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Take a video tour of the South-east Commonwealth Marine Reserve
Take a video tour of the South-east Commonwealth Marine Reserves. Discover the amazing diversity they contain, and the science that’s helping us understand them. Launch and Like us in YouTube
From brittle stars grows a ‘tree of life’: how genes trace life on Earth
The Conversation, 25 September 2014
A complete tree of life – showing how and when organisms are related to each other – has long been desired by biologists, but obscured by the vagaries of the fossil record. Now, next-generation gene sequencing, capable of sequencing hundreds of millions of pieces of DNA, is not only revolutionising human medicine and agriculture, but also transforming our understanding about the origins and distribution of life on Earth. Read Museum Victoria and...
Eureka Prize for Reef Life Survey and Hub scientists
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-...
Hubs participating in Darwin’s 2014 National Threatened Species Day
Two NERP hubs are participating in this year’s National Threatened Species Day on Sunday 7 September at Darwin Waterfront – the Northern Australia Hub and Marine Biodiversity Hub. Videos, slide shows and brochures will focus on the management of listed and rare species including sawfish and river sharks, and the impact feral cats are having on native mammals. The event is being marketed as a Pop-up-Zoo with experts from a wide range of organisations providing an overview of their work....
Brittle stars light up scientists' understanding of marine life evolution
The Age, 25 August 2014
The scientific secrets of some of Museum Victoria's unique marine animal collection have been unlocked for the first time, thanks to DNA testing.
Researchers sequenced more than 400 genes from 50 different types of brittle stars, with the results set to shed new light on the evolution of Australia's deep-sea life.
Relatives of starfish, brittle stars are marine animals that can live up to five kilometres below the surface on the abyssal plain....
Search for secrets of river sharks and sawfish
Visit our Sawfish News page to read the latest news
DNA ‘fin(ger)printing’ reveals the secrets of white shark sex
Watch the video........Scientists have developed a unique statistical method to measure Australia’s two white shark populations (east and west), vital information to support management and conservation decisions relating to this iconic species. The method is part of a new toolkit of tagging, aerial survey and DNA fingerprinting being used to unlock the mysteries of shark life and death. We’re very close to unlocking the numbers in the east of Australia and now we have begun our work in south...
Australian endangered species: Largetooth Sawfish
Sharks and rays are some of the world’s most threatened animals, with a quarter of all species at risk of extinction. Among the sharks and rays, sawfish are some of the most threatened, with all five species listed as Critically Endangered or Endangered by the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN). Read the full story in The Conversation, 18 April 2014.
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Get a copy of the new Guide to Sharks of Kakadu Rivers
The Guide to Sharks of Kakadu Rivers is available as a pdf, web version or request a copy: http://www.nerpmarine.edu.au/document/guide-sharks-kakadu-rivers
Also visit our sawfish webpages for more info on this Hub project 2.4 http://www.nerpmarine.edu.au/sawfish Read the newsletter story...
Sawfish rescue caught on video
In September 2012, as Top End floodplains were drying, NERP Marine Biodiversity Hub and Northern Hub scientist Peter Kyne received an alert from Daly River Traditional Owner Rita Purak that two largetooth sawfish (Pristis pristis) were stranded in a waterhole near the Daly River. Rita knew the sawfish were uncommon because she had been helping Charles Darwin University scientist Peter Kyne and CSIRO's Richard Pillans with their field work, monitoring the movements of sawfish in the Northern...