JCU > Research Portfolio > Dr Robert Coles

About

Research Disciplines: Environmental management (4104)

Ecological applications (4102)

Ecology (3103)
Socio-Economic Objectives: Marine systems and management (1805)

Coastal and estuarine systems and management (1802)

Honours

Fellowships

1996 - Churchill Fellow

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

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.
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
Tol S, Jarvis J, York P, Congdon B and Coles R (2021) Mutualistic relationships in marine angiosperms: enhanced germination of seeds by mega-herbivores. Biotropica, 53 (6). pp. 1535-1545
Tol S, Harrison M, Groom R, Gilbert J, Blair D, Coles R and Congdon B (2021) Using DNA to distinguish between faeces of Dugong dugon and Chelonia mydas: non-invasive sampling for IUCN-listed marine megafauna. Conservation Genetics Resources, 13. pp. 115-117
Collier C, Carter A, Rasheed M, McKenzie L, Udy J, Coles R, Brodie J, Waycott M, O’Brien K, Saunders M, Adams M, Martin K, Honchin C, Petus C and Lawrence E (2020) An evidence-based approach for setting desired state in a complex Great Barrier Reef seagrass ecosystem: a case study from Cleveland Bay. Environmental and Sustainability Indicators, 7.
Duffy J, Benedetti-Cecchi L, Trinanes J, Muller-Karger F, Ambo-Rappe R, Boström C, Buschmann A, Byrnes J, Coles R, Creed J, Cullen-Unsworth L, Diaz-Pulido G, Duarte C, Edgar G, Fortes M, Goni G, Hu C, Huang X, Hurd C, Johnson C, Konar B, Krause-Jensen D, Krumhansl K, Macreadie P, Marsh H, McKenzie L, Mieszkowska N, Miloslavich P, Montes E, Nakaoka M, Norderhaug K, Norlund L, Orth R, Prathep A, Putman N, Samper-Villarreal J, Serrao E, Short F, Pinto I, Steinberg P, Stuart-Smith R, Unsworth R, van Keulen M, van Tussenbroek B, Wang M, Waycott M, Weatherdon L, Wernberg T and Yaakub S (2019) Toward a coordinated global observing system for seagrasses and marine macroalgae. Frontiers in Marine Science, 6. pp. 1-26
Grech A, Hanert E, McKenzie L, Rasheed M, Thomas C, Tol S, Wang M, Waycott M, Wolter J and Coles R (2018) Predicting the cumulative effect of multiple disturbances on seagrass connectivity. Global Change Biology, 24 (7). pp. 3093-3104
Tol S, Jarvis J, York P, Grech A, Congdon B and Coles R (2017) Long distance biotic dispersal of tropical seagrass seeds by marine mega-herbivores. Scientific Reports, 7. pp. 1-8

Conference Papers

Carter A, Coles R, McKenna S and Rasheed M (2017) Spatial management tools for coastal seagrasses in Queensland, Australia. Proceedings of the Australasian Coasts & Ports 2017 Conference. 21-23 June 2017, Cairns, QLD, Australia
Rasheed M, McKenna S, Coles R and Carter A (2017) Protection of Great Barrier Reef seagrasses through innovative port industry and science research partnerships. Proceedings of the Australasian Coasts & Ports 2017 Conference. In: Australasian Coasts & Ports 2017 Conference: working with nature, 21-23 June 2017, Cairns, QLD, Australia

More: ResearchOnline@JCU stores 53+ research outputs authored by Dr Robert Coles from 2007 onwards.

Current Funding

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

Great Barrier Reef Foundation - Reef Trust Partnership

IMR Integrated Reef Fish Monitoring Program

Indicative Funding: $491,011 over 2 years (administered by Australian Institute of Marine Science)
Summary: While critical knowledge of the abundance, diversity, and assemblage composition of Great Barrier Reef reef fishes has been delivered by comprehensive and systematic monitoring programs across various spatial and temporal scales to date, significant knowledge gaps remain. The Integrated Reef Fish Monitoring Program will address these critical knowledge gaps by establishing monitoring in nursery seascapes, deep-water inter-reef habitat, inshore fringing reefs, and developing indicators of reef fish status and trend.
Investigators: Alexandra Carter, Tim Smith and Robert Coles (TropWATER)
Keywords: Fish; Great Barrier Reef; Monitoring; Coral Reef; Seagrass; Mangrove

Australian Government Department of Agriculture, Water and the Environment - Marine Parks

Mapping Marra Sea Country with a focus on benthic habitats of the Limmen Marine Park

Indicative Funding: $283,720 over 2 years
Summary: Understanding the distribution and composition of benthic habitats in the Limmen Marine Park is necessary to manage the park in accordance with the North Marine Parks Network Management Plan and support the aspirations of the Marra People. Our team will survey the marine benthic habitats within and adjacent to the marine park. Recommendations for the marine park?s co-management will be developed. Project outputs will be relevant to multiple users and made accessible by optimizing media streams, including a short film about the Limmen marine park from the perspective of the Marra people and sea rangers.
Investigators: Catherine Collier, Alexandra Carter, Rachel Groom, Robert Coles and Michael Rasheed in collaboration with Lloyd Shepherd and Paul Leeson (TropWATER and Australian Institute of Marine Science)
Keywords: Marine Parks; Co-management; Traditional Owners; Benthic habitats; Seagrass; Monitoring

Australian Government Department of Agriculture, Water and the Environment - National Environmental Science Program 2 (NESP 2) - Marine and Coastal Hub (NESP MAC Hub)

Synthesizing Three Decades of Seagrass Spatial Data from Torres Strait and Gulf of Carpentaria

Indicative Funding: $41,837 over 1 year, in partnership with the Torres Strait Regional Authority ($10,000)
Summary: The Gulf of Carpentaria and Torres Strait have globally significant seagrass habitat that provide food for threatened dugong and turtle, and habitat for commercially important fish and prawns. Key to understanding, managing, mitigating risk, and monitoring seagrass in this remote region is reliable data on seagrass distribution and species composition and how these changes through time. Data on seagrass has been collected in these areas since the 1980s, but data location and storage from these efforts remains disparate, in many cases not publicly available, and in some cases has already been lost. Our study will compile, validate and synthesize historical seagrass spatial data to create a publicly available database accessible on eAtlas. This product will provide end-users with a valuable spatial resource to assist management and monitoring of seagrass in the region.
Investigators: Alexandra Carter, Skye McKenna, Robert Coles and Michael Rasheed (TropWATER)
Keywords: Seagrass; Torres Strait; Dugong; gulf of carpentaria; Green Turtle; spatial data

Queensland Government - Advance Queensland Small Business Innovation Research

Boosting coral abundance on the Great Barrier Reef - Scaling up coral restoration using innovative Symbiodinium co-culture and mass larval supply on reefs

Indicative Funding: $71,000 over 1 year (administered by Southern Cross University)
Summary: This project will supply millions of coral larvae and significantly increase the settlement and recruitment success of juvenile corals. This will rapidly replenish damaged GBR coral sites, restoring ecological functions and resilience of coral communities. Our concept will significantly increase the supply of high quality larvae of foundation corals and provide the world?s first mass production of larvae containing Symbiodinium microalgae, which will increase larval energy and settlement success and survival of newly settled corals. Innovations include coral larval restoration at larger scales (hundreds of square metres) than previous studies and pioneering front-line diagnostics to confer thermal tolerance in coral recruits. Our team includes world-leading researchers with decades of relevant experience collaborating directly with tourism and other Queensland businesses to provide cost-effective outcomes that can be commercially scaled to restore large reef areas in future.
Investigators: Katie Chartrand, Robert Coles and Alexandra Carter (TropWATER)
Keywords: Symbiodinium spp.; Coral larvae; Coral spawning; restoration; Coral reef; Great Barrier Reef

QLD Department of Agriculture and Fisheries - Contract Research

Green Mussel Monitoring Proposal 2017 - Weipa Plankton Sampling and Sample Processing

Indicative Funding: $64,445 over 1 year
Summary: This project will sample plankton for the presence of AGM larval DNA at two locations; Weipa Harbour, and the Amrun project site to the south of Weipa. It will meet the initial requirements of the Weipa Asian Green Mussel Surveillance Strategy. The collection will follow protocols previously used in Cairns Harbour and will rely on expertise developed by TropWATER scientists to collect, process and transport DNA material for analysis and to report the results.
Investigators: Robert Coles, Michael Rasheed and Alysha Sozou in collaboration with Carissa Reason, Lloyd Shepherd and T Sankey (TropWATER)
Keywords: Asia Green Mussel; Plankton; Survey; Biosecurity; DNA

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

A functional traits-based approach to improve understanding of seagrass resilience and disturbance effects on ecosystem services (PhD , Secondary Advisor)

Completed

Relative importance of different seagrass re-establishment strategies in tropical Queensland, Australia (2021, PhD , 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.

Tol, S. (2016) Biotic tropical seagrass seed dispersal by dugong and green sea turtles in the Great Barrier Reef. 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.