Crown-of-thorns seastar (CoTS, Acanthaster cf. solaris ) outbreaks remain a significant cause of coral loss on the Great Barrier Reef (GBR) and across the West-Pacific Ocean. Previous outbreaks on the GBR have only been discovered once fully established, which constrains opportunities for effective control. Early detection of outbreaks would provide an important opportunity for early intervention and increase understanding of...

Aim After environmental disasters, species with large population losses may need urgent protection to prevent extinction and support recovery. Following the 2019–2020 Australian megafires, we estimated population losses and recovery in fire‐affected fauna, to inform conservation status assessments and management. Location Temperate and subtropical Australia. Time period 2019–2030 and beyond. Major taxa Australian terrestrial a...

Insects are capable of extraordinary feats of long‐distance movement that have profound impacts on the function of terrestrial ecosystems. The ability to undertake these movements arose multiple times through the evolution of a suite of traits that make up the migratory syndrome, however the underlying genetic pathways involved remain poorly understood. Migratory hoverflies (Diptera: Syrphidae) are an emerging model group for...

Outbreaks of crown-of-thorns seastars (CoTS; Acanthaster spp.) are a major contributor to degradation of Indo-Pacific coral reefs. Understanding the dispersal and fate of planktonic life stages is crucial to understand and manage outbreaks, but visual detection of CoTS larvae is challenging. We apply a quantitative PCR (qPCR) assay to enumerate CoTS larvae in a 3-year time series of plankton samples from two reefs (Agincourt a...

Coral loss through consumption by corallivorous crown-of-thorns seastars (CoTS, Acanthaster spp. ) is a major contributor to the coral reef crisis in the Indo-Pacific region. The fourth wave of Acanthaster cf. solaris outbreaks since the 1960s started around 2010 on Australia’s Great Barrier Reef. Ecological monitoring failed to detect early outbreak stages, thus preventing timely intervention. Here, we develop a digital dropl...