Pilbara Islands
This multi-part expedition to the Pilbara Islands focused on deciphering the resilience of low-lying coral cay islands to environmental change. These coral reef islands are critical ecological habitats for roosting seabirds and turtle rookeries, and are of high conservation management significance to the Exmouth/Ningaloo bioregion.
This collaborative project joined UWA, Curtin University and the ARC Centre of Excellence for Coral Reef Studies.
Follow their voyage here.
Eva, Y and Locker Islands are designated nature reserves for the purpose of the conservation of flora and fauna.
Eva Island is of great conservation significance due to its unique bird diversity.
Resident Fairy Terns (Sterna nereis) populations are found nesting along the sandy shorelines and foredunes of Eva Island. Beach stone-curlews (Esacus magnirostris), which are seldom seen on the mainland due to their high susceptibility to human disturbance, are found on Eva Island, usually on sandy or shingle beaches or the tidal reef flats.
Principle researchers Josh Bonesso and Mick O’Leary undertook geological coring of Eva Island.
The team extracted four 5m cores to determine the island building sequence. This sequence or ‘chronostratigraphy,’ gives researchers insight into the paleo-environment that built Eva, including the historical ecology over the last 6000 years.
Watch the video above to see the scale of Eva Island.
Josh Bonesso catalogued island sediments collected from the top 10cm along 8 radial transects.
Microscopic analyses have uncovered molluscs and coral as the primary island building material (~60%). This is the first island study to find two dominant organisms making up island sediments.
Reef sediments on the shallow coral reef surrounding Eva Island were also collected. Reef sediment results match the island sediments, dominated by mollusc and coral (~60%).
The same percentage of both organisms across reef and island suggest that the reef is still nourishing the island. This evidence shows that Eva is currently a stable landform.