Professor of Marine Biology from The Victoria University Wellington New Zealand Prof. James John Bell gave a lecture on Marine Science at FIKP Unhas, Monday, 7/11/2022. The topic presented was Sponge, to be precise, ‘The Rise of Sponges in the Anthropocene”. Dean of FIKP Unhas Dr. Syafruddin introduced Prof. James as part of Victoria University Wellington which is a campus that is ranked ‘300 in the world but also in the top 100 by human and art subjects’ in the world. He also thanked the Rector of Unhas Prof. Jamaluddin Jompa and Dr. Shinta Werowilangi who are colleagues of Prof. James. He hopes Unhas can continue cooperation with Prof. James in the future.
Meanwhile, the Rector of Unhas, Prof. JJ mentioned his friendship with Prof. James started 15 years ago. He also praised Prof. James who could still dive and enjoy his profession as a coral reef researcher while he need to balance between research and administrative matters that absorbed a lot of time. Prof. JJ hopes that the presence of Prof. James can motivate and maintain the spirit and also friendship and collaboration to be able to understand coral reefs. “Understand more about sponges that are very unique,” he said. Regarding the management of marine and fisheries resources, Prof. JJ said it was necessary to adopt science and technology. He also said Indonesia has coral reefs that are better than the Great Barrier Reef. “We only lack scientific exploration, we also have problems with management effectiveness,” he said.
In accordance with his lecture topic, “The Emergence of Sponges in the Anthropocene”, Professor James Bell explained how marine sponges are likely to be one of the ‘winners’ as organisms adapt to anthropogenic changes in climate and oceans. In his presentation at the lecture moderated by Dr. Yayu La Nafie from the Marine Science Study Program of FIKP Unhas, it was simply stated that we have entered the Anthropocene, a state or geological period where human activity is the dominant influence on global climate and the environment. Environmental quality continues to decline in our oceans and not all organisms respond to anthropogenic pressures, in the same way, meaning some organisms may eventually triumph over others.
He explains the evidence from two decades of research that supports marine sponges being one of the ‘winners’ in our changing environment and what this means for marine ecosystem function. “Sponges have a key role and are very abundant in the world. There is ample evidence that sponges are more resilient on reefs than corals. Changes are already having a profound impact on food chains and ecosystem function,” he explains. Sponges are a type of porous animal. They look like the sponges used to wash dishes but are round or oval in shape. And sometimes white or yellowish in colour.