Ecosystem management

At the edge of Australia’s continental shelf, in the Timor Sea, you’ll find Ashmore Reef Marine Park. 630 km north of Broome in Western Australia, it’s one of our most remote marine parks. We were part of the area's most comprehensive 'health checks'.

Trees in a desert, where there is evidence of resprouting and regrowth.

How is the science of ecology helping our ecosystems adapt to climate change and other human pressures? ECOS put the question to Dr Suzanne Prober, leader of CSIRO’s Adaptive Ecosystem Management team.

How can humanity address the vast sustainability challenges that we face? Today there is no shortage of ideas and recommendations. We present some of the best ways to approach co-production.

Indigenous fisher wearing snorkel on his head holding a rock lobster caught with a spearing device

In the face of climate change, innovative science and cultural knowledge will be critical for protecting ecosystems, marine life and livelihoods.

Looking up at a eucalptus forest canopy

Those who know the price of everything are said to know the value of nothing – but could measuring the value of nature help preserve it?

2. Aerial flood photographs taken in the Townsville region

Shading corals to reduce mass bleaching and expanding the control of coral-eating crown-of-thorns starfish—if socially acceptable and done on a large scale—could buy at least 10 to 20 years for the Great Barrier Reef, according to scientists who have for the first time modelled all of the world’s biggest marine ecosystem.

A satellite image of the coast of Queensland near Townsville. A brown plume swirls into the blue/green water near the coast at the mouth of the Burdekin River.

This interactive platform puts information about management options and past, present, and future conditions of the Reef at users’ flipper-tips.

Close-up shot of a Loggerhead turtle with barnacles on its shell swimming over coral reefs.

eDNA is poised to revolutionise the way we monitor Australia’s natural environment but it relies on a complete reference library of DNA barcodes. That's where we step in. CSIRO is working with partners to create this library for Australia’s most important species.

Researchers at Heron Island

Our researchers have been on the larvae lookout of the coral kind on the Great Barrier Reef to trial new, innovative techniques to restore damaged parts of the Reef.