Geomorphic patterns, internal architecture and reef growth in a macrotidal, high-turbidity setting of coral reefs from the Kimberley bioregion

Collins, Lindsay B.; O’Leary, Michael J.; Stevens, A. W.; Bufarale, Giada; Kordi, Moataz; Solihuddin, Tubagus

doi:10.1080/18366503.2015.1021411

Cited by 9 publications

(3 citation statements)

References 2 publications

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“…), an intertidal fringing reef located in the western Buccaneer Archipelago (Solihuddin et al ). It is a large reef platform (∼1.5 km cross‐shore) that sits slightly above mean sea level (+0.25 m Australian height datum) and experiences semidiurnal tidal ranges in excess of 8 m during spring phases (Collins et al ). The platform is nearly flat and its offshore boundary is sharply delineated by a steep crest, over which water cascades during ebb tide (Lowe et al ).…”

Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Metabolism of a tide‐dominated reef platform subject to extreme diel temperature and oxygen variations

Gruber

Lowe

Falter

2017

Limnology & Oceanography

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Benthic dissolved oxygen fluxes were measured on the reef flat of Tallon Island, an intertidal reef platform in the Kimberley region of northwestern Australia, for periods of 2 weeks in the wet and dry seasons. This reef flat is strongly tidally forced by semidiurnal tides (spring range > 8 m) and experiences highly asymmetric water level variability, with ebb durations lasting ∼10 h; this results in diel variations in water temperature and dissolved oxygen (DO) concentration (up to ∼11°C and 440 μM, respectively) that are among the most extreme recorded for reefs worldwide. Given the consistent tidal flow patterns, a one‐dimensional control volume approach was used to make continuous Eulerian measurements of net production and community respiration from observed changes in DO within two zones: an inner zone dominated by seagrass and an outer zone dominated by macroalgae. Community respiration (R) was controlled primarily by DO concentration; however, fluxes approached the limits of DO mass transfer at low flow speeds. Estimates of gross primary production (P) suggested that reef communities were able to fix carbon at rates comparable to other tropical seagrass and mixed reef flat communities despite short‐term (∼hours) extremes in light (up to 1800 μmol m−2 s−1) and temperature (> 35°C). Daily net community production fluctuated between net autotrophy and heterotrophy over a ∼15 d period depending on the phase difference between the solar and tidal cycles but was nonetheless metabolically balanced on time scales greater than weeks (P : R = 1.0–1.1).

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Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Metabolism of a tide‐dominated reef platform subject to extreme diel temperature and oxygen variations

Gruber

Lowe

Falter

2017

Limnology & Oceanography

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“…Compared to the relatively well-studied oceanic reefs such as Scott Reefs and the Rowley Shoals (Collins, 2011), and the inshore reefs of the Buccaneer Archipelago (Collins et al, 2015;Solihuddin et al, 2015Solihuddin et al, , 2016Bufarale et al, 2016), the Holocene development of the mid-shelf platform reefs of Australia's northwest shelf remains unknown. The present study attempts to address the information gap by investigating modern habitats, geomorphology and the late Holocene accretion history of Adele Reef through remote sensing, shallow subbottom pro-filing, reef core stratigraphy and radiocarbon dating.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Geomorphology and late Holocene accretion history of Adele Reef: a northwest Australian mid-shelf platform reef

Solihuddin

Bufarale

Blakeway³

et al. 2016

Geo-Mar Lett

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The mid-shelf reefs of the Kimberley Bioregion are one of Australia's more remote tropical reef provinces and such have received little attention from reef researchers. This study describes the geomorphology and late Holocene accretion history of Adele Reef, a mid-shelf platform reef, through remote sensing of contemporary reef habitats, shallow seismic profiling, shallow percussion coring and radiocarbon dating. Seismic profiling indicates that the Holocene reef sequence is 25 to 35 m thick and overlies at least three earlier stages of reef build-up, interpreted as deposited during marine isotope stages 5, 7 and 9 respectively. The cored shallow subsurface facies of Adele Reef are predominantly detrital, comprising small coral colonies and fragments in a sandy matrix. Reef cores indicate a 'catch-up' growth pattern, with the reef flat being approximately 5-10 m deep when sea level stabilised at its present elevation 6,500 years BP. The reef flat is rimmed by a broad low-relief reef crest only 10-20 cm high, characterised by anastomosing ridges of rhodoliths and coralliths. The depth of the Holocene/last interglacial contact (25-30 m) suggests a subsidence rate of 0.2 mm/year for Adele Reef since the last interglacial. This value, incorporated with subsidence rates from Cockatoo Island (inshore) and Scott Reefs (offshore), provides the first quantitative estimate of hinge subsidence for the Kimberley coast and adjacent shelf, with progressively greater subsidence across the shelf.

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“…The oceanographic setting of the offshore reefs is unique because they occur in a transition zone, receiving low to moderately productive oceanic water of mixed Pacific and Indian Ocean origins. Conversely, the inshore communities experience large tidal oscillations (>11 m), strong currents and high levels of turbidity (Wilson 2013;Collins et al 2015;Solihuddin et al 2016). As a result, inshore reef habitats are extraordinarily dynamic, and over spring tides, intertidal coral communities can be directly exposed to extreme temperature and light conditions for up to three hours at a time (Rosser and Veron 2011;Richards et al 2015).…”

Section: Project Areamentioning

confidence: 99%

Biodiversity and biogeography of zooxanthellate corals in Australasia revisited based on new data from the Kimberley

Richards,

Pichon,

Wallace

2024

Rec West Aust Mus Sup

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The Kimberley Marine Region is a vast stretch of complex eastern Indian Ocean seascape spanning approximately six degrees of latitude and eight degrees of longitude. The region includes various habitats, including offshore reef and shoal systems, and a complex array of nearshore platform and fringing reefs along an estimated 12,000 km of the northern Western Australian coastline. Isolated from urban centres, the Kimberley features one of the world's least anthropogenically impacted tropical reef ecosystems and is predicted to be a significant repository for coral biodiversity. However, little information has been publicly available to verify this. Here we report a revision of the zooxanthellate coral biodiversity of the Kimberley region based on new specimen records. Replicate belt transects were surveyed at 135 intertidal and subtidal stations spanning the inshore, mid-shelf and offshore Kimberley from 2009-2014. Nineteen thousand and eighty-six colonies and 333 species were counted and identified on the belt transects, and an additional 62 species were recorded incidentally off transects. Combining the new museum-accessioned specimen records with recent specimen donations and published historical records from 1893 onwards resulted in an updated regional diversity estimate of 438 species of zooxanthellate reef-building corals in the Kimberley. This dataset extends the known distribution range of 85 species, 37 of which represent new records for Australia. Our results show that the Kimberley coral communities are heterogenous, with pronounced cross-shelf, depth, and subregional diversity patterns. Ashmore Reef, Cassini Island and Montgomery Reef are regional coral biodiversity hotspots. Goniastrea retiformis, Porites lutea, Dipsastraea pallida, Goniastrea favulus and Coelastrea aspera dominate the intertidal reef zones, whilst Porites lichen, Heliopora coerulea, Seriatopora hystrix, Goniastrea pectinata and Montipora aequituberculata dominate the subtidal reefs. This dataset suggests that the origins, biogeography, and connectivity within the Australasian region and the diversity of corals in the eastern Indian Ocean have been misinterpreted in the past. Overall, this study provides a revision of biodiversity and biogeographic patterns in Australia and highlights the importance of the Kimberley region as a nationally significant reservoir of tropical coral biodiversity with vital, yet under-studied, connections to the Indo-Australian Centre of Diversity.

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Geomorphic patterns, internal architecture and reef growth in a macrotidal, high-turbidity setting of coral reefs from the Kimberley bioregion

Cited by 9 publications

References 2 publications

Metabolism of a tide‐dominated reef platform subject to extreme diel temperature and oxygen variations

Metabolism of a tide‐dominated reef platform subject to extreme diel temperature and oxygen variations

Geomorphology and late Holocene accretion history of Adele Reef: a northwest Australian mid-shelf platform reef

Biodiversity and biogeography of zooxanthellate corals in Australasia revisited based on new data from the Kimberley

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