This is part three of a three part series of blog posts about developing a reef resilience index for the Great Barrier Reef at a workshop in Townsville in March 2015

Reef Resilience in Townsville
William C. Dennison

Talking with reef managers at Reef HQ¹

Developing Resilience Based Management perspectives

Generating a reef health matrix

While checking out life in the aquarium

Talking with researchers² at JCU³

Fleshing out the reef health matrix

In route to a reef resilience index

Used to better manage the GBR⁴

We had some workshop attrition due to health

But four guys named William⁵ showed up

A birthday gal named Emma⁶ came along

Along with folks from near and far.

We celebrated anniversaries of many entities

The birth of the GBRF⁷ and Bill D.'s daughter 15 years ago

The birth of the GBRMP/A⁸ and Jano⁹ 40 years ago

The birth of UMCES¹⁰ and Bill D. + Emma 90 years ago.

The GBR Foundation supported the attribute team

So they could do innovative science

Developing 6000 sensitive coral biomarkers

Using a 'confusion matrix' for automated image analysis

Assessing context-based trajectories of reef structure

Deploying calcification stations and staining crusty algae

Measuring and modeling seagrass productivity

All to better assess reef resilience

The IAN¹¹ team helped consolidate the results

Drawing diagrams, writing summaries and choosing images

To bring it all together and produce a trifold

Communicating science for all to see.

The basic equations we used the following:

Resistance + Recovery = Resilience

Metabolics + Monitoring = Metrics of stress

Digital analysis + Dinner plates¹² = Data on reef health

Coralline algae + Complicated calcification = Climate indicator

Seagrass + Seawater acidity = Seagrass nirvana

IAN + Indicators = Index of resilience

Footnotes:

¹ Reef HQ = Home base of Great Barrier Reef Marine Park Authority
² Talking with researchers = Bill Leggat, Tracy Ainsworth, Maria Byrne, Will Figuera, Tom Bridge, Cath Collier, Kate O'Brien, Matthew Adams, Sophie Dove, Guillermo Diaz-Pulido, Emma Kennedy, Sonia Clause, Emily Saeck
³ JCU = James Cook University
⁴ GBR = Great Barrier Reef
⁵ Four guys named William = Bill Dennison, Bill Leggat, Will Figuera, Guillermo Diaz-Pulido
⁶ Emma = Emma Kennedy
⁷ GBRF = Great Barrier Reef Foundation
⁸ GBRMP = Great Barrier Reef Marine Park and Great Barrier Reef Marine Park Authority
⁹ Jano = Jane Thomas
¹⁰ UMCES = University of Maryland Center for Environmental Science
¹¹ IAN = Integration and Application Network
¹² Dinner plates = calibration units deployed on the reef for autonomous camera imaging