Lizard Island's huge contribution to reef science

The theory was that if temperatures were broadly steady year-round, thanks to an absence of distinct summers and winters, then what was living on the reef would be too.

Dr Talbot chuckles at the thought now, as he was one of the first to expose it as a furphy.

"Nobody had ever really looked at individual numbers of species, over and over and over again," says the marine biologist and former director of the Australian Museum.

"When we did, we were able to see quite marked differences annually in coral reefs and, of course, we now know how sensitive they are."

But it wasn't easy convincing the scientists of the day that he was right.

"I'd published papers on this issue and I was invited to a meeting in Miami, an international meeting of coral reef scientists, to give a speech.

"But in the introduction, a guy from the Museum of Natural History in New York said 'I'm introducing Frank Talbot. He's going to tell you coral reefs are not quite what you think they are. But you have to remember he's Australian and in Australia they stand on their heads and are probably not that sensible'."

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This year marks the 50th anniversary of the Australian Museum's Lizard Island Research Station founded by Dr Talbot with a mountain of cash he managed to talk out of two open-minded American philanthropists.

The $200,000 - a small fortune back in 1973 - was the seed for what is now a world-renowned research facility that has so far hosted some 15,000 marine scientists and their assistants.

Each and every one has added in some way to what the world knows about tropical reefs, at a time when these natural wonders have never been in more danger.

For 33 of its 50 years, the station at the reef's northern end has been in the careful hands of husband and wife team Anne Hoggett and Lyle Vail.

In that time, the facility's directors have gone from dealing with infrequent crises in the 1990s to annual ones.

"The stressors have been coming thick and fast," Dr Vail says.

"During the first 20 years, the main impacts on the corals was due to a couple of outbreaks of crown of thorns starfish.

"They did decimate the corals during those periods, but then the corals came back."

The real trouble started in 2014 when Cyclone Ita struck as a high category four storm and tore up the island's reefs in ways that had never been witnessed before.

In 2015 - just 11 months after Ita - Cyclone Nathan hit with the same destructive force.

"It really just wiped out the corals on the exposed sides of the reef," Dr Vail says.

There was one upside - corals were left reasonably intact in the island's lagoon

"We sort of breathed a sigh of relief that at least we had those."

But then the summer of 2016 arrived and drove ocean temperatures to record levels, causing widespread and severe bleaching in the northern stretches of the reef. The same thing happened in 2017.

"After those massive events, the coral cover at Lizard Island was non-existent really, in some spots, and very low in others."

There were no disasters in 2018 or 2019, but there's been bleaching every year since 2020, not all of it deadly for corals but enough to heap new stress on top of old stress.

The saving grace was the La Nina weather pattern that typically delivers cloudier and wetter conditions and a late wet season that helped deal with the heat.

But with some agencies warning of a swing to a strong El Nino pattern this summer - meaning warmer, drier conditions - the couple is nervous, to put it mildly.

"Terrifying" is the word Dr Hoggett uses as she contemplates what might play out.

She is comforted by the evaporation, in recent years, of climate scepticism among the wealthy, educated tourists she sometimes takes on tours and who stay at a privately operated resort on the island.

But she laments the "glacial" pace of climate action that's imperilling tropical reefs worldwide.

"We're decades behind where we ought to be ... We need big thinking, we need big changes, and they need to happen really fast."

Dr Talbot says the secrets of life on tropical reefs are still revealing themselves and good science, at places like Lizard Island, will be absolutely crucial in the face of climate change.

"I no longer dive or work on reefs, being in my 90s. But I feel very sorry because to me it was the richest experience, and to me it's an absolute tragedy that we've allowed ourselves to increase global warming."

But he has a level of optimism rooted in the fact that evolution is a response to change.

"I think what we'll be getting is different species of coral, and they will be evolving with higher temperatures," Dr Talbot said.

"Unfortunately, I haven't got quite enough time to see that happen because I think that's going to be 100 or 200 years from now."

Dr Vail and Dr Hoggett are responsible for making sure the research station continues to have all the kit scientists need when they fly in to do their work, and it's now a far cry from the tents on the beach and multipurpose shed that existed in the early days.

There's a sophisticated flow-through aquarium system, lab spaces, and comfortable accommodation for visiting researchers, who can come in and set things up however they like.

But most of the work is done out on the reef at a station set up with everything necessary to get out on and under the water.

Over the years, studies have delved into everything from fish predation to understanding the effects of big disturbances like cyclones.

Right now the station is hosting researchers from Switzerland, who are there to study the complex relationship between small cleaner fish and their much larger "client fish" that line up to be rid of pesky parasites, and the parasites themselves.

The work is part of a larger project that's examining aspects of animal intelligence and cognition - that is, how animals think. And there may be some secrets to be gleaned from the fact cleaner fish almost never get eaten by their grateful clients.

Dr Hoggett will focus on the plight of coral reefs and how they can be protected when she delivers the annual Talbot Oration on Wednesday, at the museum in Sydney.

Australian Associated Press