Poster Presentation 2024 Australian Marine Sciences Association Annual Meeting combined with NZMSS

CoralWatch: The benefits of involving CoralWatch in research outputs, and how this citizen science initiative can increase the understanding of the impacts of climate change on our global reefs. (#617)

Maxwell L Steven 1 2 , Diana A Kleine 2 , Karen Johnson 2 , Justin Marshall 1 2
  1. School of the Environment, The University of Queensland, Brisbane, Queensland, Australia
  2. CoralWatch, Centre for Marine Science, School of the Environment, The University of Queensland, Brisbane, Queensland, Australia

CoralWatch is a highly successful, predominantly citizen scientist dependent, coral health monitoring program. In the face of increasingly common mass bleaching events, CoralWatch provides the resources for crucial and instantaneous understanding of reef health. Citizen science has steadily seen increased uptake in recent times, with the widespread realisation that professional scientists cannot do it alone when monitoring large-scale ecosystem health. CoralWatch’s data collection methods are specifically designed to be simple and accessible for citizen scientists of all ages and backgrounds. These methods are a numerical colour rating system that measure bleaching extent, whilst indicating a coral colony’s level of zooxanthellae occupation. The accessible nature of CoralWatch methods has aided its widespread use with current coral health data being collected in 80 countries. CoralWatch’s methods and resources empower localised communities with authority and passion to outwardly promote action against climate change. Additionally, CoralWatch is introducing a new “What can I do?” program that provides simple guides for how individuals can reduce their carbon footprint, by working towards a more sustainable lifestyle to save reefs for the future. Finally, CoralWatch’s ambassador program assembles people with different skills, backgrounds, and expertise to develop personal projects aimed at promoting climate action and coral conservation.