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Associate Professor Jason Tanner

Biography

Associate Professor Tanner is a benthic marine ecologist who leads the Environmental Assessment and Rehabilitation subprogram at SARDI, and was the founding program leader for what is now the Marine Ecosystems program. Currently his primary focus is on developing and implementing new cost-effective techniques for seagrass restoration that take advantage of the biology of local species, as well as assessing the ecosystem wide implications of restoration.

He has also undertaken numerous projects to document changes in seagrass cover and status, and to assess the causes of loss. Another major focus is on assessing interactions between aquaculture and the environment.

In addition to these, he currently has an FRDC funded project to develop sustainable harvest strategies for seaweeds, and another to map benthic habitats to assess changes over time. Previously, he has studied deep-sea benthic environments in the GAB, and has led the longest study (60 years) of coral dynamics on the Great Barrier Reef for over 20 years.

Research interests

  • Seagrass restoration and its implications for the broader ecosystem
  • Environmental impacts of aquaculture
  • Seaweed harvest strategies
  • Marine habitat mapping
  • Deep-sea benthic ecology
  • Aquatic and Livestock Sciences

Qualifications

  • PhD 1995 PG Diploma Applied Stats 1997
  • BSc(hons) 1991 James Cook University

Research affiliations

  • Affiliate Associate Professor, Flinders University
  • Affiliate Associate Professor, The University of Adelaide

Publications and reports

Marine ecosystems
Baseline surveys of the marine environment adjacent to the proposed high salinity water discharge from the south lagoon of the Coorongpicture_as_pdf(PDF, 671.6 KB)
With severely reduced water flows in the Murray River over the last 5 years, freshwater flow from the Lower Lakes to the Murray estuary and Coorong lagoons has been negligible. As a consequence, water in the South Lagoon of the Coorong is, depending on season, four to six times a…
Fisheries
Quantifying the exposure, protection, and recovery of seafloor habitats in Spencer Gulf to prawn trawlingpicture_as_pdf(PDF, 42.8 MB)
This study characterised and quantified seafloor habitats and species abundances in Spencer Gulf, assessing the impact of the Spencer Gulf Prawn Fishery (SGPF) on by-catch species and key seafloor biological habitats.…
Marine ecosystems
new life coastal environment seagrass rehab project 2019-2022picture_as_pdf(PDF, 4.2 MB)
The Adelaide metropolitan seagrass rehabilitation program commenced with an international workshop in 2002 and has investigated a range of rehabilitation techniques since. The major focus over the last 15 years has been using hessian sandbags to facilitate natural recruitment of…
Aquaculture
Aquaculture Environmental Monitoring Program: 2019-2023picture_as_pdf(PDF, 2.1 MB)
An independent review of the environmental monitoring program for aquaculture in South Australia recommended the development of regional and zone-scale environmental monitoring, as well as site-scale auditing of industry practices. Consequently, SARDI conducted a 4-year environ…
Marine ecosystems
Zostera Seagrass Recovery Report 2022picture_as_pdf(PDF, 2.8 MB)
The Adelaide coastal waters have experienced a substantial and well documented decline in seagrass cover over the last 50+ years, primarily due to losses of large, long-lived genera (Amphibolis and Posidonia), which are typically slow to recover. There are also several estuaries …
View all publications

Contact information

Title: Subprogram Leader, Environmental Assessment & Rehabilitation

Phone: (08) 8429 0119

Keywords

seagrassrestorationaquaculture environmentbenthic ecologyseaweedhabitat mapping