Dr Sander Scheffers investigates coral reef changes.A coral reef ecologist, based at Central Queensland University in Gladstone, believes global warming may cause certain Great Barrier Reef corals to migrate south to colder waters if suitable hard substratum, such as an old drowned reef, is present.

This would lead to a totally different coral reef composition than that we are used to.

Dr Sander Scheffers, a Senior Research Fellow at CQU's Centre for Environmental Management, is leading the Burnett-Mary inshore reef mapping project in cooperation with the remote sensing group at Southern Cross University (SCU) and Dr Ashley Bunce (CQU) and is funded by the Burnett-Mary Regional Group.

Dr Scheffers will be mapping inshore reefs from Gladstone to Hervey Bay and performing underwater verification of reef communities and their health.

"This project is really exciting and I feel like an explorer since there is no knowledge on the occurrence let alone status of reefs south of Gladstone," Dr Scheffers explains.

"Although there is little known of these reefs, there are indications from locals that there are massive, dense reefs out there, and a group from SCU found around 150 different Scleractinean corals off Woongarra. This means the reefs are potentially very species rich and diverse as well."

With higher water temperatures and increasing sea levels, Dr Scheffers says corals will adapt to or avoid temperature affected areas or be killed.

Dr Scheffers performs underwater verification of reef communities and their health."There are recent and geological indications that this will lead to a different community composition of reefs as we know it.

"Scientists say reefs or communities will migrate polewards."

"Climate change will affect reefs similarly worldwide, but additional local impacts such as pollution and overfishing will decide reef trajectories."

The Burnett-Mary Reef coral communities, being on the most southern margin of the Great Barrier Reef, will show the first signs of change, which makes this area a key site for studying the influence of global warming on reef communities and ecology.

The project will run until the end of June, with further funding needed to look at future changes.

Dr Scheffers has only been in Australia for 3 months after moving from Germany where he was a postdoctoral fellow at the universities of Cologne and Essen. He now commutes from Alstonville, NSW, where he resides with his wife and 2 young sons, to Gladstone in Central Queensland to conduct his research.

He completed his Masters of Science and PhD at the University of Amsterdam and the Royal Netherlands Institute for Sea Research in the Netherlands. His fieldwork, lasting 4 years, was completed at the Caribbean Institute for Management of Biodiversity (Curaçao, Netherlands Antilles) with the project title: 'Key processes in degrading reefs'.

His postdoctoral research focused on the influence of extreme wave events such as cyclones and tsunamis on Holocene and modern reef development in relation to climate change. He completed research in Aruba, Bonaire, Curacao, the whole Antillean Island Arc, the Bahamas, Hawaii, Thailand and West Australia (Cape Range NP and the Houtman Abrolhos archipelago).

Sander ready to embark on one of his many underwater research adventures.
Sander's young sons Emile and Yanik watch on as dad gets ready to explore the ocean's floor.
Sander takes time out and enjoys some beach activities with his sons.