JCU > Research Portfolio > Prof Andrew Hoey

About

Teaching

MB3190: Coral Reef Ecology (Level 3; TSV)
MB5190: Coral Reef Ecology (Level 5; TSV)

Interests

Research

My research focuses on broad-scale ecological processes and the functional importance of different taxa to the resilience of coral reef ecosystems, in particular the functional role of herbivorous fishes and the dangers of seaweed expansion on coral reefs. I have worked at over 30 locations spanning the world’s tropical oceans and this experience has provided him with considerable insight into the differences among these systems in terms of diversity, reef community structure, human use patterns and, perhaps more importantly, the underlying processes. My current research focuses on understanding the functional importance of different herbivorous fishes in preventing and/or reversing seaweed expansion on coral reefs, the differential responses of herbivorous fishes to changes in the benthic community structure on coral reefs, the recruitment dynamics and replenishment of reef fish populations, and the effects of increasing water temperature on the physiology and function of reef fish.

Experience

2019 - Principal Research Fellow, ARC Centre of Excellence for Coral Reef Studies
2013 to 2018 - Senior Research Fellow, ARC Centre of Excellence for Coral Reef Studies
2016 to 2017 - President, Australian Coral Reef Society
2013 to 2015 - DECRA Research Fellow, ARC Centre of Excellence for Coral Reef Studies
2012 to 2013 - Research Fellow, ARC Centre of Excellence for Coral Reef Studies
2011 to 2012 - Senior Postdoctoral Fellow, Red Sea Research Center, KAUST
2010 to 2011 - Experimental Scientist, Australian Institute of Marine Science (Townsville, Australia)

Honours

Awards

2019 - Queensland Young Tall Poppy Science Award
2018 - JCU Primary Advisor of the Year
2018 - Fellow of the International Society for Reef Studies
2017 - JCU Research Excellence Award
2014 - ESA George Mercer Award - Outstanding Ecological Paper
2013 - Churchill Medal
2012 - Virginia Chadwick Award
2009 - Virginia Chadwick Award
2008 - Science for Management Award, GBRMPA
2008 - Terry Walker Award, Australia Coral Reef Society

Fellowships

2013 - Isobel Bennett Marine Biology Fellowship, Lizard Island Reef Research Foundation
2011 - Churchill Fellowship
2007 to 2009 - Ian Potter Doctoral Fellowship at Lizard Island

Publications

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

Cinner J, Zamborain Mason J, Gurney G, Graham N, MacNeil M, Hoey A, Mora C, Villéger S, Maire E, McClanahan T, Maina J, Kittinger J, Hicks C, D'agata S, Huchery C, Barnes M, Feary D, Williams I, Kulbicki M, Vigliola L, Wantiez L, Edgar G, Stuart-smith R, Sandin S, Green A, Beger M, Friedlander A, Wilson S, brokovich E, Brooks A, Cruz-Motta J, Booth D, Chabanet P, Tupper M, Ferse S, Sumaila U, Hardt M and Mouillot D (2020) Meeting fisheries, ecosystem function, and biodiversity goals in a human-dominated world. Science, 368 (6488), pp. 307-311, DOI:10.1126/science.aax9412.
Fulton C, Berkstrom C, Wilson S, Abesamis R, Bradley M, Åkerlund C, Barrett L, Bucol A, Chacin D, Chong-Seng K, Coker D, Depczynski M, Eggertsen L, Eggertsen M, Ellis D, Evans R, Graham N, Hoey A, Holmes T, Kulbicki M, Leung P, Lam P, van Lier J, Matis P, Noble M, Perez-Matus A, Piggott C, Radford B, Tano S and Tinkler P (2020) Macroalgal meadow habitats support fish and fisheries in diverse tropical seascapes. Fish and Fisheries, 21 (4), pp. 700-717, DOI:10.1111/faf.12455.
Graba-Landry A, Loffler Z, McClure E, Pratchett M and Hoey A (2020) Impaired growth and survival of tropical macroalgae (Sargassum spp.) at elevated temperatures. Coral Reefs, 339, pp. 475-486, DOI:10.1007/s00338-020-01909-7.
Quimpo T, Cabaitan P and Hoey A (in press) Detachment of Porites cylindrica nubbins by herbivorous fishes. Restoration Ecology, 10.1111/rec.13091, DOI:10.1111/rec.13091.
Robinson J, McDevitt-Irwin J, Dajka J, Hadj-Hammou J, Howlett S, Graba-Landry A, Hoey A, Nash K, Wilson S and Graham N (2020) Habitat and fishing control grazing potential on coral reefs. Functional Ecology, 34 (1), pp. 240-251, DOI:10.1111/1365-2435.13457.
Tebbett S, Hoey A, Depczynski M, Wismer S and Bellwood D (2020) Macroalgae removal on coral reefs: realised ecosystem functions transcend biogeographic locations. Coral Reefs, 39 (1), pp. 203-214, DOI:10.1007/s00338-019-01874-w.
Wilmes J, Hoey A and Pratchett M (2020) Contrasting size and fate of juvenile crown-of-thorns starfish linked to ontogenetic diet shifts. Proceedings of the Royal Society B, Biological Sciences, 287 (1931), Article: 20201052, DOI:10.1098/rspb.2020.1052.
Wilmes J, Shultz D, Hoey A, Messmer V and Pratchett M (2020) Habitat associations of settlement-stage crown-of-thorns starfish on Australia’s Great Barrier Reef. Coral Reefs, 39, pp. 1163-1174, DOI:10.1007/s00338-020-01950-6.
Barnes M, Bodin Ö, McClanahan T, Kittinger J, Hoey A, Gaoue O and Graham N (2019) Social-ecological alignment and ecological conditions in coral reefs. Nature Communications, 10, Article: 2039, DOI:10.1038/s41467-019-09994-1.
Bauman A, Seah J, Januchowski-Hartley F, Hoey A, Fong J and Todd P (2019) Fear effects associated with predator presence and habitat structure interact to alter herbivory on coral reefs. Biology Letters, 15 (10), DOI:10.1098/rsbl.2019.0409.
Bejarano S, Pardede S, Campbell S, Hoey A and Ferse S (2019) Herbivorous fish rise as a destructive fishing practice falls in an Indonesian marine national park. Ecological Applications, 29 (8), Article: e01981, DOI:10.1002/eap.1981.
Bellwood D, Pratchett M, Morrison T, Gurney G, Hughes T, Álvarez-Romero J, Day J, Grantham R, Grech A, Hoey A, Jones G, Pandolfi J, Tebbett S, Techera E, Weeks R and Cumming G (2019) Coral reef conservation in the Anthropocene: confronting spatial mismatches and prioritizing functions. Biological Conservation, 236, pp. 604-615, DOI:10.1016/j.biocon.2019.05.056.

More: ResearchOnline@JCU stores 147+ research outputs authored by Prof Andrew Hoey from 2002 onwards.

Current Funding

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

Ian Potter Foundation - Lizard Island Reef Research Foundation - Crown-of-Thorns Starfish Research Grants

Effective sampling of Acanthaster cf. solaris to provide early-warning of new and renewed outbreaks

Indicative Funding: $62,727 over 2 years
Summary: This project aims to develop a holistic monitoring program that will not only help to deliver an early-warning syste, but will increase the viability of culling CoTS populations even during non-outbreak periods with the ultimate goal of reducing the frequency and severity of future outbreaks. Perhaps even more importantly, this project will deliver (for the first time) spatially and temporally explicit information about the structure and dynamics of crown-of-thorns starfish within the ?initiation zone? and in the lead-up to a new population irruption, which is a critical knowledge gap that limits understanding of the initiation and causes of population outbreaks.
Investigators: Morgan Pratchett, Andrew Hoey, Ciemon Caballes, Sven Uthicke and Jason Doyle in collaboration with Peter Doll and Janai Chandler (ARC Centre of Excellence for Coral Reef Studies and Australian Institute of Marine Science)
Keywords: Coral Reefs; Disturbance; Management; Monitoring

Department of the Environment and Energy - Director of National Parks - Tender

Coral Sea Marine Park Coral Reef Health Survey (2021)

Indicative Funding: $354,402 over 1 year
Summary: The Coral Sea Marine Park (CSMP) covers approximately 990,000 km2 and includes over 30 individual reef systems that are surrounded by deep waters. In March 2020 extensive bleaching of corals was recorded across shallow reef habitats within the CSMP. This project will use surveys of benthic, fish and invertebrate communities to assess the impacts of the 2020 bleaching event on coral reefs within the CSMP.
Investigators: Andrew Hoey, Morgan Pratchett and Hugo Harrison (ARC Centre of Excellence for Coral Reef Studies)
Keywords: Coral Reef; Coral Bleaching; Marine Mark Management; Reef Fish; Coral

New York University Abu Dhabi - Research Enhancement Fund

Migrate or hibernate: How do coral reef fishes survive extreme seasonal temperatures in the Arabian Gulf?

Indicative Funding: $30,098 over 2 years (administered by New York University Abu Dhabi)
Summary: Seawater temperatures of the Arabian Gulf are among the most extreme and variable in which coral reefs exist, consistently reaching above 36 degrees C in summer and below 14 degrees C in winter. These temperatures present a challenging environment for marine organisms, extending substantially beyond the survivable temperature range of most tropical coral reef fishes worldwide. This project will use implanted acoustic tags to track fish movement and activity patterns and location (presence /absence on the reef) on the reef during summer and winter; and aquarium studies of metabolic activity to determine how these fishes cope with the extreme temperatures in the Arabian Gulf.
Investigators: John Burt, Andrew Hoey and Jacob Johansen (New York University Abu Dhabi, ARC Centre of Excellence for Coral Reef Studies and University of Hawaii - Manoa)
Keywords: Temperature; activity patterns; Coral Reef Fish; seasonal movement; Arabian Gulf

Department of the Environment and Energy - Director of National Parks - Tender

Coral Reef Health in the Coral Sea Marine Park

Indicative Funding: $968,346 over 2 years
Summary: A number of coral reefs occur in the Australian Marine Parks estate, particularly within the Coral Sea Marine Park (CSMP). In 2016 and 2017, coral reefs in the Great Barrier Reef Marine Park and CSMP were impacted by a mass global coral bleaching event. Regular surveys of coral bleaching and associated reef health in the CSMP are needed to inform future marine park management over the next three years to either enable comparisons against historical baselines where bleaching has previously occurred, or set new baselines for areas that aren?t bleached but may be in the future.
Investigators: Morgan Pratchett, Andrew Hoey, Hugo Harrison, Andrew Baird, Tom Bridge, Daniela Ceccarelli and Jean-Paul Hobbs (ARC Centre of Excellence for Coral Reef Studies and Curtin University of Technology)
Keywords: Coral Reefs; Monitoring; Coral Bleaching; Coral Sea Marine Park

Australian Museum - Crown-of-Thorns Starfish research grants

Distribution, abundance and reproductive behaviour of non-outbreak populations of Acanthaster cf. solaris

Indicative Funding: $23,004 over 1 year
Summary: This project will investigate the relative importance of diet regime and reproductive effort on the overall health of the Crown-of-Thorns Starfish. The aim is to determine the underlying causes and mechanisms that lead to population crashes among COTS at the end of major outbreaks, filling the knowledge gap on what naturally regulates abundance of COTS. This will provide valuable data that will be of great help to the selection of areas to be controlled, thereby increasing the efficiency and effectiveness of control activities, ultimately assisting in the management of this species and preventing coral loss.
Investigators: Morgan Pratchett and Andrew Hoey (ARC Centre of Excellence for Coral Reef Studies)
Keywords: Acanthaster cf. solaris (Acanthasteridae; Management; distu7rbance; Surveillance; Biology

Great Barrier Reef Marine Park Authority - Reef Guardian Grants

Temperature and seaweed-fish interactions

Indicative Funding: $2,000 over 1 year
Summary: Marine herbivores play a pivotal role in structuring coral reef communities, building resiliency in the face of a changing climate by the mechanical removal of fleshy macroalgae. Ocean warming is currently one of the greatest threats to marine ecosystems. As global climates are changing, understanding how marine flora and fauna interact is a crucial but understudied aspect of how entire ecosystems will respond. The purpose of this study is to assess the effects of increasing temperature on the interaction between tropical marine herbivorous fish and seaweeds. Specifically, as oceans warm, how primary production by seaweeds will scale with consumption by herbivores.
Investigators: Alexia Graba-Landry and Andrew Hoey (ARC Centre of Excellence for Coral Reef Studies)
Keywords: Plant-herbivore interactions; Macroalgae; Coral Reefs; Ocean warming; Herbivory; Metabolic Theory of Ecology

Department of the Environment and Energy - Director of National Parks - Contract Research

Elizabeth and Middleton Reefs Shallow Reef Monitoring 2018

Indicative Funding: $54,750 over 1 year
Summary: The purpose of this contract is to survey shallow reef environments within the Elizabeth and Middleton reef national Marine Park, to assess the status and trends of reef environments and reef-associated organisms. Surveys will be conducted using methods established during prior surveys, undertaken at Elizabeth and Middleton Reefs in March 2011 and arch 2014.
Investigators: Morgan Pratchett and Andrew Hoey in collaboration with Katie Sambrook and Sallyann Gudge (ARC Centre of Excellence for Coral Reef Studies and Lord Howe Island Marine Park Authority)
Keywords: Coral Reefs; Offshore Platforms & Structures; Sharks; Commonwealth Marine Parks; Monitoring; Fishes

Australian Museum - Crown-of-Thorns Starfish research grants

Microhabitat preferences and post-settlement demography for juvenile crown-of-thorns starfish (COTS)

Indicative Funding: $35,717 over 1 year
Summary: We will document fine-scale (within reef) variation in the abundance of juvenile (0+ year old) CoTS and relate patterns of abundance to specific features of the local habitat (e.g., depth and aspect) and micro-habitat (eg., cover of different coralline algae and corals) to further refine where to find newly settled CoTS. In areas with high settlement of CoTS, we will also quantify early post-settlement growth and mortality for a single cohort of CoTS, by measuring the local abundance and size structure of juvenile CoTS at selected locations through the course of 1 year.
Investigators: Morgan Pratchett, Jennifer Wilmes, Andrew Hoey and Vanessa Messmer (ARC Centre of Excellence for Coral Reef Studies)
Keywords: Acanthaster; Demography; Settlement; Disturbance; Coral Reefs

Supervision

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

Habitat suitability and patterns of larval settlement for crown-of-thorns starfish (Acanthaster cf. solaris) in the western Pacific (PhD , Secondary Advisor)
Vulnerability and Resilience of Coral Assemblages in Australia's CoralSea Marine Park (PhD , Secondary Advisor)
Spatial Dynamics of Tropical Shallow Marine Habitats and their Related Mobile marine Faunal Communities (PhD , Secondary Advisor/AM)
Changes in behaviour and sociality of Chaetodon butterflyfish linked to population declines and coral loss (Masters , Secondary Advisor)
Effects of water quality on the ecology of herbivorous parrotfishes and surgeonfishes in American Samoa (PhD , Primary Advisor/AM/Adv)
The Effect of Ocean Warming on the Behaviour and Fitness of Post-settlement Crown-of-Thorns Starfish (Acanthaster cf. solaris) (PhD , Secondary Advisor)
The impact of habitat condition on parasitism of herbivorous coral reef fishes (PhD , Primary Advisor/AM/Adv)
Dynamics of Reef-building corals along the north-western Australian coastline (PhD , Primary Advisor/AM/Adv)
Beyond the Reef: The Influence of Seascape Structure on Fish Communities and Ecological Processes on Coral Reefs (PhD , Primary Advisor/AM/Adv)
The effects of habitat degradation on live coral associated reef fishes (PhD , Primary Advisor/AM/Adv)
The effects of macroalgal stands on coral demographics on the GBR (PhD , Primary Advisor/AM/Adv)
Interactions between fish and coral reefs: the influence of habitat degradation on fish communities (PhD , Primary Advisor/AM/Adv)

Completed

Environmental influences on the reproductive biology and early life history of the crown-of-thorns starfish (2017, PhD , Secondary Advisor)
Neural and ecological basis of pair bonding in butterflyfishes (F: Chaetodontidae) (2017, PhD , Secondary Advisor)
Coral reef mesopredator trophodynamics in response to reef condition (2017, PhD , Associate Advisor)
Variation in structure and function of reef fish assemblages among distinct coral habitats (2018, PhD , Primary Advisor)
Deciphering the bacterial microworld in corals: structure, variability and persistence (2018, PhD , Secondary Advisor)
The persistence of Sargassum communities on coral reefs: resilience and herbivory (2019, PhD , Primary Advisor/AM/Adv)
No-take marine reserve performance under varying environmental and anthropogenic influences (2019, PhD , Secondary Advisor)
Socio-ecological drivers of fish biomass on coral reefs: the importance of accessibility, protection and key species (2019, PhD , Secondary Advisor)
The effects of suspended sediments on the physiology and performance of coral reef fishes (2019, PhD , Secondary Advisor/AM)
Exploring the role of microbes in coral-algal interactions on the inshore Great Barrier Reef (2020, Masters , Secondary Advisor/AM)
Temperature preferences of tropical fishes and the influence of local abiotic and biotic factors (2020, PhD , Primary Advisor/AM/Adv)
The effect of increasing temperature on algae-fish interactions on coral reefs (2020, PhD , Primary Advisor/AM/Adv)
Spatial and temporal variation in the demography of early-stage juvenile Pacific crown-of-thorns starfish (Acanthaster cf. solaris) from Australia’s Great Barrier Reef (2020, PhD , Secondary Advisor)
Habitat preferences and associations of juvenile algal-associated fishes on coral reefs (2017, Masters , Secondary Advisor)
Socio-ecological dynamics in mollusc fisheries: A case study from the Keppel Bay Islands, Great Barrier Reef, Australia (2021, PhD , Secondary Advisor/AM)
Differential susceptibility of corals to major versus routine disturbances in Australia’s Coral Sea (2021, Masters , Secondary Advisor)

Data

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

Graba-Landry, A. (2020) Graba-Landry PhD thesis: The effect of increasing temperature to algae-fish interactions on coral reefs. James Cook University
Nay, T. (2019) Habitat complexity results in high preference of lower, but not higher temperature by a common coral reef fish, Chromis atripectoralis. James Cook University
Nay, T. (2019) Species interactions alter the selection of thermal environment in a coral reef fish. James Cook University
Barnes, M. (2019) Trophic interactions among key target reef fish in Kenya. James Cook University
Hughes, T. (2019) Global warming impairs stock-recruitment dynamics of corals. James Cook University
Richardson, L. (2018) PhD thesis data: Variation in structure and function of reef fish assemblages among distinct coral habitats, by Laura E. Richardson (2018). James Cook University
Hughes, T. (2018) Global warming transforms coral reef assemblages. James Cook University
Hess, S. (2017) Species-specific impacts of suspended sediments on gill structure and function in coral reef fishes. James Cook University

Collaboration

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.