Since 1972, AIMS has built a strong networks of partnerships with research, industry and government. Collaboration is at our core. Our world-class people, facilities, knowledge and technology and our presence and experience across tropical Australia deliver excellent capabilities to all our partnerships.
If you are seeking science-based solutions in tropical marine environments, please contact us to see how we can work together.
To maintain and strengthen its position as a world-leader in marine science, Australia needs to build a pipeline of highly skilled marine scientists with expertise in relevant areas.
More broadly, it is widely recognised that to maintain Australia’s competitive edge and reach our potential for innovation, we need to increase our numbers of science, technology, engineering, and maths (STEM)-trained professionals. Also, women are under represented in STEM in Australia, currently making up only 13 per cent of those employed in STEM jobs.
Pacific Island communities rely on coral reefs for food, income and coastal protection, but these ecosystems face risk of collapse under the pressures of climate change.
Preventing further degradation of coral reefs depends on the availability of timely and accurate information about reef condition to determine regional trends and inform conservation and management decisions.
Along with sediments, nutrients and pesticides, other contaminants have also been detected in the inshore ecosystems of the Great Barrier Reef.
In general, there is a lack of available monitoring data. Their presence, concentrations and potential effects are not yet well understood.
More than 50 land pesticides (herbicides, insecticides and fungicides) have been detected in waters of the Great Barrier Reef and its catchments.
AIMS’ work helps determine the risk pesticides pose to tropical organisms and marine ecosystems. Our ecotoxicologists use laboratory studies to establish the concentration levels that can cause ‘ecologically relevant’ effects. This information contributes to water quality guideline values and informs ecological risk assessments.
Nitrogen and phosphorus are found either attached to other particles, such as sediment, or dissolved in the water. Particulate nutrients are generally heavier and sink out of the water close to the coast, while dissolved nutrients are rapidly taken up into the reef’s ecosystem.
Run-off of sediments, nutrients and pesticides is one of the main pressures on the inshore waters of the Great Barrier Reef. It puts stress on coral reef and seagrass ecosystems, affecting their health and ability to recover from disturbances like coral bleaching and cyclones.
AIMS has monitored water quality in the Great Barrier Reef since the 1980s. We continue to run several large, long-term studies of inshore water quality.
Ocean acidification is the change in seawater chemistry due to the absorption of increasing carbon dioxide (CO2) in the air from fossil fuels and deforestation. Globally, ocean acidity has already increased by 30% compared with pre-industrial times over 200 years ago. However, ocean acidification conditions are more variable along the coast and on coral reefs than in the open ocean.
The National Sea Simulator, or SeaSim, gives AIMS researchers and their collaborators the edge in delivering world-leading coral reef science.
Using SeaSim’s large seawater tanks, scientists can research the impact of complex environmental changes on corals and other tropical marine organisms with large, long-term experiments.
The facility allows researchers to manipulate key environmental factors, including light, temperature, acidity, carbon dioxide, salinity, sediments and contaminants.
The Australian Institute of Marine Science is a world leader in tropical marine research, expanding our nation’s knowledge hidden below the surface. We are a strategy-led organisation with research aligned to the nation’s evolving science priorities to develop globally relevant and innovative research solutions.
At AIMS, we offer challenging and rewarding careers to our staff with a focus on creating safe and productive workplaces.
