September 12, 2014

On Wednesday 10 September 2014, Hub researchers Professor Graham Edgar and Dr Rick Stuart-Smith were awarded the 2014 NSW Office of Environment and Heritage Eureka Prize for Environmental Research  for their creation of the Reef Life Survey. 

This study of reef systems across the world represents a new concept in marine conservation where scientists, marine managers, and recreational divers work together to maximise the collection, analysis, interpretation and effective use of broad-scale biodiversity information on marine ecosystems.

Marine Hub partners have been working together to analyse the Reef Life Survey data, to improve our understanding of biological diversity. This novel global analysis of reef fish developed a new tool for measuring biodiversity based on species function and abundance rather than species richness. It reported new ‘hotspots’ of functional biodiversity in some temperate regions, including south-western Australia and the Galapagos Islands, where species counts are only moderate. The survey has produced the best dataset of its kind in the world, extremely cost effectively. (Presented annually by the Australian Museum, the Australian Museum Eureka Prizes reward excellence in the fields of research & innovation, leadership, science communication & journalism and school science.) 

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