Innovative Strategies for Protecting Water Quality at our Beaches & Estuaries Research Breakfast

Australia's beaches, rivers and estuaries deliver tremendous environmental, cultural and economic value, but are often detrimentally impacted by poor water quality, which threatens both human and ecosystem health, as well as the productivity of important coastal industries including aquaculture.  Unfortunately, current approaches for monitoring coastal water quality can often not clearly identify sources of contamination, hindering efforts to define risks and implement suitable water quality remediation strategies.  

Join Us: To hear from Marine Biologist and Ocean Microbiology Team leader Prof. Justin Seymour who will present the innovative work being done by the team and discuss how it can help improve Australia’s coastal water quality. Then Dr. Elliot Scanes, a senior research fellow, will discuss the vital relationship between oysters and their microbial partners, the impacts of climate change on this dynamic, and the broader implications for oyster health, ecosystems, and the communities that depend on them for food and income. 

Event Schedule:   

08:00 - 08:30: Event Registration & Light Breakfast. 
 
08:30 – 08:45: Prof. Justin Seymour: An introduction to the Ocean Microbiology Team portfolio of work, with a focus on the application of cutting-edge approaches to measure coastal water quality. 

08:50– 9:00: Dr. Elliot Scanes: Oysters and their microbial partners: Exploring climate change impacts on their relationship, ecosystem support, and the communities that depend on them. 

 
09:00 - 09:30: Networking & Light Breakfast Continues.