Assessing the impact of a shipstrike on the south atoll of Tubbataha Reef in the Philippines

Overview

The south atoll of Tubbataha reef was struck by a US naval ship in January of 2013. This project will analyse the coral reef composition at the ship strike site one and four years after the event.

Research engagement

Literature review, data visualisation and mapping, data analysis, spatial analysis

Research activities

Student will work with coral reef image analysis data with a shipstrike area on the south atoll of Tubbataha Reef in the Philippines. Data will be explored and visualised and subset to compare the same areas between 2 different survey dates

Outcomes

Assess how coral reef benthic composition has changed immediately following a ship strike and four years later. Have corals recovered post-ship strike?

Skills and experience

Biology, ecology experience preferably marine and strong understanding of statistics and data analysis preferred. Coding in R for data analysis, visualisation, and statistics. Also appropriate for a quantitative student looking for an applied project.

Start date

1 November, 2024

End date

1 February, 2025

Location

Gardens Point campus

Additional information

Potential to share work with NGO in the Philippines and further research for a honours or masters research project.

Keywords

• coral reefs
• shipstrike
• spatial analysis
• data science
• ecology

Contact

Catherine Kim, cat.kim@qut.edu.au