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Water quality: catchment to reef
Good water quality is essential for the health of marine and freshwater ecosystems. When water quality declines, the resilience of these ecosystems weakens.
We play a major role in monitoring the condition and tracking long-term trends of pollutants entering the Great Barrier Reef. We also work with growers, graziers and communities to help reduce runoff and improve on-farm pracitices.
Our program provides real-time nitrate data to growers in Great Barrier Reef catchments, helping them quickly adjust practices to reduce runoff.
Water quality monitoring for growers using high-frequency sensors
Community
We are helping growers explore on-farm Interventions, such as drainage, to reduce runoff and improve water quality.
On-farm interventions to improve water quality
Community
Our researchers train and support tourism operators and communities in collecting data to better understand water clarity, nutrients, and temperature at key tourism sites.
Whitsunday water quality monitoring: citizen science and ecotourism
Community, Monitoring
We are producing new environmental and climate proxy records to provide a greater understanding of the Reef's disturbance history and long-term ecosystem evolution.
Long-term environmental records across the Great Barrier Reef
Research
We use multiple lines of evidence including water quality monitoring, tracing, modelling, and proxy-based data analysis, to a better understand of the catchment-to-marine connection.
Pollutant sources, transport and fate across catchment to Reef
Research
We are collaborating with extension staff throughout the Great Barrier Reef catchment to enhance their understanding of water quality science and how to effectively communicate it.
Improving water quality science communication
Community
This research uses satellite images and advanced remote sensing technology to map and monitor water quality conditions, including flood plumes, across expansive reef ecosystems.
Large scale water quality monitoring using remote sensing
Monitoring
We train a network of landholders on water quality sampling, where we then analyse to identify catchment hotspots and help to refine catchment modelling output.
Community water quality monitoring on grazing lands
Community
By consolidating historical water quality data, we aim to uncover the spatial and temporal scope of existing monitoring efforts, enabling analysis of water quality trends across broader scales.
Historical water quality database for the Great Barrier Reef
Research
For over two decades, we've studied how runoff from land and river plumes enter the Great Barrier Reef.
Impact of water quality and river plumes in the Great Barrier Reef
Monitoring, Research
We specialise in the synthesis and review of Great Barrier Reef related water quality themes including hydrology, wetlands, sediments, nutrients and pesticides.
Synthesising broader water quality research across the Great Barrier Reef
Monitoring
Projects
Aaron Davis
Principal Research Officer
Aaron Davis’ research broadly focuses on catchment water quality in northern Australia, particularly the role of anthropogenic (human) stressors in aquatic communities. One of his key research interests is identifying progressive agricultural practices that offer industry improvements from a natural resource management perspective, while also ensuring the long-term social and economic viability of farming enterprises.
Aaron is also interested in better quantifying the temporal and spatial extent of water quality contamination in coastal freshwater and estuarine wetlands, particularly in regard to chronic, sub-lethal exposure to pollutants.
Other research interests include landscape ecology in relation to wetland connectivity, and identifying primary production sources for aquatic communities and relationships to flow regime (for instance, dietary and isotopic ecology). Aaron’s research interests also span fish ecology, particularly size-related trophic ecology, and the evolutionary processes influencing the present-day Australasian fish fauna. This includes the biogeographic, phylogenetic and paleoecological drivers that have shaped the unique contemporary fish assemblage structure seen in Australian freshwaters.
Barry Butler
Principal Research Officer
Barry is a limnological consultant with more than thirty years experience studying the relationships between ambient water quality, ecological health and anthropogenic pressures in the freshwater ecosystems of northern Australia.
Since joining the current research group at TropWATER (formerly the Australian Centre for Tropical Freshwater Research) in 1990 he has participated in numerous interdisciplinary contract research and consultancy projects for government agencies, resource managers, and industrial clients such as mines and refineries, and has authored in excess of 150 environmental monitoring reports for submission to State and Federal regulatory authorities.
Ben Jarihani
Principal Research Officer
With a fervent commitment to advancing environmental science and water resources engineering, Ben brings a wealth of professional and research excellence to James Cook University. As a seasoned hydrologist and water engineer with over 25 years of industry experience, his expertise spans Environmental Earth Science, Water Resources Engineering, Catchment and Coastal Processes, and Environmental Modelling.
Armed with a PhD in Hydrological Science from the University of Queensland and dual master's degrees in Water Resources Engineering and Remote Sensing/GIS, Ben possesses a robust educational foundation in environmental modelling. His multifaceted career has seen him successfully navigate diverse multidisciplinary research projects, utilising advanced modeling skills and spatial analysis.
In addition to his research prowess, he has demonstrated a dedication to education, delivering courses on Hydrology, Natural Hazards, Geomorphology, Remote Sensing, and GIS at undergraduate and master's levels. Ben has actively mentored students and supervised numerous PhD and Honours candidates, showcasing his commitment to knowledge dissemination.
His interests include water resources management and engineering, watershed management and water quality modelling, environmental modelling (including hydrological and hydrodynamic modelling), hydroinformatics, flood risk assessment and mitigation, water-energy-food nexus, ecohydrology, remote sensing applications in hydrology, natural disasters and resilience to climate extremes, and soil and gully erosion modelling and mapping.
Caroline Petus
Senior Research Officer
Caroline Petus is originally from the south-western coast of France. She completed her PhD (2009) at the University of Bordeaux (France) and moved to Australia in 2010. Caroline is interested in how Earth observation sciences can contribute to the conservation of natural resources.
Her research focus on monitoring marine environments conditions and trends through the integration of in-situ and satellite data and on translating these spatial data into relevant information for management. One key focus is the monitoring of water quality, including the mapping of riverine plumes and land-sourced contaminants transport and the assessment of marine habitats exposure and risk to flood waters (seagrasses and coral reefs). Caroline loves showcasing satellite images to support scientific stories and is passionate about promoting and facilitating the use of Earth observation technologies in marine conservation.
Caroline has 10 years of experience working in the Oceania region through TropWATER and is currently one of the principal investigators for the Great Barrier Reef Marine Park Authority project Reef Rescue Marine Monitoring Program ($4,340,656 over 11 years). Caroline was also an investigator in water quality and seagrass projects for the Department of the Environment, and for multidisciplinary research and monitoring projects in Australia and overseas.
Cassandra James
Senior Research Scientist
Cassie James is an experienced aquatic ecologist with a research interest in riparian and wetland vegetation. She specialises in using information technologies and GIS to collate, manage and analyse data and support ecological research.
Cassie completed a Bachelor of Science in plant biology at the University of Wales, Bangor, before transitioning to Liverpool University to complete a PhD in 1999 investigating the dynamics of invasive aquatic plants. Following stints working in the Murray Darling Basin, China and south-east Queensland, Cassie moved to Townsville in 2012 to work on identifying climate refuges for freshwater biodiversity, joining TropWATER in 2013.
Some of Cassie’s recent projects include conducting a review of water quality monitoring and evaluation for dissolved inorganic nitrogen (DIN)-focused projects for the Great Barrier Reef Foundation, and managing the long-standing ambient monitoring for Defence at the Townsville Field Training Area. She has also been involved in a Queensland Department of Environment and Science project, compiling extensive historical water quality data into a single database that will be available to all researchers, modellers and end-users working in the Great Barrier Reef catchment area.
Chris Williams
Research Worker
Chris Williams is a civil/environmental engineer with more than 35 years’ experience in assessment and management of water quality in riverine and coastal systems across northern Australia and south-east Asia. This experience spans process design and modelling, wastewater treatment, mine tailings disposal, riverine and estuarine geomorphology and environmental data management.
Chris’ primary research focus is developing the Australian water quality management framework to account for spatial and temporal complexity in highly ephemeral, tropical drainage systems.
Current work is seeing Chris designing and implementing Receiving Environment Monitoring Programs (REMPs), which support surface water management and regulatory compliance by external mining clients in Queensland and the Northern Territory. Annual REMP reporting, and associated surface water investigations, address the physical, chemical, and biological context to observed water quality outcomes, with the aim to distinguish potential mine influence from wider background variation. Chris has co-authored more than 70 major investigation reports in this area during his time at TropWATER.
Jane Waterhouse
Senior Research Officer
Jane is an environmental scientist with 26 years’ experience in Great Barrier Reef ‘catchment to reef’ water quality science and management. She specialises in the synthesis of scientific information to inform management decisions, reflected by her coordination or lead role in the 2008, 2013, 2017 and 2022 Scientific Consensus Statements.
She has also been involved in several research projects involving water quality monitoring, modelling and analysis in the Great Barrier Reef and Torres Strait and has led the inshore water quality monitoring component of the Marine Monitoring Program at TropWATER since 2015. Jane has worked on several projects to guide government investment including development of end-of-catchment pollutant load reduction targets, assessment of the risk of water quality to sensitive ecosystems to guide spatial priorities, and coordination and input to several regional Water Quality Improvement Plans.
She is an advisor to the Reef Trust Partnership Water Quality Program and is a member of several committees including the Reef 2050 Independent Expert Panel, the Gladstone Healthy Harbour Partnership Independent Science Panel and the Reef Credits Technical Advisory Committee.
Luke Buono
Research Worker
As a Research Worker, Luke plays a pivotal role in advancing scientific endeavours by offering technical support to research scientists. His responsibilities encompass the selection and configuration of environmental monitoring equipment, overseeing the logistical operations of research experiments and projects, as well as designing workflows related to post-processing of research data and data quality analysis. Notably, Luke has been directly involved in the maintenance and installation of over twenty real-time nitrate-nitrogen monitoring stations across the wet tropics, making significant contributions to the Great Barrier Reef catchment-to-reef monitoring projects.
Luke also strives to achieve cross-disciplinary visionary within project and research design by applying the theoretical and practical insights from various fields to generate novel and effective solutions to technical problems. His expertise further extends to designing data visualisation tools, establishing communication protocols and data acquisition services, programming embedded systems to achieve monitoring goals and the communication of scientific data back to relevant stakeholders and community members. Luke is interested in leveraging IoT technology to create cost-effective, large-scale sensing networks, enriching researchers with comprehensive water quality data for the region.
Michelle Devlin
Adjunct Senior Research Fellow
Michelle has been undertaking research in the areas of tropical and temperate marine ecosystems since 1990. Her work specialises in the environmental monitoring of water quality and eutrophication and the provision of regulatory advice on eutrophication.
Michelle’s projects have involved management of national and international research programs relating to the fate and consequences of human activity and pollutants on freshwater, coastal and offshore marine waters, establishing links between the freshwater zone and marine systems, and coastal zone management.
Michelle Tink
Manager, Laboratories TropWATER
Michelle Tink is an Analytical Chemist with 30 years of experience as a Laboratory Manager having managed and worked in laboratories analysing oil, soil, plants and water.
Michelle began her career at Tobacco Research Board (Harare Zimbabwe) in the Analytical Chemistry Services Division where she developed expertise in a variety of analytical instruments including GC, HPLC, AAS & UV-Vis Spectrophotometers. Michelle then joined Tribology Services (Harare Zimbabwe) where she oversaw the establishment and operation of their Oil Analysis Laboratory for 9 years before relocating to Townsville in 2001.
After a number of years as General Manager of Oil Solutions NQ in Townsville Michelle joined CSIRO Land and Water in their Soil, Plant and Water Laboratory where she developed expertise in soil, plant and water analysis techniques in particular nutrient analysis using segmented flow analysers.
In 2007 Michelle joined TropWATER (ACTFR) where she has been responsible for the upgrading of laboratory instrumentation and establishment of streamlined workflows to improve the efficiency and turnaround times of the laboratory while maintaining the quality of the water quality data. During this time in addition to managing the Water Quality Lab on a day to day basis Michelle has also specialized in low level nutrient analysis and works with research scientists to provide customized analytical services to support their research outcomes.
Patrick Cunningham
Laboratory Technician
Since graduating at JCU in 2012, Patrick has taken up the role as laboratory technician for the water quality laboratory at TropWATER. Ambitiously, he has delved deep into the science of water quality and quantitative analysis. Now with 13 years of experience Patrick has acquired many lab-based skills and his knowledge of water quality continues to flourish and grow.
Patrick’s educational background is chemistry and he has a Bachelor of Science with honours. One particular interest of his is quantitative analysis of chlorophyll a using both UV-Vis and Fluorescence spectroscopy. Patrick has been involved in producing data from all kinds of sample points from the marine environment to inland aquatic habitats, occasionally undertaking fieldwork when it is required.
Paula Cartwright
Senior Research Officer
Paula is a multi-disciplinary scientist specialising in marine and aquatic ecosystems. Her current research includes: 1) analysing spectral light wavelengths reaching benthic habitats (seagrasses, coral reefs) under changing metocean conditions and catchment pollutants; 2) investigating the impacts of urban/industrial and agricultural terrestrial activities on the northern Australian coastal water quality; 3) understanding the ecology of temporary waterholes across northern Australia and the potential effects of changes to the environmental water regime; and, 4) analysing current and historical satellite imagery to define distribution of freshwater river plumes for sediment and nutrients over northern Australian, and their relationship to river flow to examine future plume extent under future development and climate scenarios.
Previously Paula has examined oceanic properties (physical, chemical, and biological) and quantified their relationship to climatic processes such as El-Nino Southern Oscillation and Indian Ocean Dipole events, as well as regional synoptic influences; developed algorithms for detecting marine sediment plumes and provided ‘toolkits’ for managers to monitor water quality from river outflow, conducted research in marine benthic ecology using remotely operated video and applied climate modelling techniques to quantify impacts of changing climate processes on coastal water quality.
Richard Pearson
Emeritus Professor
Richard was employed at JCU as Senior Tutor in Zoology in 1974, eventually becoming Professor in 1999. He was successful in his 1988 funding application to the federal government to establish the Australian Centre for Tropical Freshwater Research (ACTFR, now TropWATER) and became its Deputy Director, moving to Director in the mid-90s. He was appointed as Head of the new School of Tropical Biology in 1999 and subsequently relinquished the directorship of the ACTFR. During this time, he continued to teach, supervise postgraduate students and undertake research, for which he had continuous funding from several sources.
Richard initially investigated the effects of river pollution by sugar mills, followed by projects associated with the sugar industry and Cooperative Research Centres for Rainforest Management and the Great Barrier Reef. For the rainforest CRC he investigated the ecology of pristine tropical streams and continued that work beyond retirement in an international programme on stream ecology. He led the original joint CRC Catchment to Reef programme, and he worked for several years on the ecology of the Burdekin River.
Richard has authored at least 70 technical reports and over 160 refereed journal papers and book chapters. He supervised more than 70 postgraduate students. He continues to collaborate with TropWATER staff and others, and to write up his and his students’ research results.
Shelley Templeman
Principal Research Officer
Shelley (Michelle) Templeman’s research is broadly focused on understanding the impacts of pollutants and contaminants in tropical aquatic ecosystems, as well as developing more suitable ecological monitoring tools to measure and mitigate pollutant impacts.
A childhood spent on cattle properties in central Australia may seem like an unlikely foundation for an aquatic scientist, however this experience provided Shelley with some early insights into the important interactions and impacts between humans and the environment. Since leaving school she has completed a range of undergraduate and postgraduate qualifications across Australia, mostly while performing several scientific roles in northern Australia, Indonesia and Antarctica. Shelley’s studies culminated in a PhD at James Cook University in 2012, investigating the bioindicator potential of jellyfishes to metal pollution.
Her more recent research is focused on macroinvertebrate taxonomy and biological monitoring at Kakadu National Park in the Northern Territory. Also, she is working with a north Queensland local council as an environmental specialist to help support the internal team to achieve sustainable outcomes for the community.
Stephen Lewis
Principal Research Officer
Stephen Lewis is a geochemist who focuses primarily on water quality in the Great Barrier Reef (GBR) catchment area and lagoon, including evaluating the sources, transport and risks of various pollutants in freshwater, estuarine and marine ecosystems.
A Townsville original, Stephen completed a Bachelor of Science (Hons) and PhD in the School of Earth and Environmental Sciences at James Cook University in 2000 and 2005, respectively. Stephen’s work includes examining water quality issues for a variety of land use types – including agriculture, industry and urban – and considering potential improvements that can be made to reduce runoff to receiving ecosystems. This is achieved through a combination of various monitoring and modelling activities. Some of these include the Paddock to Reef Program and the Reef Rescue Marine Monitoring Program, which span paddock, tributaries, river catchments and GBR lagoon.
Other research interests include examining sea-level change on the east coast of Australia over the past 20,000 years and the development and growth of fringing reefs in the GBR. Stephen’s work also explores the use of trace elements and stable isotopes in coral core records to investigate changes in water quality since the time of European settlement in north Queensland (c.1850).
Zoe Bainbridge
Senior Research Fellow
Dr Zoe Bainbridge is a research fellow at the Centre for Tropical Water and Aquatic Ecosystem Research (TropWATER), with over 15 years of experience dedicated to the field of reef water quality science. Zoe is currently hosted by the Queensland Department of Environment and Science’s Soil, Catchment and Riverine Processes unit, where she is working on a number of collaborative projects with the Queensland Government and CSIRO.
Zoe’s research has focused on identifying catchment sources of sediment, characterising this sediment and advancing the understanding of its transport and dynamics in the tropics. With a focus on bridging the connection between catchment and marine environments, this knowledge is pivotal in identifying the most impactful sediment to manage and preserve aquatic ecosystems. Most recently, this research included a multiple lines of evidence approach to identify catchment sediment hotspots, utilising community-based water quality monitoring, sediment source tracing and catchment modelling. This research significantly contributes to and informs Australian and Queensland Government remediation investment programs to improve water quality.
Throughout her career, Zoe has played an active role in engaging with regional Natural Resource Management (NRM) bodies and regionally focused water quality programs. She understands the importance of effective engagement across scientists, landholders, management agencies and industry to achieve positive water quality outcomes. Through these interactions, Zoe seeks to enhance community awareness and understanding of water quality issues across the Great Barrier Reef catchment and lagoon, fostering a sense of collective responsibility for its protection.
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