Coral Health Index (CHI): measuring coral community health
Effective local management of coral reefs has a direct effect on reducing threats and improving overall coral community health. Careful zoning and effective enforcement of resource use within a marine managed area reduces impact of overfishing, allowing populations of grazing fish to rejuvenate and maintain healthy ecosystem functioning. Coral reefs that are healthy have greater resilience and ability to recover from chronic and acute stress. Adaptive management of coral reef communities will be most effective if a reliable annual indicator of community health is available to resource managers and policy makers. The Coral Health Index (CHI), developed by Conservation International's Science-to-Action partnership, is just such a tool.
South East Queensland Floods 2011 newsletter #2
Intense rainfall between 10–12 January 2011 caused flash and river flooding throughout the region. This newsletter focuses on the flood impacts on creeks, streambanks, and paddocks. The floods caused significant impacts to waterways and the adjacent floodplains. The greatest impacts occurred in the Lockyer, Mid and Upper Brisbane and Bremer catchments, with devastating loss of life and significant environmental damage. Across the catchments, there has been widespread loss of topsoil, streambank erosion, gully expansion, landslips, sediment redistribution, channel redirection, and vegetation removal. For further information, see the associated blog posts.
LOICZ Open Science Conference
The LOICZ (Land-Ocean Interactions in the Coastal Zone) Open Science Conference 2011 is being held from 12-15 September, 2011, in Yantai, China. The aim of the "Coastal Systems, Global Change, and Sustainability" conference is to bring together the international research community working on land–ocean issues, showcase the width and scope of ongoing research, help to build a community in this highly interdisciplinary field, and to inspire new research, theory-building, and applied science. The conference is integrative in nature, amalgamating different experiences and disciplinary 'angles' worldwide to generate new levels of understanding and improve decision-making in policy and practice. LOICZ particularly invites innovative approaches, coastal practitioners and early stage researchers (see Young LOICZ Forum).
Allison Dungan starts Master's program at University of Wisconsin
In January, IAN member Allison Dungan left the comfortable Mid-Atlantic climate and headed northwest to snowy Wisconsin to start a Master's program in Agroecology. A lot has happened there since her arrival: the Packers won the Superbowl, Groundhog Day events were canceled due to a blizzard (classes were also canceled causing student jubilation), and the actions by Governor Scott Walker to end collective bargaining in the State caused a general uproar among state employees. In between participating in these events, Allison has attended classes and worked on a project aimed at increasing the prevalence of agriscience in WI high school FFA programs. In February, she headed to LaCrosse, WI to attend the Midwest Organic and Sustainable Service annual conference and is enjoying attending lectures at the UW-Madison campus on fostering a more sustainable agricultural system.