Hynes, M. G., Masdar, H., Parenden, D., de Voogd, N. J., Stuut, J.-B. W., Jompa, J., Webster, J. M., & Renema, W. (2025). Impact of Holocene relative sea-level changes on patch reef-island development in the Spermonde Archipelago, South Sulawesi, Indonesia. The Holocene, 0(0). https://doi.org/10.1177/09596836251313628

I am happy to announce that the second chapter of my thesis (and the backbone of the entire thesis really) has been published! This involved 2 years of hard work that started with hammering aluminum tubes into the sea floor. It also involved help from many people to whom I am eternally grateful (especially our Indonesian colleagues).

We see that over 7200 years reefs in the area grew fast enough to compensate for sea level rise. This is important as the area will see future sea level rise and these islands are often heavily populated. However, we also show that provided other stressors (like bleaching and over fishing) can be reduced, then reefs in the area have the ability to keep up with sea level rise.

This study (and my PhD thesis) are a part of the 4D-REEF  research programme, funded by the European Union under the Horizon 2020 Marie Skłodowska-Curie Actions. The research consortium brings together researchers from 18 different organizations across Europe, southeast Asia, and includes the GRG as a partner.

Cheers

Mike Hynes (GRG collaborator)

Naturalis Biodiversity Center, The NetherlandsInstitute for Biodiversity and Ecosystem Dynamics (IBED), Universiteit van Amsterdam, The Netherlands