Queensland Term Abroad

Lady Elliot Island

Lady Elliot VI — 1 October

Today students began working on small research projects. Much like the Stradbroke field trip, students were randomly assigned to groups of four or five and began to develop a research project on their own. The questions varied tremendously. One group evaluated a general ecological principle called the intermediate disturbance hypothesis. This hypothesis, proposed by Joseph Connell in 1978 (Science 199:1304-1310), suggests that when plant or animal communities experience some, but not too much, disturbance, the greatest variety of species will coexist. Connell originally applied this idea to tropical rainforests, where disturbance was mainly associated with falling branches and trees, and to coral reefs, where storm waves produced disturbance. You'll note that the group studying the intermediate disturbance hypothesis is wearing reef shoes and gloves. Those corals are sharp!

Another group studied Goniopora, a coral. Goniopora is unusual among the Lady Elliot corals in being active during the day. You'll note all its polyps (individual coral animals) are extended in the photo below. Goniopora is also an aggressive competitor for space...the main limiting resource on the reef. Goniopora will sting and sweep away any organisms that settle too near. Not to worry, though, it isn't powerful enough to hurt the students!

Two research teams studied the sea hare. These slug-like creatures are found all over the lagoon. One group collected a group of sea hares and brought them into the laboratory to study behavior and feeding preferences. The students discovered that research requires a lot of creativity and flexibility, as the wily sea hares defied all attempts to isolate large and small individuals to separate sides of the aquarium. They could squeeze through the smallest spaces! The second sea hare group looked at the distribution of animals on the reef itself. They had some challenges too, having to redesign their sampling strategy to find the elusive creatures.

A fifth research team tested the hypothesis that different coral morphologies (branching compared to massive or 'brain' types, for example) would be found in different positions in the lagoon. The idea is that forms more resistant to pounding waves (like the 'brains') would be found closer to the edge of the reef. Like most who study nature discover, the answer wasn't quite that simple!