From discovery to decline, new book traces our fascination and impact on Great Barrier Reef

One of the world’s leading coral reef scientists, Dr Charlie Veron, will share his knowledge of the Great Barrier Reef at a public lecture on Tuesday, April 21, hosted by the Marine Ecology Research Centre at Southern Cross University.

During his visit to the Lismore campus, Dr Veron will also launch the posthumous book ‘The Coral Reef Era: From Discovery to Decline’ by colleague and friend Dr James Bowen. The launch will be held in the new Learning Centre.

Dr Bowen (1928 to 2012) had an illustrious academic career as teacher, researcher and author, working in universities in the United States, Canada and Australia.

With ‘The Coral Reef Era’, Dr Bowen shows how the work of narrowly focused specialist marine and reef scientists, when viewed as part of a whole, explains the current state of reef decline, and indeed points to a changing world. He places a strong focus on the impact of these developments on coral reefs, especially in the fields of taxonomy, ecosystem analysis, oceanography, climate science, and nuclear technologies.

“Jim was both a scientist and a historian. He had a knowledge of the history of the Great Barrier Reef (GBR) that was unmatched. His original award-winning book ‘The Great Barrier Reef: history, science, heritage’ is fundamental as a reference book,” Dr Veron said.

“For Jim and other coral reef scientists, we are at one second to midnight in the history of the GBR. The GBR is tens of millions of years old – and interestingly was once high and dry land - yet we have seen major decline in just a century, increasingly due to climate change.”

Dr Veron will explore similar themes during his public lecture, ‘Corals: from the distant past to a dawning future’.

Dr Veron is a leading world coral taxonomist and coral reef scientist, universally recognised by multiple national and international awards. In 2004 he was awarded the Darwin Medal of the International Society for Reef Scientists and in 2014 was the first non-American to receive the Lifetime Achievement award of the American Academy of Underwater Science in recognition of his life’s work. He was Australian Institute of Marine Science’s first scientist, and later its chief scientist.

Dr Veron said agricultural run-off, mining and climate change were the major issues facing the GBR.

“Climate change is the big one over the next decades because that is responsible for mass bleaching which is doing tremendous damage on all coral reefs around the world. Later this century carbon dioxide will be responsible for significant ocean acidification. Both climate change and ocean acidification are the result of humans putting carbon dioxide into the atmosphere,” he said.

“Mining and agricultural run-off exacerbate the crown of thorns star fish problem, which is causing more damage than anything at the moment – and has for the past 50 years. Mining and agricultural run-off are the two things we need to look at to put the GBR in the best position to tolerate the oncoming threat of climate change. Basically if you know something is dying you find out what the present problems are, then remove those threats or modify them in some way so they are less damaging.”

Dr Veron will also discuss the enormous role of scuba diving to science.

“Scuba diving has been the most important tool for scientists ever. Studying corals without diving is like studying trees in a herbarium. Unless you go out to see the real thing where it actually occurs you really haven’t got a clue. So the old science got it seriously wrong. They did immense amounts of collecting, especially of corals which turned up in museums throughout the world, but they didn’t have a clue about how to name them, how they grew, how they reproduced, how they spread. They knew nothing about them, except they were pretty.”

Professor Peter Harrison, director of the Marine Ecology Research Centre, said he was pleased to welcome Dr Veron to Southern Cross University.

“Charlie Veron is a recognised world leader in coral reef science and it is a great pleasure to welcome such a distinguished colleague to present his vision of the evolution and future of corals and the reefs they build. I would encourage everyone to come to this talk,” Professor Harrison said.

EVENTS Book launch: ‘The Coral Reef Era: From Discovery to Decline’ by Dr James Bowen, 10.30am April 21, Learning Centre, Goodman Plaza, Lismore campus. Launched by special guest, coral reef scientist Dr Charlie Veron. Marine Ecology Research Centre public lecture: ‘Corals: from the distant past to a dawning future’ by Dr Charlie Veron, 12pm – 12.45pm (with time for questions) April 21, Room B231, B Block, Lismore campus. Photo: Diverse reef corals build healthy coral reefs (credit: Peter Harrison).