Pratchett, Morgan S., Doll, Peter C., Cvitanovic, Christopher, Wilson, Shaun K., Babcock, Russel C., Bozec, Yves-Marie, Burn, Deborah, Byrne, Maria, Castro-Sanguino, Carolina, Chen, Carla C.M., Condie, Scott A., Cowan, Zara-Louse, Deaker, Dione, Desbiens, Amelia A., Devantier, Lyndon, Doherty, Peter J., Haywood, Mick, Hoggett, Anne, Hoj, Lone, Lang, Bethan J., Matthews, Samuel J., McCallum, Hamish, Mellin, Camille, Mos, Benjamin, Motti, Cherie A., Uthicke, Sven, Vail, Lyle, Wolfe, Kennedy, and Caballes, Ciemon F. (2026) Quantitative assessment of knowledge gaps and research priorities for understanding and managing population irruptions of crown-of-thorns starfish (Acanthaster cf. solaris) on Australia’s Great Barrier Reef. Coral Reefs. (In Press)

Preview

PDF (Publisher Accepted Version) - Published Version Available under License Creative Commons Attribution. Download (1MB) | Preview

Abstract

Despite extensive research on the western Pacific crown-of-thorns starfish (CoTS; Acanthaster cf. solaris), especially from Australia’s Great Barrier Reef (GBR), there are persistent knowledge gaps that constrain understanding and management. Given renewed population irruptions of CoTS on the GBR, alongside escalating climate impacts and direct anthropogenic pressures, a quantitative assessment of knowledge gaps was undertaken to identify research priorities and guide future efforts. In this study, 27 experts independently scored 206 research questions across seven Themes and 39 topics, based on four different criteria (Knowledge gap, Feasibility, Urgency, and Applicability). These questions were ultimately rationalized into 170 distinct questions, with scores aggregated across merged questions. Management was the highest scoring Theme for Urgency, Applicability, and overall. All but six of the 20 top-ranked questions were from the Management Theme and mainly related to Culling and/ or Monitoring. Most questions (158 out of 170) also scored highly for Feasibility, suggesting that there are existing methods and technical capability available to advance the extensive and diverse range of research questions that were posed, if resources were made available. This quantitative assessment provides guidance on the prioritization of potential research that could improve management of CoTS populations to improve coral protection outcomes on the GBR. This study also suggests that there are limited constraints to undertaking necessary research to address many of the persistent knowledge gaps relating to CoTS.

Item ID:	90344
Item Type:	Article (Research - C1)
ISSN:	1432-0975
Keywords:	Coral reefs; Disturbance; Expert elicitation; Management; Outbreaks; Prioritisation
Copyright Information:	This article is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License, which permits use, sharing, adaptation, distribution and reproduction in any medium or format, as long as you give appropriate credit to the original author(s) and the source, provide a link to the Creative Commons licence, and indicate if changes were made. The images or other third party material in this article are included in the article’s Creative Commons licence, unless indicated otherwise in a credit line to the material. If material is not included in the article’s Creative Commons licence and your intended use is not permitted by statutory regulation or exceeds the permitted use, you will need to obtain permission directly from the copyright holder. To view a copy of this licence, visit http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/.
Date Deposited:	11 Feb 2026 00:49
FoR Codes:	31 BIOLOGICAL SCIENCES > 3103 Ecology > 310305 Marine and estuarine ecology (incl. marine ichthyology) @ 60% 41 ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCES > 4104 Environmental management > 410404 Environmental management @ 40%
SEO Codes:	18 ENVIRONMENTAL MANAGEMENT > 1805 Marine systems and management > 180501 Assessment and management of benthic marine ecosystems @ 20% 18 ENVIRONMENTAL MANAGEMENT > 1805 Marine systems and management > 180503 Control of pests, diseases and exotic species in marine environments @ 50% 28 EXPANDING KNOWLEDGE > 2801 Expanding knowledge > 280102 Expanding knowledge in the biological sciences @ 30%
	More Statistics