Abstract
What will happen to tropical coastlines and reef islands when sea levels rise and coral reefs decline? Why are tropical coastlines growing despite the 20th century rise in sea level? Can we integrate in situ and satellite derived observations with numerical models to understand and predict change at scales relevant to planning and management? These are foundational questions for my research which aims to develop tools, gather data, and provide analyses to help coastlines and coral reefs navigate a warmer world.
This talk will provide a brief overview of recent research from my lab (The Beachlab). We will start on the Australian coast where we discover a surprising trend on tropical coastlines, they are mostly growing, and use earth observation and numerical modelling approaches to try and understand why. We then focus on coral reefs and develop approaches to explain how coral reef physical structure – one of the key metrics of coral reef “health” – is expressed across a wide range of spatial scales. We then explore the impacts that changes to this structure may have on a range of coral reef ecosystem services, such as coastal protection to tropical shorelines. We will end the talk in the surf zone where we focus on providing the spatial and temporal links between ecological and geomorphic observations and forecasts of coral reef and reef island change.
About Daniel Harris (University of Queensland)
Dr Harris is a coastal and surf scientist whose teaching and research focuses on the marine processes that change coastal and coral reef systems through time. His lab develops tools, gathers data, and provides analyses to help coastlines and coral reefs navigate a warmer world. This research uses a suite of approaches including hydrodynamic and geomorphic field measurement, geological reconstruction of coral reef systems, monitoring ecological change in coral reefs, development of sea level curves, GIS analysis and remote sensing, and hydrodynamic modelling. Dr Harris’ projects are focused on fundamental research questions about how coasts and coral reefs change through time and applied research objectives to support the future management of coastal and coral reef systems. He is also a passionate teacher and seeks to communicate science effectively both in the classroom and with end users of his academic research.
Dan is now a teacher and researcher Geography and Marine Science at the School of the Environment at UQ. Prior to starting at UQ, he was at The University of Sydney, the University of Bremen (MARUM) and the Leibniz Centre for Tropical Marine Research (ZMT), Bremen. Perhaps equally importantly he grew up on the east coast of Australia and has a personal and professional passion for beaches, coral reefs, surf, and the ocean.
Zoom-Link: https://us02web.zoom.us/j/86790103582?pwd=Q41t1Hm0P17uqAzEKV34235gl9No3b.1