Contact details

Mr Cameron Veal
Centre for Marine Studies
The University of Queensland
Gehrmann Laboratories (#60)
St Lucia QLD 4072 Australia

(tel) +61 (0) 733651475
(fax) +61 (0) 733654755
(email) c.vealuq.edu.au

Connections

Collaborators
Prof. Jon Osborn
Dr Maoz Fine
Ms Ruth Reef

People > Cameron Veal

Position: PhD Candidate
Last update: 03-Jun-2010		Supervisors: Prof. Ove Hoegh-Guldberg, Dr Ken Anthony, Dr Kelvin Michael, Prof. Manuel Nunez

Research

Meso- and micro- scale light fields around shallow coral reefs

The primary focus of my PhD research is to bridge the gap in knowledge and communication between optical oceanography and coral reef studies. The shallow water optical environment of coral reef communities is highly complex and poorly presented in many coral reef studies in the literature. The importance of global coral reefs is undisputed due to their economical, social and natural heritage values, therefore their greater understanding and management is crucial to their survival. This research funding is requested to assist in the construction and operation of a localised coral reef protection system to reduce high light penetration during the summer coral bleaching risk period. Solar irradiance is the driving force of photosynthetic activity in shallow water marine ecosystems, therefore exposure of photosynthetic organisms to excessive light intensities caused by: low cloud cover, high optical transmissivity or wave lensed irradiance is inevitable during calm periods in the summer months. Changing global climates have now meant that summer elevated sea surface temperatures and irradiance exposure are pushing corals to their thermal limits. The resultant irradiance exposure and subsequent heating can cause animal stress, in extreme cases leading to coral bleaching. The increased frequency of bleaching events and impaired recovery of reefs post bleaching requires the development of management strategies to increase reef resilience and reduce climatic pressures on the reef.
Keywords: 3-D, Bathometric Modelling, climate change, coral, Coral Albedo, coral physiology, Direct and Diffuse UV, global warming, Great Barrier Reef, Heron Island, Marine Optics, remote sensing, Surface Area, UV and Visible Light Attenuation, UV Partitioning, Wave Lensing

Education

BSc(Hons) Ocean Optics - University of Tasmania - 1st Class (2006)
BSc Biology and Spatial Science - University of Tasmania (2004)

Awards

Australia-Israel Scientific Exchange Foundation Postgraduate Fellowship (2009), PADI Foundation (2009), Great Barrier Reef Marine Park Authority (2009), Australian Geographic Foundation Research Scholarship (2008), Undersea Explorer Student Research Scholarship (2008), SPIE—The International Society for Optical Engineering Student Research Scholarship (2007), Australian Coral Reef Society Travel Award (2007), Australian Postgraduate Award (APA) (2007), NOAA Industry Top Up Scholarship (2007), Young Tassie Scientist (2005)

Publications

Veal CJ, Holmes G, Nunez M, Hoegh-Guldberg O, Osborn J (2010) A comparative study of methods for surface area and three-dimensional shape measurement of coral skeletons. Limnology and Oceanography Methods 8: 241-253

Veal CJ, Carmi M, Fine M, Hoegh-Guldberg O (2010) Increasing the accuracy of surface area estimation using single wax dipping of coral fragments. CORAL REEFS - in press

Veal CJ, Michael KJ, Nunez M (2009) Partitioning of underwater direct and diffuse ultraviolet irradiance in a shallow water coral reef. MARINE AND FRESHWATER RESEARCH 60: 1244-1253