Willunga Environment Centre AGM

Willunga Environment Centre AGM will be followed by guest presenter Dr. Ryan Baring and a shared supper, tea and coffee.

Talk summary by Dr. Ryan Baring

Future uncertainty and the power of seascapes

Globally, we are in a phase of unprecedented environmental change. In our oceans, increasing water temperatures alongside extreme events such as heatwaves, freshwater floods and nutrient loading, add stress to these already compromised ecosystems. Environmental pressures can become very problematic and lead to large-scale biological response such as harmful algal blooms, which can result in devastating ecosystem-wide impacts. In this talk, I will discuss the challenges our oceans face in an ever-changing world and showcase some of the important functions that some key marine plants and animals provide as a seascape. Our research focuses on some of these key species to identify how they can collectively improve the health of our oceans into the future. I will discuss how nature is incredibly resilient and can naturally recover over time, but the marine realm will also need our interventions through conservation, preservation, and restoration that will be bold and require some difficult decisions to be made.

Biography

Dr Ryan Baring is a Senior Marine and Freshwater Ecologist who leads the Ecosystem Resilience Research Group at Flinders University. His research group focuses on understanding how ecosystems function to provide quality habitat for a range of animals and their food resources. Those investigations are not limited to spatial areas but aim to identify structural components of ecosystems that are important for animals across metres to hundreds of kilometres. Using traditional scientific metrics, multiple evidence approaches and advanced technologies, Ryan’s research group is passionate about finding solutions to help preserve and restore resilient habitats for key indicator, iconic and threatened species into the future.

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