable for February or July start date.
Contact Chris Bolch (Chris.Bolch@utas.edu.au) for more details.
Supervisor team may include:
The student will do morphometrics on histological sections from selected freshwater and seawater grown chinook samples, including mucous cell counts. Main areas - histology, morphometry and image analysis and statistical analysis.
Suitable for February or July start.
Contact: email Barbara Nowak for more details
Dr Tim Lynch (CSIRO) Tim.Lynch@csiro.au
Dr Neville Barrett (IMAS)
Spotted handfish (Brachionichthys hirsutus) are a critically endangered anglerfish known from only 10 sites across the Derwent estuary and D’Entrecasteaux Channel. Since 2014 monitoring of these sub-populations has been undertaken using geo-referenced underwater photography.
This provides both spatial data on densities for ‘hot-spot’ analysis and also tracking of individuals as adult fish have unique spot patterns. To assist in data analysis the pattern recognition software, I3S, was successful trailed in 2016. Data collection will continue through 2017 and we plan to pursue a variety of conservation and behavioural research questions.
First, a simple minimum population size estimate is required to advise government for the immediate commencement of a captive breeding program.
Second, with the developers of I3S, the pattern recognition software program needs to be optimised for spotted handfish.
Third, distributions and movements of fish both within and potentially between sites needs to be determined for management of threats. Forth, the size distribution of fish, especially for recaptures, will be used to investigate age and growth to determine the species life span. Finally, a more sophisticated capture-mark-recapture model that takes into account life-history characteristics, needs to be developed to better estimate the population size.
The project will involve extensive small boat and diving field work. Candidates will hence need to have or be able to achieve the required certification for scientific diving prior to commencing field-work. This includes a recreational diving ticket, at least 20 logged dives and the ability to pass a diving medical. Candidates will also be expected to work towards a coxswain certification. With the exception of the initial recreational dive ticket all training and other expenses will be paid for by the project.
Suitable for February or July start date.
Contact Neville Barrett (Neville.Barrett@utas.edu.au) for more details.
Previous studies have shown that some common cyanobacteria produce compounds that inhibit growth of green algae and have potential as natural herbicides. This project will screen range of cyanobacterial species for growth inhibiting activity against green-algae. Candidate cyanobacteria identified will then be tested against common higher plants.
Suitable for February or July start date.
Contact Chris Bolch (Chris.Bolch@utas.edu.au) for more details.
Knowledge of population age-structure is necessary for stock assessments, and to develop management plans for invasive species such as the Gambusia. Size is generally associated with age; however, there are variations in size at any particular age for most fish species making it difficult to estimate one from the other with precision. Conventionally, counting natural growth rings on the scales, otoliths, vertebrae, etc has been used to good effect particularly in long-lived fish where the annual rings can be easily distinguished and annual aging is more appropriate for most management purposes. In short-lived species where they mature in months a daily ageing tool is necessary. Taking advantage of recent development in molecular biology this project will aim to establish a more precise againg framework, that is cross-validated with daily rings that may be laid on hard parts such as the otolith, scale and fin rays.
Suitable for February or July start date.
Contact Dr Jawahar Patil (jawahar.patil@utas.edu.au) for more details.
Supervisor team may include:
Chilled seafood is processed, packed and stored using a range of materials and under varied conditions. This range of experiments seeks to identify the combination of conditions, packaging and storage parameters that provide the maximum shelf life for a range chilled seafood species.
Supervisor team may include:
The 2000/01 National Recreational Fishing Survey provided the first comprehensive assessment of recreational fishing in Australia. At the time an estimated 3.4 million Australians fished at least one a year, representing almost 20% of the total population. Participation rates did, however, vary widely by age, gender and area of residence. More recent surveys highlight a trend of declining participation that can be linked in part to changing population demographics. This project will review results of surveys of recreational fishing participation in the context of population demographics and the implications for future participation in recreational fishing.
Supervisor team may include:
Modelling water reticulation and nutrient fluxes at IMAS Taroona to assess potential for an on-shore whole-site Integrated Multi-trophic Aquaculture System (IMAS). The project would involve collecting information about seawater usage across three major units on IMAS Taroona site (the EAF, Aquarium Building and “caged-area”). The site is fitted with a number of meters and all seawater has one source.
Supervisor team may include:
Professor Barbara Nowak (Barbara.Nowak@utas.edu.au)
The student will do differential blood cell counts, characterise chinook salmon blood cells using different stains and then relate their results to blood variables which have been already measured (data provided). Main areas - fish hematology and statistical analysis.
Suitable for February or July start.
Contact: email Barbara Nowak for more details
Supervision team:
Dr Andrew Trotter
Associate Professor Greg Smith
Spiny lobsters have very high economic value that are captured and cultured in more than 90 countries. Aquaculture of spiny lobster has always been impeded by the lack of seed stock and all current industries rely of wild caught seed. Larval culture is very difficult, primarily due to the protracted larval cycle. Larval culture of spiny lobsters has been undertaken for 20 years at IMAS and three spiny lobster species have been cultured through the full larval cycle; including Jasus edwardsii, the southern rock lobster, Panulirus ornatus, the tropical rock lobster and Sagmariasus verreauxi, the eastern rock lobster(all Palinuridae). More recently IMAS has used culture techniques developed for spiny lobsters to successfully culture the slipper lobster, Thenus australiensis (Scyllaridae). It is likely that both P. ornatus and T. australiensis will be cultured commercially in the near future using technologies developed at IMAS.
Although the culture techniques are very advanced, some aspects of the larval biology are not well understood. Two of the most challenging developmental stages in the lifecycle of lobsters include metamorphosis, where a dramatic reconstruction in morphology occurs from the feeding phyllosoma larval stage to the non-feeding puerulus stage, and then the emergence from puerulus to the juvenile. During this time the digestive system transitions from processing planktonic to benthic prey with an intermediate non-feeding stage. The digestive system in particular undergoes extensive gross morphological transformation during these life stages but has never been characterised in detail in either species. A more comprehensive understanding ontogenetic changes during these life stages will provide insights/baselines to make improvements to larval and juvenile rearing, particularly in regard to health and nutrition.
Increasing use of intensive irrigated agriculture leads to increasing incidence and concentration of pesticides and herbicide in rivers lakes and estuarine environments. Under particular conditions, sub-lethal concentrations of these chemical favour the growth of blue-green over other algal groups. This project aims to examine the concentrations, mechanisms and environmental conditions of particular herbicides that favour blue-green algal blooms.
Suitable for February or July start date.
Contact Chris Bolch (Chris.Bolch@utas.edu.au) for more details.
Nearly all marine, demersal, bony fishes have a pelagic larval stage that lives in open water for a couple of weeks to a couple of months or more, during which time the larvae are subject to dispersal. For most such species, nearly all dispersal takes place during this pelagic life-history stage, as does most connectivity between geographically separate populations. Traditionally, it was assumed that fish larvae drifted passively with currents, but research in tropical and warm temperate waters has shown that, in fact, larvae have impressive swimming abilities: they can swim at speeds that are similar to the speeds of the currents in which they live over long periods of time. The swimming abilities of fish larvae can have a major influence on dispersal outcomes. However, very little is known of the swimming ability of larvae of cooler water marine fishes, and this makes it difficult to model their dispersal. The project will involve testing reared and wild larvae of Tasmanian fishes in a laboratory swimming chamber to measure their swimming speed and swimming endurance, and how swimming performance changes with ontogeny.
Suggested reading: LEIS, J. M. 2010. Ontogeny of behaviour in larvae of marine demersal fishes. Ichthyological Research. 57:325-342.
Suitable for February or July start date.
Contact: Dr Jeff Leis (jeffrey.leis@utas.edu.au) for more details.
Supervisor team may include:
Madeleine Cahill (CSIRO)
Dr Alistair Hobday (CSIRO)
Fish kills, where large numbers of fish are found washed up on beaches, are disturbing events because they can signal environmental distress. In Australian marine waters, fish kills are infrequent, but not uncommon. They can occur for a number of reasons from the fish finding themselves out of their temperature range to oxygen depleted of the water (due to algal blooms, overpopulation or increased water temperatures) or toxic algal blooms. Parasites and disease can also cause fish deaths in large numbers but usually only when conditions are such that the fish have become susceptible due to stress.
The most significant fish kill to occur in Australian waters was the 1995 Pilchard mortality that started in waters off South Australia but over a period of months managed to spread over the entire range of pilchards in Australia, from Noosa Heads in Queensland to Carnarvon in WA. This fish kill was studied intensively and attributed to a herpes virus that infected the gills of the pilchards. Another fish kill, of both pelagic and demersal fish, which occurred off the Kimberley, was found to be caused by a strep-xxx virus. This result was unusual in that there was a clear killer found and the virus is quite rare in a non-aquaculture environment. Investigation into fish kills is usually done on a state-by-state basis and most of the causes are undiagnosed – not due to lack of interest but more due to the nature of the problem and the lag between the fish dying and someone notifying the state fishery.
This Honours project is designed to provide the research necessary to implement a national database that would collate critical information on historical and contemporary fish kills, making the information available for resource managers and researchers. A National database of this nature may also be extended to include biological response other ‘extreme’ or unusual marine events.
Supervision team:
Associate Professor Julia Blanchard
Size based feeding interactions are at the core of our current understanding about the processes driving ecological dynamics in marine ecosystems. However, we still lack data to assess the generality of size based feeding predictions and rules that determine feeding in different fish functional groups (planktivores, benthivores or predators). This project will analyses literature data and samples from Australian coastal fish species, determine relationship between species body size, gape size and prey size in the gut contents and improve our understanding on what drives feeding interactions in coastal communities.
The specific aims of the project are:
Supervision team:
Estuarine-coastal systems provide economic, social, and environmental benefits, including distinctive biodiversity and important ecosystem services such as energy sources (tidal), marine transportation, seafood, nutrient cycling, recreation and education. The different shapes and sizes of estuaries, channel morphologies, bathymetries and tidal dynamics and the complex interaction of these physical properties and processes result in nonlinear changes to bathymetry, tidal range and water level. This has profound implications for how the vast resources, including biological diversity and ecosystem services, within an estuarine coastal system can be sustainably managed. This research will examine how dynamic estuarine processes change over time and how synergistic feedbacks between these processes alter estuarine and coastal characteristics and processes, both physical and ecological. This research will include the collection, processing and analysis of tidal height data, validation of bathymetric datasets and potentially hydrodynamic modelling of tidal currents and sediment transport.
Jeff Ross
Catriona Macleod
Christine Crawford
Neville Barrett
Scott Ling
World Harbour Project - Honours Project Opportunity
Globally, coastal urbanisation is increasing. One impact of coastal development is the replacement of natural marine habitats with man‐made artificial structures, such as seawalls, breakwaters, groynes and rip rap. Artificial structures are typically less biodiverse than natural habitats, and the surrounding water quality is often poor.
The World Harbour Project is investigating the use of ecological engineering to increase biodiversity and functioning of breakwaters/groynes in urban areas through the addition of structural features (e.g. crevices & holes, ridges, grooves and textures) and the creation of biogenic habitats such as bivalve communities and seaweeds (kelps). The Project brings together international research institutions and agencies concerned with the health of these heavily urbanised waterways and the increasing challenges they face.
Oysters and mussels are habitat-forming species that are known to enhance ecosystem biodiversity and functioning. Seawalls typically support impoverished bivalve communities because their flat, vertical surfaces compress the intertidal zone and limit the available 3 dimensional space (e.g. crevices, ledges, pits) for colonisation and growth of fauna and flora. They are also often colonised by invasive species that can alter the biodiversity and ecosystems function. Adding bivalves to these structures via seeding or transplants could enhance their biodiversity and functioning, and minimize the colonization of unwanted species, such as non-indigenous species.
This project will explore whether adding complex habitat, that increases the number of microhabitats available on seawalls, will enhance native biodiversity and the survivorship of seeded bivalves over that found on flat plates. This includes testing whether tiles seeded with bivalves further enhance biodiversity and support fewer non-native species than those without bivalve seeding. The candidate should be willing to progress their skills in field data collection (at an intertidal site in the Derwent), experimental design and data analysis.
The position is available for a semester 1 2017 start; however, an early start/project involvement is strongly encouraged, please contact Jeff to discuss.
Global Experiment – the experiment in the Derwent is been repeated at a series of locations globally. So, not only will there be an opportunity to publish on the Derwent results, but the partners will also be authors on a global paper that will involve a meta-analysis of all the experiments.
Contact Jeff Ross (Jeff.Ross@utas.edu.au) for more details.
In Winter and Spring 2012, the eastern coast of Tasmania experienced a bloom of a neurotoxic strain of the dinoflagellate called Alexandrium tamarense, The entire eastern coast of Tasmania was closed for harvest of mussels, oysters, scallops, and also wild lobster, abalone, and crabs for up to six months causing severe financial stress for fishing/aquaculture and industry financial losses in excess of $23M dollars.
Major blooms reoccurred again in winter-spring 2015, resulting in three confirmed human poisonings from consumption of recreationally collected shellfish, prolonged harvest closures due to toxicity. Of major concern 2015 blooms also resulted in substantial mortalities of fauna and flora at some sites, including commercial stocks of adult and juvenile shellfish.
IMAS research has identified, cultured and confirmed the toxicity of the causative organism/s, a highly toxic genotype not previously known from Australasian waters (Bolch et al. 2013). However, little is known of the ecology and environmental preferences of this toxic species. Example project ideas listed below should be considered a starting point for discussion with me about specific details.
Suitable for February or July start date.
Contact Chris Bolch (Chris.Bolch@utas.edu.au) for more details.
Understanding trophic transfer mechanisms in marine species/ communities is an important precursor to clarifying contamination pathways, improving our understanding of the ecosystem and developing effective management and remediation strategies. This project aims to identify the main ecological and physiological factors associated with heavy metal uptake in key invertebrate and vertebrate species. Are they what they eat? How does environmental loading and metal speciation influence uptake potential? This information is important if we are to understand metal accumulation & toxicity, or to identify species with the potential to act as indicators of remediation and is essential for evaluating environmental impacts & developing risk/ management responses.
The project will use a combination of field based and experimental studies (potentially including both traditional dietary analysis techniques and stable isotope analysis) to clarify the relevant responses for key species. There is flexibility within the project to change the project emphasis to suit specific student interests/ capabilities; for instance the project can be focussed on comparison of uptake rates and mechanisms between different functional types within a location, within a species/ type, between locations or even to look at specific uptake pathways.
This project can be tailored to suit students with an interest and ability in either ecological or physiological processes.
There are six key research areas that have been identified as priorities in 2016:
Project 1 - How is metal accumulation rate in Flathead from the Derwent Estuary affected by growth conditions?
Project 2 – Heavy metal uptake in recreationally fished species from the Derwent estuary: Focussing on mechanisms of bioaccumulation & bioavailability.
Project 3 – What can 20 years of oyster sampling tell us about bio-monitoring?
Project 4 – Assessing the relationship between infaunal body burden and mercury load in contamination hotspots.
Project 5 – What is the proportional representation of mercury species in sediments?
Project 6 – What factors can increase mercury accumulation risk in methylation hotspots?
From these projects you may gain skills in: experimental design (field and laboratory), field sampling, conducting laboratory based experiments, statistical analysis, stakeholder interactions and publication of results.
Suitable for February or July start date.
Contact Catriona Macleod (Catriona.Macleod@utas.edu.au) for more details.
Several east coast shellfish farms report increased mortality of juvenile and adult shellfish associated with blooms of Alexandrium tamarense. This project will used cultures of toxic species to determine relevant cell concentrations and histopathological effects A. tamarense on shellfish.
Suitable for February or July start date.
Contact Chris Bolch (Chris.Bolch@utas.edu.au) for more details.
Supervision team:
Associate Professor Catriona Hurd
Matthias Schmid
Marine food webs, which include many economically and ecologically important species, ultimately depend on energy generated by primary producers such as seaweeds (macroalgae). Algae are particularly unique as they metabolize omega-3 and omega-6 polyunsaturated fatty acids (PUFA), in particular the long-chain (≥C20) polyunsaturated fatty acids (LC-PUFA), which play essential physiological roles both in the algae themselves and in the animals that consume them.
The abiotic conditions in the environment strongly impact the levels and composition of fatty acids in macroalgae. The expected climatic changes including increased temperature and levels of dissolved CO2 in the future ocean are projected to lead to a decline in essential LC-PUFA in macroalgae with flow-on effects to higher trophic levels.
This project aims to deliver the first assessment of the impacts of ocean warming and ocean acidification on production and trophic transfer of the key health-benefitting LC-PUFA in a laboratory based coastal model community.
Supervisor team may include:
A variety of environmental factors influence the body size of endotherms, mainly driven by temperature, and reflected as latitudinal gradients in measurements. Allen’s, Bergmann’s, and James’s rules hypothesize that endotherms will minimize their body surface area to reduce heat loss, and that species or individuals at higher latitudes will be larger than their low-latitude counterparts. This project aims to examine these biogeographic patterns in the Atlantic Puffin, a seabird distributed in the North Atlantic Ocean, in relation to environmental variables such as sea-surface temperature. A database of measurements from >300 studies representing >25,000 individuals from 35 degrees of latitude and 130 degrees of longitude in a variety of environmental conditions has already been compiled. Furthermore, this project will evaluate the morphometric validity of the three frequently-used subspecies, and aim to produce a peer-reviewed manuscript.
Supervisor team may include:
Very little is known of wild phyllosoma biology, yet they support economically important Australian fisheries, and international aquaculture industries. Environmental physiology research may explore links between changing climate and environmental conditions and larval performance.
IMTA has several prospective benefits for salmon aquaculture; including the provision of alternative product(s) and the potential to offset the adverse effects of nutrient inputs. However, it is important to understand all of the interactions to ensure the benefits outweigh any possible negatives.
This project will investigate various husbandry and system parameters, configurations and approaches that potentially impact upon hatching success of ova post fertilization.
Suitable for February or July start date.
Contact Mark Adams (Mark.Adams@utas.edu.au) for more details.
The skin, gill and gastric mucosae of many aquatic and terrestrial organisms can be collected and treated using different techniques to facilitate subsequent post-mortem analysis. This project seeks to explore pre and post-mortem procedures that may affect the interpretation of mucosal surfaces.
Suitable for February or July start date.
Contact Mark Adams (Mark.Adams@utas.edu.au) for more details.
Projects can be developed directly with interested students in a range of areas including:
Suitable for February or July start date.
Contact John Purser (John.Purser@utas.edu.au) for more details.
Supervision team:
Dr Michael Oellerman (Primary supervisor)
Tiffany Nay (James Cook University)
Ocean warming forces a large number of species to change their distribution, tracking - where they can - their optimal temperatures further poleward. Spiny lobsters are no exception, moving south along the east coast of Australia, where waters warm almost four times faster than the global average. However, species may not perfectly match their preferred thermal environment. Recent studies on coral reef fish showed that the choice of habitat temperature does not solely depend on individual choice but can be influenced by a social group, potentially delaying the tracking of preferred temperatures. Spiny lobsters are highly gregarious most of their life time, seeking shelter and safety within social groups of conspecifics. This indicates that lobsters – like coral reef fish - require critical densities of conspecifics to track their individually preferred temperature with ocean warming. The subtropical eastern rock lobster is one of those numerous species currently escaping rapidly warming waters. As the largest known spiny lobsters, the increased abundance of this key predator into cooler Tasmanian waters may pose significant threats to native ecosystems and the valuable southern rock lobster fisheries. Understanding how far, and how quickly, eastern rock lobsters will progress into Tasmania is therefore key to better understand and prepare for ecological responses to climate change.
Overall aims:
Understand if sociality in eastern rock lobster will change its choice of preferred temperature.
Specific aims/hypothesis
This project aims to use microsatellite DNA methods to examine the genetic diversity and population structure of Tasmanian blooms of A. tamarense.
Suitable for February or July start date.
Contact Chris Bolch (Chris.Bolch@utas.edu.au) for more details.
Understanding heat flow in Antarctica is important for modelling ice sheets and glaciers.
Suitable for February or July start date.
Contact Jo Whittaker (jo.whittaker@utas.edu.au) for more details.
Supervision team:
Associate Professor Catriona Hurd
Dr. Kim Lee-Chang (CSIRO)
The potential production of high-value bioproducts with nutrients recovery from wastes resource using microbes is of intense interest globally.
We have shown the potential of heterotrophic microalgae to grow on crude feedstocks and to provide the growing global population with a secure, sustainable alternative source of health-benefitting omega-3 oils, together with other oils, for use in feeds and fuels.
This project will investigate how microalgae can utilise different local industrial by-products, eg waste sugars, fruit juice pulp, etc, to produce omega-3 oils, in a cost-effective way.
This project will gather growth data through biomass harvesting, analytical chemistry such as GC, GC/MS, HPLC in order to better understand the physiology and lipids synthesis pathway of microalgae cells response to changes in their environment, as well as study the life- cycle analysis and techno-economic assessment of this heterotrophic production system.
Supervisor team may include:
This project would look at using existing sensor and telemetry infrastructure to deploy time-lapse cameras in Macquarie Harbour in order to assess the response of key species to nutrient enrichment.
A combined lab/field project to calibrate state of the art fluorescence detection methods to established national cyanobacterial bloom alert levels for lakes and rivers.
Suitable for February or July start date.
Contact Chris Bolch (Chris.Bolch@utas.edu.au) for more details.
Supervisor team may include:
Centrostephanus are continuing to expand down the east coast of Tasmania, resulting in destructive overgrazing of kelp habitats. While direct biological impacts have been well documented, economic and social implications are less understood. This project looks to define what fisheries/industries are most at risk should barrens continue to expand, and to quantify the social and economic impacts to regional areas, and Tasmania as a whole.
Supervisor team may include:
IMTA involves growing different species together to offset adverse interactions such as elevated nutrients. This project will test the efficiency of nutrient uptake by seaweed under different growing conditions and compare the outcomes with previously developed model outputs.
Kerrie Swadling
John Keane
Jeremy Lyle
This project aims to describe the distribution and abundance of key larval fish species of ecological, recreational and commercial importance within Storm Bay in relation to seasonal and oceanographic cycles. Samples have been collected from 5 sites spanning the length and breadth of Storm Bay at approximately monthly intervals for a period of 5 years, yielding an extensive sample resource.
Fish larvae will need to be sorted from plankton samples and identified. Results could be analysed in regard to spawning cycles, planktonic cycles, oceanographic conditions, hydrology and climate change. Outcomes will be a benefit for both fisheries and ecosystem management.
This project involves elements of microscopy, taxonomy, ecology and oceanography. It would be expected that the research would yield a peer-reviewed scientific paper.
Suitable for February or July start date.
Contact Kerrie Swadling (Kerrie.Swadling@utas.edu.au), John Keane (John.Keane@utas.edu.au) or Jeremy Lyle (Jeremy.Lyle@utas.edu.au) for more details.
Supervisor team may include:
This project aims to describe the distribution and abundance of key larval fish species of ecological, recreational and commercial importance within Storm Bay in relation to seasonal and oceanographic cycles. Samples have been collected from 5 sites spanning the length and breadth of Storm Bay at approximately monthly intervals for a period of 5 years, yielding an extensive sample resource. Fish larvae will need to be sorted from plankton samples and identified. Results could be analysed in regard to spawning cycles, planktonic cycles, oceanographic conditions, hydrology and climate change. Outcomes will be a benefit for both fisheries and ecosystem management. This project involves elements of microscopy, taxonomy, ecology and oceanography. It would be expected that the research would yield a peer-reviewed scientific paper.
Supervisor team may include:
Nutrition and feeding studies on harvest sized salmon are challenging without specialist experimental facilities. There are opportunities for nutrition related projects investigating aspects of feed digestibility, digestive physiology, product quality and performance under commercial conditions, aligned with large multidisciplinary experiments conducted at the EAF. Laboratory work would begin early (Feb-March) and would require travel between Hobart and Launceston during the project.
Modern consumer device imaging technology such as webcams and smart-phones have considerable potential as low-cost imaging solutions for environmental monitoring applications. This project aims to develop and test optical performance of a prototype smart-phone-based micro-imaging system for phytoplankton cells.
Suitable for February or July start date.
Contact Chris Bolch (Chris.Bolch@utas.edu.au) for more details.
The teleostean mast cell/eosinophilic granule cell often plays a key role in the initiation of some inflammatory processes. However its distribution and functionality is not well resolved due its somewhat enigmatic nature. This project will investigate different fixation/staining and sectioning approaches to describe the presence and distribution in a number of teleost species.
Suitable for February or July start date.
Contact Mark Adams (Mark.Adams@utas.edu.au) for more details.
Associate Professor Catriona Hurd
Tasmania has a globally unique and highly diverse seaweed flora with over 1000 species, most of which are unstudied in terms of their role in nitrogen and phosphorous cycling in the coastal environment. Nitrogen is the most important nutrient limiting seaweed growth and is available in two inorganic forms: nitrate and ammonium. Nitrate is considered an energetically ‘expensive’ form of nitrogen because it requires energy (from light) in order to take up and assimilate. Ammonium uptake is considered energetically ‘cheap’ as it is taken up by passive diffusion. To date, uptake rates of nitrogen and ammonium have been measured for only two species of seaweed in Tasmania and we know little of their uptake mechanisms. Phosphorous is an essential nutrient for seaweeds but uptake rates of phosphate have not been measured for any Tasmanian species.
In this honours project, you use laboratory experiments to measure the rates of nitrate, ammonium or phosphate uptake at a range of concentrations on previously un-studied Tasmanian red seaweeds. A number of projects on this general topic are available and would suit a student with a background in algal biology, temperate reef biology. Diving is useful but not essential.
The aim of this project would be to test the ability of artificial habitats or constructed wetlands to remediate a broad suite of contaminants relevant to the Derwent. Depending on student interests and experience the project could i) target a particular contaminant, such as mercury, and evaluate and test alternate strategies for remediation in mesocosm trials OR ii) target a particular location (eg. MONA) and test alternate strategies for general remediation of the broad suite of contaminants in the local ecosystem.
Strategies that could be tested using mesocosm technology include but are not limited to hierarchical wetland construction with each stage designed to address a particular contamination issue and specific culture media targeting particular contaminants (these might include plant based cultures and/ or sediment based manipulations).
A key component to this project in the latter stages would be integration with landscape architects/ designers with a view to identifying ways to implement any proposed technology in real scales.
Aims:
From this project you may gain skills in: experimental design (field and laboratory), field sampling, conducting laboratory based experiments, statistical analysis, stakeholder interactions and publication of results.
Suitable for February or July start date.
Contact Catriona Macleod (Catriona.Macleod@utas.edu.au) for more details.
This project will involve the creation of a database of the location, composition, environmental significance and potential impact of sewerage outfalls on Australia's marine environment. The student will also conduct statistical analysis of data from different outfall studies to identify patterns among study results and to further understand relationships between the multiple studies. The meta analysis will include meta-regression statistical models and multivariate analyses (e.g. simple, fixed-effect meta-regression or random effect meta regression).
Suitable for February or July start date.
Contact Andy Fischer (Andy.Fischer@utas.edu.au) for more details.
Shortly after first feeding Atlantic salmon fry can sometimes display high incidence of opercular erosion of which the cause and risk factors are poorly understood.
Suitable for February or July start date.
Contact Mark Adams (Mark.Adams@utas.edu.au) for more details.
Supervisor team may include:
Dr Justin Chalker (Flinders University)
This project will test a novel approach to detect mercury contamination and bioavailability in sediments? Scientists at Flinders University have developed an innovative new polymer that is able to extract mercury from the environment. This polymer has a distinct colour change (it goes bright orange) when associated with metal uptake. We would like to improve our understanding of how this technology could be applied in environmental monitoring i.e. can this polymer provide an accurate indication of mercury distribution in the environment. This project would look to ground truth the new technology against our existing science and sediment understanding and more clearly identify how the polymer responds under different environmental conditions.
Suitable for February or July start date.
Contact Assoc Prof Neil Holbrook (Neil.Holbrook@utas.edu.au) for more details.
Associate Professor Zanna Chase
Dr Denise Hardestry
Dr Chris Wilcox, CSIRO
Plastic in the marine environment is a growing environmental concern. The presence of plastic has also been proposed as a stratigraphic marker of the Anthropocene. Yet we know virtually nothing about the geological behaviour of plastics in marine sediments - the nature of the plastics, its behaviour in sediments, the timing of accumulation, and the geographic distribution. Such information is needed to establish the potential utility of microplastics as a stratigraphic marker (Zalasiewicz et al. 2016). Such information can also shed light on the sources, sinks and impact of plastics in a given environment. This honours project will quantify microplastic (plastics < 2mm) concentrations in a suite of sediment cores from the Derwent Estuary. By analyzing microplastic concentrations in different layers of the cores, the project will characterize the historical input of microplastics to the estuary.
Suitable for February or July start date.
Contact Jo Whittaker (jo.whittaker@utas.edu.au) for more details.
Supervisor team may include:
This project will describe age and growth of the short-spined sea urchin in Tasmania.
This project will investigate the initial stages of interaction between Neoparamoeba perurans and host tissue in vivo.
Suitable for February or July start date.
Contact Mark Adams (Mark.Adams@utas.edu.au) for more details.
Supervisors:
Associate Professor Zanna Chase - ext 8596
A/Prof Ashley Townsend (CSL)
PhD candidate Habacuc Perez-Tribouiller
In this project you will analyse a suite of seawater samples collected from the waters around Australia’s Heard and McDonald islands, in the southern Indian Ocean. The samples were collected in early 2016 on a voyage of R/V Investigator. The goal of the voyage was to explore the area looking for hydrothermal vents, which were thought might be a source of the micronutrient iron to the surrounding waters. Phytoplankton in the Southern Ocean are limited by the availability of iron, so iron sources, such as from hydrothermal vents, are important to quantify. While we did find some evidence for hydrothermalism, the reality is the area is highly complex, with iron coming from multiple sources including glacial runoff, sediment release, upwelling, hydrothermalism and subaerial volcanism. Dynamic currents add to the complexity. We are using a multi-element approach to better understand the relative importance of different sources of iron to the region.
The rare earth elements offer a unique perspective on the geochemical processes occurring in the region. The relative abundance of the rare earths is sensitive to biological and geochemical processes, including hydrothermalism, sediment dissolution, particle scavenging and microbial activity. The rare earth element dataset will complement the abundant and growing datasets on related trace elements and their isotopes measured on samples from this voyage, which together will be used to fit together the pieces of this geochemical puzzle.
This project will involve some method validation work, and would therefore suit a student with a chemistry background. You will need to be comfortable working in a lab, and be familiar with basic concepts in analytical chemistry.
Assoc Prof Zanna Chase (IMAS)
Axel Durand (IMAS)
Dr Ashley Townsend (Central Science Laboratory)
Our oceans are losing oxygen, a phenomenon referred to as “ocean deoxygenation”. Between 1970 and 1990 there has been an average decline of almost 1 μmol/L dissolved oxygen, with the largest losses of oxygen observed in the Southern Ocean, the North Pacific and North West Atlantic (Helm et al., 2011). Ocean deoxygenation could have a profound impact on ocean biology, and could even accelerate the pace of climate change, by increasing the oceanic production of the greenhouse gas N2O. However, our ability to predict the future course of ocean deoxygenation and its impact is limited because of the complex interplay between ocean physics and biogeochemistry in determining oxygenation levels. Studying the response of ocean oxygenation to past climate change events can illuminate the important processes involved. However, the geologic record of ocean oxygenation is limited: there are very few records of ocean oxygen anywhere that cover the full glacial cycle, or resolve high-frequency variability. To fill this gap, this project will generate proxy records of bottom water oxygen and bio-productivity at three ODP Leg 202 sites on the south-central Chile margin back to the last interglacial period, reconstructing the full glacial cycle and the response to millennial-scale climate events. This will allow us to address two main scientific questions, presented here are discussed in more detail below:
Question 1: When did oxygen first decrease in the SE Pacific, within the sequence of events beginning at glacial inception?
Question 2: How did oxygenation of the SE Pacific respond to the millennial- cale climate events that occurred during the last glacial period?
The student will use microwave assisted digestion to digest sediments prior to analysis by ICP-MS. Samples will be analysed at UTAS on a sector field, single collector Element 2 ICP-MS. The student will measure concentrations of redox-sensitive trace metals (Mn, U, Re) as well as lithogenic metals (Th, Al, Fe, Ti, Mg) in two sediment cores. The student will learn how to process raw data from the ICP-MS, calculate excess metal concentrations, and interpret changes in the context of bottom water oxygen and regional and global paleoclimactic events.
Suitable for February or July start date.
Contact Zanna Chase (zanna.chase@utas.edu.au) for more details.
Supervision team:
Phytoplankton in the surface ocean convert inorganic carbon dissolved from the atmosphere into organic material (cells). These cells then sink to the deep ocean transporting huge amounts of carbon to the deep, regulating atmospheric carbon dioxide levels. As phytoplankton are the base of the food chain they are consumed by krill and eventually whales. Krill and whale faeces is thus rich in carbon and also forms important sinking particles transporting carbon to the deep ocean. As these different particles sink; dead phytoplankton and krill and whale faeces, the carbon is remineralised (converted back to carbon dioxide) by bacteria, potentially making it available for physical mixing to the surface and re-exchange with the atmosphere. This project will involve producing different particles in the lab and comparing the remineralisation rate between them. This information is important to help better understand the ocean carbon cycle, and improve model predictions now and in the future under warming conditions.
Supervision team:
Associate Professor Neville Barrett
Baited underwater videos (BRUVs) are now in common use for surveying fish populations on reef systems around Australia. A number of surveys have now been undertaken at locations around Tasmania, but this information has yet to be synthesised to gain an understanding of the general lessons from this with respect to biogeographical patterns, ranges and depth distributions of key species, or the effectiveness of potential indicator species for long-term monitoring programs. A project is available to undertake this synthesis, as well as potentially completing an additional set of BRUV deployments on the Tasmanian west coast to fill in a current biogeographical gap in this regional coverage.
This project uses a comprehensive set of imagery derived from IMOS AUV deployments in Tasmanian shelf waters to examine the spatial distribution of characteristic reef associated species (e.g. particular sponges) and their relationship with significant habitat features. The work will allow future predictions of the distribution of key species based on mapped seabed geomorphology.
A range of similar projects are also available for this image analysis, including description of the spatial distribution of benthic invertebrates and algae within the Flinders Commonwealth Marine Reserve, physical drivers of benthic invertebrate structural height and complexity on deep reefs, the changing distribution of Centrostephanus barrens in eastern Tasmanian waters.
Suitable for February or July start date.
Contact Dr Neville Barrett (neville.barrett@utas.edu.au) for more details.
Contact Andy Fischer (Andy.Fischer@utas.edu.au) for more details.
Supervisor team may include:
This project will describe reproductive biology of the short-spined sea urchin in Tasmania.
Associate Professor Catriona Hurd
Ocean acidification is predicted to cause widespread modification of marine ecosystems in a future high CO2 ocean. Fleshy macroalgae (e.g. kelp) dominate temperate rocky reefs worldwide, and while it has been predicted that they will benefit from ocean acidification but to date there is little evidence to support this hypothesis. Unlike terrestrial plants that use only CO2, macroalgae can utilise either CO2 or bicarbonate (HCO3-) that is dissolved in seawater for photosynthesis. However, in Tasmania we have a globally unique coastal system that has a substantial number (80%) of species that can use only CO2 in photosynthesis (Cornwall et al. 2015). In this honours project, you will examine the growth and physiological responses of Tasmanian red seaweeds to CO2 fertilization using a state-of-the-art ocean acidification simulator available in Hurd’s laboratory.
A number of projects on this general topic are available and would suit a student with a background in algal biology, plant physiology and/or temperate reef biology. Diving is useful but not essential.
Associate Professor Catriona Hurd
Ocean acidification is predicted to alter rates of growth of seaweeds in temperature systems, however seaweeds are able to metabolically modify their own pH environment via photosynthesis and respiration. In the day, seaweed photosynthesis causes the pH at their surface to increase thereby ameliorating the negative effects of reduced pH. At night, respiration causes pH to decline. The result is that seawater pH in coastal systems fluctuates on a daily cycle, and such fluctuations have been shown to alter the outcome of experiments. For example, Britton et al (2016) found that the kelp Ecklonia grew faster in fluctuating pH compared to static pH whereas for a calcifying seaweed the effect of fluctuating pH was negative. However, the generality of this response is unknown, as are the and physiological mechanisms underpinning the response. In this honours project, you will examine the effects of fluctuating pH on the growth and physiological responses of previously un-studied Tasmanian seaweeds to fluctuating pH using a state-of-the-art ocean acidification simulator available in Hurd’s laboratory.
A number of projects on this general topic are available and would suit a student with a background in algal biology, plant physiology and/or temperate reef biology. Diving is useful but not essential.
Associate Professor Catriona Hurd
Globally, levels of dissolved CO2 in seawater are increasing, termed ocean acidification (OA). Locally, levels of inorganic nitrogen are increasing due to altered land use (e.g. farming) or more intensive aquaculture. However, we know little on the interactive effects of both increasing CO2 and nitrogen on seaweeds, which form the base of coastal ecosystems. Recent work has shown for the common green seaweed, Ulva (sea lettuce) that nitrogen is more important than CO2 in controlling seaweed growth and photosynthesis (Rautenberger et al. 2015, Reidenbach et al (2017). However, Tasmania has a globally unique and highly diverse seaweed flora with over 1000 species, most of which are unstudied in terms of their physiology and response to global and local anthropogenic change. In this honours project, you will examine the interactive effects of nitrogen and CO2 fertilization on previously un-studied Tasmanian red seaweeds using a state-of-the-art ocean acidification simulator available in Hurd’s laboratory.
A number of projects on this general topic are available and would suit a student with a background in algal biology, temperate reef biology. Diving is useful but not essential.
This project aims to refine satellite detection of cyanobacteria blooms by comparison with in-situ fluorescene detection buoys in Tasmanian water bodies.
Suitable for February or July start date.
Contact Chris Bolch (Chris.Bolch@utas.edu.au) for more details.
The surface of parts of the Antarctic Ice Sheet (AIS) is undergoing significant change, particularly in some coastal regions. The Advanced Scatterometer (ASCAT) is an active microwave scatterometer instrument in a low Earth polar orbit. Scatterometers observe the surface from a variety of different incidence and azumith angles, and the anisotropy of the backscatter reveals many properties of the surface/subsurface. ASCAT has many potential applications for AIS studies. With 5 GHz (C-band) microwave remote sensing, we are able to retrieve information on the top ~20 m of the dry snow zone. ASCAT parameters are extremely sensitive to melt, and it has been shown that ASCAT is sensitive to changes in accumulation and near surface snow/firn temperature. ASCAT data have previously been retrieved and parameterised at the ACE CRC, for the period 2007-2012. This processing is highly CPU-intensive. Since 2012, a second ASCAT instrument has been launched, on a complementary orbit. Updating the ASCAT dataset to present, automation of future updates, and incorporation of the second ASCAT instrument are desirable.
The major aims of this project are to update the ASCAT dataset on the AIS to the present, and to automate future data acquisitions. Such automation is an essential component: With automated acquisitions, our group will be the first to detect new melt regions (and other significant surface changes) in the future. ASCAT parameterisation is highly suitable to automation, because there are no points in the processing chain where manual input is required. Due to the CPU-intensive nature of the processing, use of a supercomputer will be investigated. Inclusion of data from the second ASCAT instrument will also be investigated.
The risks associated with this project are relatively low, because the basic processing methods have already been implemented, tested, and published (please see Fraser et al, 2014 for details). However, there is scope to improve the processing methods, and the student will be encouraged to implement such improvements.
After the technical implementation of the automation, the student will shift focus to detecting changes on the AIS, and (first-order) analysis of interesting cases in conjunction with atmospheric reanalysis datasets.
There are also sea ice applications for ASCAT, which are outside of the scope of this project; however the student will also be listed as a co-author on future publications using these data from the sea ice group.
Suitable for February or July start date.
Contact Dr Alex Fraser (alexander.fraser@utas.edu.au) for more details.
Supervisor team may include:
Lab based assessment of the functional response of sediments in Macquarie Harbour to key species.
Dr John Wright
The overall project is a joint initiative with CSIRO with external funding. The overall aim of the project is to enhance the productivity of the Tasmanian oyster industry. I would be happy to meet and chat to any students interested in projects in the aquaculture/marine biology field. There would be extensive field work and travel involved. Possible projects could include the monitoring and assessment of metabolic rate of oysters deployed to various farms across the state and relating the data to environmental monitoring data and oyster health. Alternatively, the identification and characterization of phytoplankton available and consumed by oysters at various growing locations and relating this to oyster health and our biosensors.
Suitable for February or July start date.
Contact Dr John Wright (john.wright@utas.edu.au) for more details.
Primary supervisor
The native shortspined sea urchin (Heliocidaris erythrogramma) has been commercially harvested in Tasmania for over 30 years, yet the commercial size limit has limited scientific grounding. This project will investigate the age, growth and size at maturity of the shortspined urchin to set scientifically meaningful size limits. The student will acquire skills in histology, species aging, growth modelling and fisheries management. Scientific Diving would be advantageous. The project is part of a federally funded Fisheries Research Development Corporation grant.
Supervisor team may include:
Chilled seafood is processed, packed and stored using a range of materials and under varied conditions. This project will look at application of novel food technologies, in combination with existing MAP processes, in order to improve shelf life and product quality at a range of temperatures.
Dr Steven Phipps, IMAS
Prof. Matt King, School of Land and Food
At the height of the last Ice Age, around 20,000 years ago, Tasmania was a very different place to today. Sea levels were 120m lower and Tasmania was joined to the Australian mainland. Ice sheets also covered much of south-eastern Australia, including Tasmania.
This project will use a state-of-the art ice sheet model to simulate the evolution of the Tasmanian ice sheet. Geological records will be used to validate the model simulations. The outcomes are likely to be of public interest, with potential for the candidate to engage in public outreach and science communication activities.
Key skills needed
This project would suit candidates with a background in physical sciences or engineering and with well-developed skills in numerical analysis. Experience in compiling and running scientific software would be highly advantageous for the purposes of completing the model experiments.
Suitable for February or July start date.
Contact Steven Phipps (Steven.Phipps@utas.edu.au) or Matt King (Matt.King@utas.edu.au) for more details.
Supervisor team may include:
Increasing numbers of sardine in Tasmanian waters has led to a developmental fishery being established. This project will aim to describe the variation in spawning of Sardine in relation to environmental variables off southern (Storm Bay) and eastern Tasmania (Maria Island) based on egg and larval distributions. Collated information of Sardine spawning in Tasmanian and adjacent Commonwealth waters will be used to make recommendations for the timing of potential future DEPM surveys in Tasmania.
Duplication and functional specialisation is a hallmark of teleostean genome, conferring adaptive and species diversity making teleosts the most diverse group of vertebrates. This diversity is underpinned by an array of reproductive strategies, providing a creative canvas to fundamentally reconstruct evolutionary process as well as opportunities to sustainably manage and use fishery resources. Set within a broader objective of developing a genetic approach to control pest fish, this project will use a live bearing fish Gambusia holbrooki as a model to understand what genetic mechanisms determine an individual's sex. Specifically this student project will isolate and characterise the structural and functional diversity of a family of gene implicated in vertebrate sex determination with a view to develop a sex-specific genetic marker. Elucidating shared evolutionary history and application of the outcomes to management of other pest fish (e.g. carp) and enhancing production efficiencies in commercially important species (e.g. salmon) of fish will also be of interest.
Suitable for February or July start date.
Contact Dr Jawahar Patil (jawahar.patil@utas.edu.au) for more details.
Taryn Noble
Zanna Chase
Ashley Townsend (Central Science Laboratory)
Background: Sediments along the continental shelf of Antarctica record the deglacial history of the Antarctic ice sheet. The ice shelves extending into the surrounding ocean are thought to be particularly important in controlling ice loss from the ice sheet (Church et al. 2013). Deglacial changes in ocean circulation have been hypothesised to play a role in melting of the surrounding ice shelves, resulting in rapid ice loss from the Antarctic ice sheet around 14.5 thousand years ago, and rapid sea level rise (Golledge et al. 2014). One way to test this hypothesis is to reconstruct the water mass characteristics surrounding the ice shelves, using geochemical proxies measured in marine sediment cores. But before we reconstruct the events of the deglaciation, our geochemical proxies need to be applied to surface sediments to ensure that they accurately represent the modern climate configuration.
This study will use surface sediments from near the Mertz glacier, East Antarctica, to calibrate our geochemical proxies to modern observations. The water mass characteristics overlying the surface sediments will be defined by Nd isotopes and redox sensitive metals. The Nd isotopic composition of seawater reflects its source region and mixing with other water masses during advection (Goldstein and Hemming, 2003; Lacan et al. 2012), while redox sensitive metals reflect the bottom water oxygenation (Morford and Emerson 1999; Tribovillard et al. 2006).
Methodology and training: The most reliable method to extract the seawater Nd isotope signature from the sediment record uses carbonate skeletons of foraminifera (Roberts et al., 2012). Shelf sediments along Antarctica however, are usually dominated by silica, rather than carbonate. The student will test different sediment leaching procedures to optimise the extraction of the seawater-derived Nd isotope signal. If successful the student will then compare the Nd isotope data and redox sensitive trace metals to modern oceanographic data from the Mertz glacier region.
Student's competency: This project requires a student with strong lab-work skills in chemistry. A background in chemical oceanography or geochemistry would be advantageous. The student will gain experience working in a trace metal clean laboratory, chemical leaching techniques for climate reconstructions and oceanographic data interpretation.
Suitable for February or July start date.
Contact Dr Taryn Noble (taryn.noble@utas.edu.au) for more details.
Dinoflagellate cells grow and interact with a community of closely associated bacteria that appear to mediate a range of critical functions such as nutrient and trace metal uptake, and also influence their cellular toxicity. Almost all of our understanding of these interactions is derived from laboratory cultures; we know almost nothing about the bacterial communities associated with cells in natural blooms. This project aims to use Next-Generation Sequencing (NGS) sequencing approaches to compare the taxonomic diversity of laboratory cultures and natural phytoplankton cells of two important toxic dinoflagellates, Alexandrium tamarense and Gymnodinium catenatum.
Suitable for February or July start date.
Contact Chris Bolch (Chris.Bolch@utas.edu.au) for more details.
This project will investigate the use of low concentration/long duration peroxide inclusion and provision of "hard" water to enhance hatchery production of eggs and fry.
Suitable for February or July start date.
Contact Mark Adams (Mark.Adams@utas.edu.au) for more details.
Infection of fish gills by Neoparamoeba perurans causes a depletion of ionoregulatory cells in disease affected tissue. This project questions what effect does the experimental induction of amoebic gill disease have upon various ionoregulatory analytes.
Suitable for February or July start date.
Contact Mark Adams (Mark.Adams@utas.edu.au) for more details.
This project examines the extent that handfish utilise artificial vs natural spawning substrates, and the success of egg development through to hatching on each. A handfish guard eggs over this period, both eggs and adult fish are particularly vulnerable over this stage. Using gopros and visual observations, behavioural interactions will be described, and recruitment success determined.
Suitable for July start date.
Contact Dr Neville Barrett (neville.barrett@utas.edu.au) for more details.
Climate change is predicted to lead to increasing frequency and intensity of cyanobacterial blooms in freshwater used for drinking water and agriculture. Current research funded by a $370K Sense-T grant (Bolch and Fischer) is developing real-time detection of toxic blue green algal blooms in freshwater lakes using in-situ fluorometry and satellite remote-sensing. There are several potential Honours projects available in this area.
Suitable for February or July start date.
Contact Chris Bolch (Chris.Bolch@utas.edu.au) for more details.
Supervisor team may include:
Dr Roger Proctor (IMOS)
We all know there is a lot of data out there, and this is true for environmental systems in particular, as there is often a huge range of monitoring programs, research projects, various industry and government sources as well as community data. However, often much of this is considered unusable or inaccessible as a result of it being gathered for different purposes, or for being incomplete or incompatible – or is it? Using Storm Bay as a case study this project will look at ways to access and transform data from different sources, with a view to providing guidance and a framework for future data management.
Supervisor team may include:
Marine recreational licences are required for a range of fishing activities in Tasmania. The databases provide an informative insight into the characteristic of those interested in each of the specific fishing methods, including age and area of residence. Not only does this data reveal interesting patterns in the changing demographics of fishing, for example a transition from diving to potting for lobster with age, but also variability in licensing linked to changing management and resource availability.
Supervisor team may include:
This project would be part of a global research initiative looking at how you might manipulating habitats to enhance native biodiversity on artificial structures (vertical seawalls) by deploying specially designed tiles seeded with native bivalves (these tiles are being put out all over the world, from Helsinki to Hobart). The project could support one or two students who would look at different aspects of the community structure and environmental interactions.
Supervision team:
Associate Professor Neville Barrett
The potential influence of trawling in shelf waters on benthic fauna had been estimated by model-based approaches but never examined empirically in temperate Australia. Current IMAS surveys in/out of the Beagle Marine Park in Bass Strait (an area closed to trawling for the last 10 years) utilising towed-video, offer an opportunity to quantify the nature and extent of soft-sediment epi-benthic fauna (sponges, ascideans, corals etc) in this region for the first time. This will allow a contrast to be made between the MPA and adjacent fished areas, informing the extent to which trawling may have influenced (or not) this assemblage.
This project utilises a ROV (Seabotix LVB300) to be deployed at a range of test locations in eastern Tasmania to both determine the effectiveness of ROV's for reef fish surveys, and the appropriate survey design to yield quantitatively robust results for monitoring programs. Surveys may focus on MPAs (State and Commonwealth).
Suitable for February or July start date.
Contact Dr Neville Barrett (neville.barrett@utas.edu.au) for more details.
Supervision team:
Increasing scientific evidence demonstrates the importance of big individuals in marine animal populations. They include fish, rock lobsters, abalone, and many other species that traditionally are valued (economically and otherwise) by humans. Big individuals often have disproportionally large input for reproduction, better viability of offspring and they also play a key role in ecosystem structure and function. However, in many cases the biggest individuals are also the most desired by humans for instrumental and intrinsic reasons. Commercial fishers may target large fish because the economic returns are higher and because fishing regulations typically protect small but not large individuals. Recreational fishers may have other reasons driving their desire to catch big fish, and catching the biggest fish is often formalised in fishing competitions and trophies. The desirability of big fish has deep roots in our history, where a big trophy proved the harvesters powers and provided a lot of food for the village. However, in some traditional societies the biggest individuals were voluntarily protected.
This project will be undertaken through the Centre for Marine Socioecology and will explore the history of perceptions about large fish and other marine organisms in traditional and modern societies around the world. What can history and cultural traditions tell us about our social norms and attitudes related to the size of fish? How do we perceive the size of fish in Australia and how does this compare to perceptions elsewhere? How do our attitudes, and descriptive and injunctive social norms shape our behaviour? Does the way a society perceives the ecological and social role of fish size conducive or hindering to sustainability? If societal attitudes and social norms are hindering sustainability outcomes are there examples of how we can change these attitudes? How can science influence human behaviour for the better and what are the most efficient ways of communication and engagement?
The Antarctic Circumnavigation Expedition (ACE) was a three-month circumpolar survey (December 2016- March 2017) composed of 22 different projects bringing together research teams from six continents focusing on understanding the Antarctic ecosystem. As part of the microplastics project- involving researchers from Australian Antarctic Division and IMAS, we collected zooplankton using bongo nets deployed to 200 m throughout the circumpolar voyage. Aspects of this proposed student project could focus on zooplankton biodiversity in the first instance. The analysis of these samples could include the use of equipment such as a Laser Optical Plankton Counter to determine the size spectrum of the communities and a Zooscan to identify the dominant zooplankton groups. Analysis could also include traditional taxonomic methods using microscopy.
Either in addition to an analysis of the zooplankton diversity, or as a separate project, an investigation of the presence of microplastics (<5mm) associated with these samples could be undertaken. Microplastics can enter the marine food webs through accidental ingestion or via other ways. They can attract and accumulate chemical pollution on their surfaces, which can further affect the health of animals that have ingested them. In this project, depending on student interests, microplastic load in zooplankton could be assessed through gut content analysis and other chemical investigations.
Supervisor team may include:
Associate Professor Patti Virtue IMAS
Dr Kerrie Swadling IMAS/ACE
Cath King AAD
Dana Bergstrom AAD
John van den Hoff AAD
Kate Keifer AAD
Institute for Marine and Antarctic Studies
Phone: +61 3 6226 6379
ABN: 30 764 374 782 CRICOS Provider Code: 00586B