Interests

Research

• I have broad research interests in many aspects of coral reef ecology ranging from organism biology to the biogeography and evolution of the Scleractinia. The main focus of my research has been coral larval ecology and reproductive biology. I have also made significant contributions to the field of coral bleaching and likely effects of climate change on coral reefs. My primary research interest at present is to understand and predicting range limits of corals under a changing climate. My research into coral larval ecology has been instrumental in establishing the role of pre-settlement process, in particular larval behaviour, in determining patterns of adult distribution at multiple scales. I demonstrated that the depth zonation of coral assemblages is influenced in part by choices made by larvae at settlement. Similarly, the large geographical range size of many coral species is caused, in part, by an extraordinary capacity for larvae to delay metamorphosis. This research also provided an explanation for the paradox of heterogeneous genetic population structure within the extensive geographical range of many coral species. When given the choice, larvae will settle rapidly, however, if transported away from their natal reefs they retain the ability to settle for many months. Furthermore, we recently provided a mechanism to explain this extraordinary capacity of coral larvae to stay alive in the plankton: hypometabolism, which essentially means coral larvae will “hibernate” in the absence of sensory stimulus. Currently, I am working with the postdoctoral fellows in my lab and my colleague, Prof Sean Connolly, to develop mechanistic models of larval dispersal that allow for patterns of dispersal to be predicted from a few simple and easily measured traits. In addition, we are using a combination of experimental biology and ecological modelling to explore the effects of climate change on patterns of coral larval connectivity.

Research Disciplines

• Ecology (0602)

Socio-Economic Objectives

• Flora, Fauna and Biodiversity (9608)
• Climate and Climate Change (9603)

These are the most recent publications associated with this author. To see a detailed profile of all publications stored at JCU, visit ResearchOnline@JCU. Hover over Altmetrics badges to see social impact.

Journal Articles

• Harrison H, Álvarez-Noriega M, Baird A, Heron S, Macdonald C and Hughes T (2019) Back-to-back coral bleaching events on isolated atolls in the Coral Sea. Coral Reefs, 38 (4). pp. 713-719
• Hughes T, Kerry J, Connolly S, Baird A, Eakin C, Heron S, Hoey A, Hoogenboom M, Jacobson M, Liu G, Pratchett M, Skirving W and Torda G (2019) Ecological memory modifies the cumulative impact of recurrent climate extremes. Nature Climate Change, 9 (1). pp. 40-44
• Pratchett M, Hoey A, Tan C, Kuo C, Bauman A, Kumaraswamy R and Baird A (2019) Spatial and temporal variation in fecundity of Acropora spp. in the Northern Great Barrier Reef. Diversity, 11.
• Alvarez Noriega M, Baird A, Bridge T, Dornelas M, Fontoura L, Pizarro O, Precoda K, Torres-Pulliza D, Woods R, Zawada K and Madin J (2018) Contrasting patterns of changes in abundance following a bleaching event between juvenile and adult scleractinian corals. Coral Reefs, 37 (2). pp. 527-532
• Álvarez Noriega M, Baird A, Dornelas M, Madin J and Connolly S (2018) Negligible effect of competition on coral colony growth. Ecology, 99 (6). pp. 1347-1356
• Baird A, Álvarez-Noriega M, Cumbo V, Connolly S, Dornelas M and Madin J (2018) Effects of tropical storms on the demography of reef corals. Marine Ecology - Progress Series, 606. pp. 29-38
• Baird A, Madin J, Álvarez-Noriega M, Fontoura L, Kerry J, Kuo C, Precoda K, Torres-Pulliza D, Woods R, Zawada K and Hughes T (2018) A decline in bleaching suggests that depth can provide a refuge from global warming in most coral taxa. Marine Ecology - Progress Series, 603. pp. 257-264
• Baird A and Thomson D (2018) Coral reproduction at Hall Bank, a high latitude coral assemblage in Western Australia. Aquatic Biology, 27. pp. 55-63
• Cumbo V, van Oppen M and Baird A (2018) Temperature and symbiodinium physiology affect the establishment and development of symbiosis in corals. Marine Ecology - Progress Series, 587. pp. 117-127
• Dornelas M, Antão L, Moyes F, Bates A, Magurran A, Adam D, Akhmetzhanova A, Appeltans W, Arcos J, Arnold H, Ayyappan N, Badihi G, Baird A, Barbosa M, Barreto T, Bässler C, Bellgrove A, Belmaker J, Benedetti-Cecchi L, Bett B, Bjorkman A, Błażewicz M, Blowes S, Bloch C, Bonebrake T, Boyd S, Bradford M, Brooks A, Brown J, Bruelheide H, Budy P, Carvalho F, Castañeda-Moya E, Chen C, Chamblee J, Chase T, Siegwart Collier L, Collinge S, Condit R, Cooper E, Cornelissen J, Cotano U, Kyle Crow S, Damasceno G, Davies C, Davis R, Day F, Degraer S, Doherty T, Dunn T, Durigan G, Duffy J, Edelist D, Edgar G, Elahi R, Elmendorf S, Enemar A, Ernest S, Escribano R, Estiarte M, Evans B, Fan T, Turini Farah F, Loureiro Fernandes L, Farneda F, Fidelis A, Fitt R, Fosaa A, Daher Correa Franco G, Frank G, Fraser W, García H, Cazzolla Gatti R, Givan O, Gorgone-Barbosa E, Gould W, Gries C, Grossman G, Gutierréz J, Hale S, Harmon M, Harte J, Haskins G, Henshaw D, Hermanutz L, Hidalgo P, Higuchi P, Hoey A, Van Hoey G, Hofgaard A, Holeck K, Hollister R, Holmes R, Hoogenboom M, Hsieh C, Hubbell S, Huettmann F, Huffard C, Hurlbert A, Macedo Ivanauskas N, Janík D, Jandt U, Jażdżewska A, Johannessen T, Johnstone J, Jones J, Jones F, Kang J, Kartawijaya T, Keeley E, Kelt D, Kinnear R, Klanderud K, Knutsen H, Koenig C, Kortz A, Král K, Kuhnz L, Kuo C, Kushner D, Laguionie-Marchais C, Lancaster L, Min Lee C, Lefcheck J, Lévesque E, Lightfoot D, Lloret F, Lloyd J, López-Baucells A, Louzao M, Madin J, Magnússon B, Malamud S, Matthews I, McFarland K, McGill B, McKnight D, McLarney W, Meador J, Meserve P, Metcalfe D, Meyer C, Michelsen A, Milchakova N, Moens T, Moland E, Moore J, Mathias Moreira C, Müller J, Murphy G, Myers-Smith I, Myster R, Naumov A, Neat F, Nelson J, Paul Nelson M, Newton S, Norden N, Oliver J, Olsen E, Onipchenko V, Pabis K, Pabst R, Paquette A, Pardede S, Paterson D, Pélissier R, Peñuelas J, Pérez-Matus A, Pizarro O, Pomati F, Post E, Prins H, Priscu J, Provoost P, Prudic K, Pulliainen E, Ramesh B, Mendivil Ramos O, Rassweiler A, Rebelo J, Reed D, Reich P, Remillard S, Richardson A, Richardson J, van Rijn I, Rocha R, Rivera-Monroy V, Rixen C, Robinson K, Ribeiro Rodrigues R, de Cerqueira Rossa-Feres D, Rudstam L, Ruhl H, Ruz C, Sampaio E, Rybicki N, Rypel A, Sal S, Salgado B, Santos F, Savassi-Coutinho A, Scanga S, Schmidt J, Schooley R, Setiawan F, Shao K, Shaver G, Sherman S, Sherry T, Siciński J, Sievers C, da Silva A, Rodrigues da Silva F, Silveira F, Slingsby J, Smart T, Snell S, Soudzilovskaia N, Souza G, Maluf Souza F, Castro Souza V, Stallings C, Stanforth R, Stanley E, Mauro Sterza J, Stevens M, Stuart-Smith R, Rondon Suarez Y, Supp S, Yoshio Tamashiro J, Tarigan S, Thiede G, Thorn S, Tolvanen A, Teresa Zugliani Toniato M, Totland Ø, Twilley R, Vaitkus G, Valdivia N, Vallejo M, Valone T, Van Colen C, Vanaverbeke J, Venturoli F, Verheye H, Vianna M, Vieira R, Vrška T, Quang Vu C, Van Vu L, Waide R, Waldock C, Watts D, Webb S, Wesołowski T, White E, Widdicombe C, Wilgers D, Williams R, Williams S, Williamson M, Willig M, Willis T, Wipf S, Woods K, Woehler E, Zawada K and Zettler M (2018) BioTIME: a database of biodiversity time series for the Anthropocene. Global Ecology and Biogeography, 27. pp. 760-786
• Hughes T, Anderson K, Connolly S, Heron S, Kerry J, Lough J, Baird A, Baum J, Berumen M, Bridge T, Claar D, Eakin C, Gilmour J, Graham N, Harrison H, Hobbs J, Hoey A, Hoogenboom M, Lowe R, McCulloch M, Pandolfi J, Pratchett M, Schoepf V, Torda G and Wilson S (2018) Spatial and temporal patterns of mass bleaching of corals in the Anthropocene. Science, 359 (6371). pp. 80-83
• Hughes T, Kerry J, Baird A, Connolly S, Dietzel A, Eakin C, Heron S, Hoey A, Hoogenboom M, Liu G, McWilliam M, Pears R, Pratchett M, Skirving W, Stella J and Torda G (2018) Global warming transforms coral reef assemblages. Nature, 556 (7702). pp. 492-496

More

ResearchOnline@JCU stores 178+ research outputs authored by Prof Andrew Baird from 1997 onwards.

Current and recent Research Funding to JCU is shown by funding source and project.

Advisory Accreditation: I can be on your Advisory Panel as a Primary or Secondary Advisor.

These Higher Degree Research projects are either current or by students who have completed their studies within the past 5 years at JCU. Linked titles show theses available within ResearchOnline@JCU.

Current

• Integrating physiological and environmental drivers of depth zonation patterns on coral reefs (PhD , Primary Advisor/AM/Adv)
• The Use of Novel Techniques to SolveTaxonomic Uncertainties in an Ecologically Important Coral Taxon (PhD , Primary Advisor/AM/Adv)

Completed

• Inter- and intra- specific variation in bleaching susceptibility among scleractinian corals (2014, PhD , Associate Advisor)
• Temporal and Spatial Variation in the Growth of Branching Corals (2016, PhD , Secondary Advisor)
• Advancing conservation planning for persistence: design of a conservation strategy for Brazilian coral reefs (2016, PhD , Associate Advisor)
• Spatial and Temporal Variation in Demographic Traits in the Reef Coral, Acropora Millepora, on The Great Barrier Reef (2015, PhD , Primary Advisor)
• Coral larval ecology and biogeography in a warming ocean (2014, PhD , Primary Advisor)
• Ecological Determinates of Depth Zonation In Reef-Building Corals (2018, PhD , Primary Advisor/AM/Adv)
• Competition and coexistence of reef-corals (2019, PhD , Secondary Advisor)
• Adaptive strategies in reef-building corals (2017, PhD , Primary Advisor)

These are the most recent metadata records associated with this researcher. To see a detailed description of all dataset records, visit the JCU Research Data Catalogue.

• Hughes, T. (2018) Global warming transforms coral reef assemblages. James Cook University
• Figueiredo, J. (2017) Data from: Increased local retention of reef coral larvae as a result of ocean warming. James Cook University
• Baird, A. (2013) Acropora Reproduction and Biogeography. James Cook University

The map shows research collaborations by institution from the past 7 years.
Note: Map points are indicative of the countries or states that institutions are associated with.