Spatial patterns of ascidian assemblages on subtidal rocky reefs in the Port Stephens - Great Lakes Marine Park, New South Wales

Newton, Kathryn L.; Creese, Robert G.; Raftos, David A.

doi:10.1071/mf07054

Cited by 6 publications

(6 citation statements)

References 59 publications

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“…The high‐resolution imagery revealed general changes in the structure of the community, as well as specific changes to individual cup corals, sponge clusters, and macroalgal clumps at macrobenthic scales (> 1 mm). These changes reflect well‐documented seasonal patterns of growth, recruitment and mortality observed in other monitoring studies of hard‐substratum communities (Ojeda and Dearborn, ; Leukart, ; Alden et al , ; Duckworth and Battershill, ; Marzano et al , ; Newton et al , ; Miller et al , ; Vroom and Trimmers, ). However, the key difference between these studies and this one is that here the imagery from photomosaics was used to quantify these processes at a high resolution, with relatively little effort and using relatively standard sampling gear (i.e.…”

Section: Discussionsupporting

confidence: 81%

“…predation, competition), and physiological tolerances to environmental conditions have the greatest effect on the status of those communities (van Rein et al , ). Monitoring these parameters can reveal regime shifts (Lundalv et al , ; Hewitt and Thrush, ), recovery responses (Bell et al , ; Kroger et al , ), seasonal changes (Alden et al , ), recruitment pulses (Goldberg and Foster, ; Coles and Brown, ; Marzano et al , ; Newton et al , ), growth pulses (Leukart, ) and reproductive phases (Gaino et al , ) in their target communities. Long‐term monitoring at these scales can also indicate the arrival of invasive species (Boets et al , ), local pollution events (Hewitt and Thrush, ; Boets et al , ) and climate change (Kroger et al , ).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Fixed‐station monitoring of a harbour wall community: the utility of low‐cost photomosaics and scuba on hard‐substrata

Rein¹,

Brown²,

Schoeman³

et al. 2011

Aquatic Conservation

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ABSTRACT1. In marine temperate waters, the diverse epibenthic communities of hard substrata require robust, efficient, high-resolution methods to better understand community dynamics and biological processes, such as growth, recruitment and mortality that drive changes within communities.2. The epibenthic community of a harbour wall was monitored from fixed stations over three seasons in 2009 to evaluate the utility of a high-resolution photomosaic method. The community was described by visually estimating cover and abundance of taxa within the photomosaics. In addition, areas occupied by the solitary cup coral Caryophyllia smithii, the encrusting sponge Hymeniacidon perleve, and the red macroalga Plocamium cartilagineum were digitized and their seasonal growth, recruitment and mortality estimated over the study period.3. Significant changes occurred to the community in every season. The fewest number of taxa and the lowest total taxa cover was observed in the winter. In the spring, there was significant growth of red macroalgae, brown macroalgae, and ascidian taxa. In the summer there was significant growth of green macroalgae and turf taxa, while red macroalgae experienced photoinhibition, and ascidians significantly declined in abundance.4. The photomosaics enabled the extraction of data at a high taxonomic resolution, reduced the effects of water-column turbidity, and through digitization, enabled estimation of the seasonal growth, recruitment, and mortality of C. smithii, H. perleve and P. cartilagineum. However, the spring and summer canopies of macroalgae and turf obscured the detection of many understory taxa, and thus, limited the accuracy of understorey assessments. Provided the limitations of photomosaics are recognized, the method demonstrated in this study has many potential benefits of advantage for fixed-station monitoring studies in temperate waters.

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Section: Discussionsupporting

confidence: 81%

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Fixed‐station monitoring of a harbour wall community: the utility of low‐cost photomosaics and scuba on hard‐substrata

Rein¹,

Brown²,

Schoeman³

et al. 2011

Aquatic Conservation

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“…(1997) recorded 10 algae-associated sponge species. Despite their relatively high species richness, the seagrass ecosystems of Jervis Bay were surpassed by the temperate reefs of NSW, which comprised more than double the sponge and ascidian diversity we observed (Roberts & Davis, 1996; Newton et al ., 2007).…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Under the radar: Sessile epifaunal invertebrates in the seagrassPosidonia australis

Demers

Knott²,

Davis

2015

J. Mar. Biol. Ass.

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Despite the current global decline in seagrass, sessile epifaunal invertebrates inhabiting seagrass ecosystems, particularly sponges and ascidians, have been poorly studied due to their taxonomic complexity. Understanding patterns of distribution of sessile epifaunal communities in seagrass meadows is an important precursor to determining the processes driving their distribution and species interactions. This study (1) identified the sponge and ascidian assemblage associated with Posidonia australis meadows and (2) determined distributional patterns of these invertebrates at a hierarchy of spatial scales in Jervis Bay, Australia. We used a fully nested design with transects distributed in the seagrass (10s m apart), two sites (100s m apart), and six locations (km apart). Within these transects, we recorded the abundance, volume, diversity and substratum used for attachment by sponges and ascidians. We encountered 20 sponge species and eight ascidian species; they were sporadically distributed in the seagrass meadows with high variability among the transects, sites and locations. A few sponge and ascidian species dominated the assemblage and were widespread across the largest spatial scale sampled. The remaining species were mostly rare and sparsely distributed. Sponges attached to a variety of substrata but most notably shells, P. australis and polychaete tubes. No obligate seagrass species were recorded although three species predominantly used P. australis as a substratum. These sponge species relying heavily on seagrass for their attachment are likely prone to disturbances impacting their host habitat. Examining the response of sessile epifauna to the degradation of their seagrass habitat remains a key challenge for the future.

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“…The use of habitats in MPA planning is generally regarded as a useful strategy, especially where little or no information on the ecology and biology of much of the marine fauna is available (Zacharias and Roff, ; Harris et al ., ). The underlying principle of using broad habitat types for the creation and subdivision of MPAs into conservation zones is based on the absence of systematically surveyed biological data resulting in a considerable proportion of marine species yet to be described or even known (Ward et al ., ; Gladstone, ; Newton et al ., ). Habitat‐level surrogates are a potentially cost‐effective, time‐efficient practice for initial identification of high‐priority areas to manage marine diversity of coastal ecosystems (Ward et al ., ; Shokri and Gladstone, ).…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Effectiveness of habitat classes as surrogates for biodiversity in marine reserve planning

Dixon-Bridges

Hutchings

Gladstone

2013

Aquatic Conservation

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Surrogates are used in marine conservation planning when there is limited information on the distribution of biodiversity, and representation of species and assemblage diversity are conservation goals. With prior confirmation of their relationship to spatial variation in biodiversity, habitat classification schemes are a potentially useful surrogate. Polychaetes can comprise over one‐third of species of benthic infaunal assemblages, they are the most frequent and abundant marine metazoans in benthic environments, and they are a reliable surrogate for other macrobenthic taxa. It was tested whether polychaete biodiversity differed among six estuarine habitat classes defined for conservation planning in the Port Stephens–Great Lakes Marine Park, New South Wales, Australia: subtidal sand, mud, muddy sand, and seagrass beds comprising Posidonia australis, Zostera capricorni and mixed Posidonia/Zostera. Polychaetes were sampled from replicate sites in each habitat and differences among habitat classes in species richness, abundance, and assemblage structure were examined. Several environmental variables, known to be important determinants of polychaete distribution, were also quantified at each site. Ninety‐five species of polychaetes (belonging to 35 families) were identified. Species richness and abundance did not differ among the habitat classes. Polychaete assemblages of subtidal sand differed from assemblages in both mud and muddy sand, however, assemblages in all other habitats were not different. A combination of some of the measured environmental variables (distance to the estuary entrance, depth, sediment grain size) was a more important determinant of assemblage variation than the habitat classes. Using these predictors, an alternative habitat classification scheme to the scheme currently utilized in marine park planning is proposed. This study demonstrates the critical importance of testing assumptions about surrogacy and an approach for refining surrogates. Copyright © 2013 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

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Spatial patterns of ascidian assemblages on subtidal rocky reefs in the Port Stephens - Great Lakes Marine Park, New South Wales

Cited by 6 publications

References 59 publications

Fixed‐station monitoring of a harbour wall community: the utility of low‐cost photomosaics and scuba on hard‐substrata

Fixed‐station monitoring of a harbour wall community: the utility of low‐cost photomosaics and scuba on hard‐substrata

Under the radar: Sessile epifaunal invertebrates in the seagrassPosidonia australis

Effectiveness of habitat classes as surrogates for biodiversity in marine reserve planning

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