Michael has been conducting research on topical marine habitats focusing on seagrass ecology for over 26 years. He heads the Seagrass Ecology Lab based in JCU's Cairns campus. He has a BSc in Zoology & Ecology and an Honours degree from Flinders University and was awarded a PhD from JCU for research investigating recovery and succession in tropical seagrass communities. Michael's passion is finding science based solutions to apply in the management of marine habitats. He has built a team whose work focuses on coastal development and risk and has significantly impacted on the way seagrass and marine habitats are managed and protected. Results of his work not only lead to advances in the field of seagrass ecology, but have changed practices within coastal development, ports and shipping industries and improved the ability of regulators and managers to protect marine habitats.

Interests

Research

• Restoration of Tropical Seagrasses
• Ecosystem valuation of marine habitats
• Monitoring and mapping of tropical marine habitats including coral, seagrass, mangroves and benthic communities
• Dugong and Green Turtle interactions with tropical seagrasses
• Investigations of seagrass resilience and reproduction
• Blue Carbon value of tropical marine habitats
• Seagrass assessment & monitoring in Queensland Ports– industry partnerships in high risk areas
• Developing spatial tools to manage sensitive habitats at high risk from shipping in GBR and Torres Strait Shipping Lanes
• Establishing the drivers of tropical seagrass change
• Developing ecologically based triggers for the management of tropical seagrass communities
• Community partnerships for seagrass research in the Torres Strait
• Blue Carbon habitats in the tropics
• Developing sub-lethal tools for assessing seagrass stress

Experience

• 1994 to 2012 - Principal Scientist, Queensland Department of Agriculture Fisheries and Forestry (Northern Fisheries Centre, Cairns)

Research Disciplines

• Environmental management (4104)
• Ecology (3103)
• Ecological applications (4102)

Socio-Economic Objectives

• Coastal and estuarine systems and management (1802)

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

• Duarte de Paula Costa M, Adame M, Bryant C, Hill J, Kellaway J, Lovelock C, Ola A, Rasheed M, Salinas C, Serrano O, Waltham N, York P, Young M and Macreadie P (2023) Quantifying blue carbon stocks and the role of protected areas to conserve coastal wetlands. Science of the Total Environment, 874.
• Malerba M, Duarte de Paula Costa M, Friess D, Schuster L, Young M, Lagomasimo D, Serrano O, Hickey S, York P, Rasheed M, Lefcheck J, Radford B, Atwood T, Ierodiaconou D and Macreadie P (2023) Remote sensing for cost-effective blue carbon accounting. Earth-Science Reviews, 238.
• Carter A, Collier C, Coles R, Lawrence E and Rasheed M (2022) Community-specific "desired" states for seagrasses through cycles of loss and recovery. Journal of Environmental Management, 314.
• Losciale R, Hay R, Rasheed M and Heron S (2022) 'The public perception of the role, importance, and vulnerability of seagrass. A case study from the Great Barrier Reef'. Environmental Development, 44.
• Schlaefer J, Carter A, Choukroun S, Coles R, Critchell K, Lambrechts J, Rasheed M, Tol S and Grech A (2022) Marine plant dispersal and connectivity measures differ in their sensitivity to biophysical model parameters. Environmental Modelling & Software, 149.
• Carter A, Collier C, Lawrence E, Rasheed M, Robson B and Coles R (2021) A spatial analysis of seagrass habitat and community diversity in the Great Barrier Reef World Heritage Area. Scientific Reports, 11.
• Carter A, McKenna S, Rasheed M, Collier C, McKenzie L, Pitcher R and Coles R (2021) Synthesizing 35?years of seagrass spatial data from the Great Barrier Reef World Heritage Area, Queensland, Australia. Limnology and Oceanography Letters, 6 (4). pp. 216-226
• Collier C, Langlois L, McMahon K, Udy J, Rasheed M, Lawrence E, Carter A, Fraser M and McKenzie L (2021) What lies beneath: predicting seagrass below-ground biomass from above-ground biomass, environmental conditions and seagrass community composition. Ecological Indicators, 121.
• Duarte de Paula Costa M, Lovelock C, Waltham N, Young M, Adame M, Bryant C, Butler D, Green D, Rasheed M, Salinas C, Serrano O, York P, Whitt A and Macreadie P (2021) Current and future carbon stocks in coastal wetlands within the Great Barrier Reef catchments. Global Change Biology, 27 (14). pp. 3257-3271
• Jarvis J, McKenna S and Rasheed M (2021) Seagrass seed bank spatial structure and function following a large-scale decline. Marine Ecology Progress Series, 665. pp. 75-87
• Lambert V, Bainbridge Z, Collier C, Lewis S, Adams M, Carter A, Saunders M, Brodie J, Turner R, Rasheed M and O'Brien K (2021) Connecting targets for catchment sediment loads to ecological outcomes for seagrass using multiple lines of evidence. Marine Pollution Bulletin, 169.
• Pearson R, Collier C, Brown C, Rasheed M, Bourner J, Turschwell M, Sievers M and Connolly R (2021) Remote estimation of aquatic light environments using machine learning: a new management tool for submerged aquatic vegetation. Science of the Total Environment, 782.

More

ResearchOnline@JCU stores 245+ research outputs authored by Dr Michael Rasheed from 1992 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

• A functional traits-based approach to improve understanding of seagrass resilience and disturbance effects on ecosystem services (PhD , Secondary Advisor)
• The return of fish nursery function in recovered and restored tropical seagrass meadows (PhD , Secondary Advisor)
• Understanding the services provided by marine built infrastructure and designing them to maximise their utility in tropical seascapes (PhD , Secondary Advisor)
• Informing the Recovery and Restoration of Tropical Seagrasses using a Biophysical modelling approach (PhD , Secondary Advisor)
• Factors driving Chelonia mydas (green sea turtle) interactions with seagrass meadows within coastal foraging habitats (Masters , Primary Advisor)

Completed

• The vulnerability of World Heritage seagrass habitats to climate change. Development and application of a thematic group framework (2023, Masters , Secondary Advisor)
• The role of herbivores as ecosystem engineers in Great Barrier Reef seagrass meadows (2021, PhD , Primary Advisor)

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

• Hoffmann, L. (2020) Richness of primary producers and consumer abundance mediate epiphyte loads in a tropical seagrass system. James Cook University
• Scott, A. (2020) Green Island seagrass megaherbivore exclusion data 2017. 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.