This project will investigate how coral communities along the Great Barrier Reef have historically responded to acute (e.g. cyclones) and chronic (e.g. water quality) disturbances using pioneering high-precision geological dating and palaeoecological techniques, combined with high-resolution geochemical analysis of coral records. This project will determine high resolution chronological records on different time scales over the past 1-2 millennia of parameters such as: 1. Sea-level based on high-precision dating and elevation survey of well-preserved microatolls; 2. Salinity and pH value based on high-precision boron isotope analyses of selected coral cores in conjunction with back-reef sediment cores; 3. Cyclone frequency based on precise dating of transported reef blocks, cyclone ridges and lagoon sediment cores; 4. Sea-surface temperature based on geochemical proxy analyses (Sr/Ca, Mg/Ca, 18O/16O) of U-series-dated coral cores. 5. Variation in coral reef community structure and coral calcification rates.

The project will assist decision-makers to more efficiently restore biodiversity to degraded rainforest landscapes by providing new knowledge about the outcomes of lower-cost natural regeneration (including potential for minimum intervention management) relative to higher-cost active reforestation (replanting) on post-agricultural land. The outcomes of this project will enable planners to assess the costs, risks and benefits of different approaches to reforestation and choose the most appropriate method for any particular ecological and economic context. This project will: 1. Quantify the rate and pattern of development of vegetation during rainforest regrowth following cessation of agricultural use, and how this compares with the outcomes of publicly-funded restoration by tree-planting. 2. Investigate, trial and promote emerging technologies for the acceleration and redirection of rainforest regrowth, to overcome ecological barriers or thresholds that inhibit rainforest redevelopment. 3. Identify locations and situations where passive restoration (unassisted regrowth) is a preferable alternative to high-cost active restoration (replanting). This will help government agencies and landholders to better forecast outcomes resulting from passive regeneration over defined time frames. This knowledge will also be useful to private enterprises interested in capitalising on emerging carbon markets. This work will be done on the Atherton Tablelands in the Wet Tropics.