Events [Lecture] Public Lecture Series 2018

JCU Events

Wed, 14 Mar 2018

[Lecture] Public Lecture Series 2018


When: 14 March 2018, 7pm
Location: Sims Drive Campus

Speakers:

  1. Ocean Noise: Challenges for the Conservation of Marine Ecosystems by Professor Michel André, Technical University of Catalonia, BarcelonaTech (UPC)
  2. Emerging topics: methane sources, transport and fate in inland waters by Assistant Professor Daniel F. McGinnis, University of Geneva

Summary

Ocean Noise: Challenges for the Conservation of Marine Ecosystems by Professor Michel André

The next decades will see increasing levels of offshore industrial development and this will lead to increased amounts of noise pollution in the oceans. Amongst these developments, Oil and Gas E&P, offshore constructions, renewable energy production and shipping are to play a leading role in adopting measures to limit their impact on ocean ecosystems. The sounds they produce are known to potentially have physical, physiological and behavioural effects on marine fauna in the area of operation: mammals, reptiles, fishes and invertebrates, at various levels depending on the distance to the sound source. Is noise, like other forms of pollution, capable of affecting the entire web of ocean life?

Emerging topics: methane sources, transport and fate in inland waters by Assistant Professor Daniel F. McGinnis

Significant amounts of methane, an important greenhouse gas, are produced in natural waters and released to the atmosphere. However, the sources and pathways are often complicated and remain unclear. High rates of anaerobic methane production in aquatic sediments, combined with its low solubility, produce methane bubbles – a key emission pathway from many aquatic systems, especially shallow ones. This talk presents an overview of current work aimed at identifying novel methane sources, transport mechanisms, and eutrophication effects. This talk concludes with discussing novel measurement approaches and projects, and assessing the role of methane emissions from natural waters in a changing world.

Speakers Profile

Professor Michel André, Technical University of Catalonia, BarcelonaTech (UPC)

Professor Michel André is an Engineer in Biotechnologies graduated from the Institut National des Sciences Appliquées, INSA, Toulouse, France. He holds a Master Degree in Biochemistry and a Master Degree in Animal Physiology from the Université Paul Sabatier of Toulouse, France. His PhD Dissertation that he defended at the Universidad de Las Palmas de Gran Canaria was on Sperm Whale Acoustics and Noise pollution. He was a Research Assistant at the San Francisco State University, California, an Intern Scientist at The Marine Mammal Centre, California and an Associate Professor at the Universidad de Las Palmas de Gran Canaria, España.

Michel André is a Director of Research at the Technical University of Catalonia, BarcelonaTech (UPC) and the Director of the Laboratory of Applied Bioacoustics (LAB).

Assistant Professor Daniel F. McGinnis, University of Geneva

Assistant Professor Daniel F. McGinnis received his PhD in Civil Engineering from Virginia Tech in 2003. Since 2014, he has been an Assistant Professor at University of Geneva, Department F.-A. Forel, and head of the Aquatic Physics group. He is a physical limnologist/oceanographer researching carbon turnover from natural waters, greenhouse gas emissions, and response of lakes to climate change and eutrophication.

Professor Andre and Assistant Professor McGinnis are scientific partners of Fleur de Passion, The Ocean Mapping Expedition. To find out more about the Ocean Mapping Expedition, please visit: https://www.jcu.edu.sg/ocean-mapping.

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