Crown-of-thorns-starfish
The destruction of living coral consequent to population explosions of the crown-of-thorns-starfish (Acanthaster planci) is a central management issue for the Great Barrier Reef Marine Park Authority (GBRMPA). Crucial to the establishment of management policy is a determination whether the population explosions are a relatively recent phenomenon with human activity a possible causative agent or part of a natural ecological cycle that predates human activity within the Great Barrier Reef Marine Park. The reef sedimentary record has been reported to contain evidence that population explosions of Acanthaster have occurred over geologic (rather that human) timescales. I was awarded a Visiting Investigator Fellowship by the Australian Institute of Marine Science to investigate the manner in which skeletons of Acanthaster are disseminated into surficial reef sediments. Results of field and laboratory studies (Greenstein et al., 1995) demonstrate the importance of taphonomic processes in altering the original size frequency distribution of the starfish skeleton and their potential for biasing predictions of past population levels derived from constituent particle analyses of surficial reef sediments.