scholarly journals Spatial patterns and regional affinities of coral communities at the Kermadec Islands Marine Reserve, New Zealand—a marginal  high-latitude site

2010 ◽  
Vol 400 ◽  
pp. 101-113 ◽  
Author(s):  
LC Wicks ◽  
JPA Gardner ◽  
SK Davy
Keyword(s):  
New Zealand ◽  
Spatial Patterns ◽  
High Latitude ◽  
Marine Reserve ◽  
Coral Communities

scholarly journals Coral Communities on Marginal High-Latitude Reefs in West Australian Marine Parks

Diversity ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 13 (11) ◽  
pp. 554
Author(s):  
Claire L. Ross ◽  
Ben French ◽  
Emily K. Lester ◽  
Shaun K. Wilson ◽  
Paul B. Day ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
High Latitude ◽  
Coral Cover ◽  
Marine Reserve ◽  
Ocean Warming ◽  
Tropical Species ◽  
Marine Park ◽  
Temperate Reefs ◽  
South West ◽  
Coral Communities ◽  
Over Time

Many temperate reefs are experiencing a shift towards a greater abundance of tropical species in response to marine heatwaves and long-term ocean warming worldwide. Baseline data for coral communities growing in high-latitude reefs is required to better understand ecosystem changes over time. In this study, we explore spatial and temporal trends in the distribution of coral communities from 1999 to 2019 at 118 reef sites within the five marine parks located in the south-west of Western Australia (WA) between 30° to 35 °S. Our estimates of coral cover were generally low (< 5%), except for a few sites in Jurien Bay Marine Park and Rottnest Island Marine Reserve where coral cover was 10% to 30%. Interannual changes in genera assemblages were detected but were not consistent over time, whereas significant temporal increases in coral cover estimates were found at the lowest latitude site in Jurien Bay. Coral assemblages were primarily distinguished by Turbinaria spp. at Marmion Marine Park and Ngari Capes Marine Park, and Pocillopora spp. and Dipsastraea spp. at Rottnest Island and Jurien Bay. Our findings suggest that conditions in south-west WA are favorable to the ongoing survival of existing genera and there were minimal signs of expansion in coral cover at most study sites. Coral cover and composition on these reefs may, however, change with ongoing ocean warming and increased occurrence of marine heatwaves. This study provides a valuable benchmark for assessing future changes in coral assemblages and highlights the need for targeted hard-coral surveys to quantify subtle changes in high-latitude coral community assemblages.

scholarly journals Baseline seabed habitat and biotope mapping for a proposed marine reserve

PeerJ ◽  
2015 ◽  
Vol 3 ◽  
pp. e1446 ◽  
Author(s):  
Sonny T.M. Lee ◽  
Michelle Kelly ◽  
Tim J. Langlois ◽  
Mark J. Costello
Keyword(s):  
New Zealand ◽  
Shallow Water ◽  
Benthic Communities ◽  
Marine Reserve ◽  
Species Abundance ◽  
Barrier Island ◽  
Benthic Habitats ◽  
Black Corals ◽  
Coral Communities ◽  
The Impact

Seabed mapping can quantify the extent of benthic habitats that comprise marine ecosystems, and assess the impact of fisheries on an ecosystem. In this study, the distribution of seabed habitats in a proposed no-take Marine Reserve along the northeast coast of Great Barrier Island, New Zealand, was mapped using underwater video combined with bathymetry and substratum data. As a result of the boundary extending to the 12 nautical mile Territorial Limit, it would have been the largest coastal Marine Reserve in the country. Recreational and commercial fisheries occur in the region and would be expected to affect species’ abundance. The seabed of the study area and adjacent coastal waters has been trawled up to five times per year. Benthic communities were grouped by multivariate cluster analysis into four biotope classes; namely (1) shallow water macroalgaeEckloniasp. andUlvasp. on rocky substrata (Eck.Ulv); and deeper (2) diverse epifauna of sponges and bryozoans on rocky substrata (Por.Bry), (3) brittle starAmphiurasp. and sea anemoneEdwardsiasp. on muddy sand (Amph.Edw), and (4) hydroids on mud (Hyd). In biotopes Por.Bry, Amph.Edw and Hyd, there where boulders and rocks were present, and diverse sponge, bryozoan and coral communities. Fifty species were recorded in the deep water survey including significant numbers of the shallow-water hexactinellid glass spongesSymplectella rowiDendy, 1924 andRossella ijimaiDendy, 1924, the giant pipe demospongeIsodictya cavicornutaDendy, 1924, black corals, and locally endemic gorgonians. The habitats identified in the waters to the northeast of Great Barrier Island are likely to be representative of similar depth ranges in northeast New Zealand. This study provides a baseline of the benthic habitats so that should the area become a Marine Reserve, any habitat change might be related to protection from fishing activities and impacts, such as recovery of epifauna following cessation of trawling. The habitat map may also be used to stratify future sampling that would aim to collect and identify epifauna and infauna for identification, and thus better describe the biodiversity of the area.

scholarly journals Environmental Variation and How its Spatial Structure Influences the Cross-Shelf Distribution of High-Latitude Coral Communities in South Africa

Diversity ◽  
2019 ◽  
Vol 11 (4) ◽  
pp. 57 ◽  
Author(s):  
Sean N. Porter ◽  
Michael H. Schleyer
Keyword(s):  
South Africa ◽  
Continental Shelf ◽  
High Latitude ◽  
Environmental Variables ◽  
Environmental Gradients ◽  
High Tide ◽  
Environmental Variation ◽  
Shelf Edge ◽  
Spatial Differences ◽  
Coral Communities

Coral communities display spatial patterns. These patterns can manifest along a coastline as well as across the continental shelf due to ecological interactions and environmental gradients. Several abiotic surrogates for environmental variables are hypothesised to structure high-latitude coral communities in South Africa along and across its narrow shelf and were investigated using a correlative approach that considered spatial autocorrelation. Surveys of sessile communities were conducted on 17 reefs and related to depth, distance to high tide, distance to the continental shelf edge and to submarine canyons. All four environmental variables were found to correlate significantly with community composition, even after the effects of space were removed. The environmental variables accounted for 13% of the variation in communities; 77% of this variation was spatially structured. Spatially structured environmental variation unrelated to the environmental variables accounted for 39% of the community variation. The Northern Reef Complex appears to be less affected by oceanic factors and may undergo less temperature variability than the Central and Southern Complexes; the first is mentioned because it had the lowest canyon effect and was furthest from the continental shelf, whilst the latter complexes had the highest canyon effects and were closest to the shelf edge. These characteristics may be responsible for the spatial differences in the coral communities.

Climate and Hydrologic Variations and Implications for Lake and Stream Ecological Response in the McMurdo Dry Valleys, Antarctica

2003 ◽  
Author(s):  
Kathleen A. Welch ◽  
W. Berry Lyons
Keyword(s):  
New Zealand ◽  
Climatic Change ◽  
High Latitude ◽  
Lake Level ◽  
Climate Changes ◽  
Global Climate ◽  
Mcmurdo Dry Valleys ◽  
Polar Regions ◽  
Dry Valleys ◽  
Long Term Ecological Research

Because polar regions may amplify what would be considered small to moderate climate changes at lower latitudes, Weller (1998) proposed that the monitoring of high latitude regions should yield early evidence of global climate change. In addition to the climate changes themselves, the connections between the polar regions and the lower latitudes have recently become of great interest to meteorologists and paleoclimatologists alike. In the southern polar regions, the direct monitoring of important climatic variables has taken place only for the last few decades, largely because of their remoteness. This of course limits the extent to which polar records can be related to low latitude records, even at multiyear to decadal timescales. Climatologists and ecologists are faced with the problem that, even though these high latitude regions may provide important clues to global climatic change, the lengths of available records are relatively short. The McMurdo Dry Valleys Long-Term Ecological Research (MCM LTER) program was established in 1993. This program built on the monitoring begun in the late 1960s by researchers from New Zealand, who collected records of climate, lake level, and stream discharge in the Wright Valley, Antarctica. Griffith Taylor’s field party obtained the first data related to lake level in 1903 as part of Scott’s Discovery expedition. Analysis of the more recent data from the New Zealand Antarctic and MCM LTER programs when compared to the 1903 datum indicates that the first half of the twentieth century was a period of steadily increasing streamflows, followed in the last half of the century by streamflows that have resulted in more slowly increasing or stable lake levels (Bomblies et al. 2001). Thus, meteorological and hydrological records generated by the MCM LTER research team, when coupled with past data and the ecological information currently being obtained, provide the first detailed attempt to understand the connection between ecosystem structure and function and climatic change in this region of Antarctica. In addition, the program helps to fill an important gap in the overall understanding of climatic variability in Antarctica.

scholarly journals Assessing spatial patterns of soil erosion in a high‐latitude rangeland

2020 ◽  
Vol 31 (15) ◽  
pp. 2003-2018
Author(s):  
Richard T. Streeter ◽  
Nick A. Cutler
Keyword(s):  
Soil Erosion ◽  
Spatial Patterns ◽  
High Latitude

Mass mortality of a dominant kelp (Laminariales) at Goat Island, north-eastern New Zealand

1996 ◽  
Vol 47 (7) ◽  
pp. 907 ◽  
Author(s):  
RG Cole ◽  
RC Babcock
Keyword(s):  
New Zealand ◽  
Marine Reserve ◽  
Kelp Forest ◽  
Austral Summer ◽  
Mass Mortality ◽  
Ecklonia Radiata ◽  
Rocky Reefs ◽  
North Eastern ◽  
Mass Mortalities

In north-eastern New Zealand, monospecific stands of the laminarian Ecklonia radiata occupy rocky reefs at depths below 10 m on exposed shores. In the austral summer of 1992-93, mass mortalities of populations of E. radiata in the Cape Rodney to Okakari Point Marine Reserve near Leigh were recorded, in which 40-100% of the sporophytes at depths greater than 10 m died. Mortality was gradual, beginning with erosion of the laminae and ultimately progressing to the stipes, which eventually decayed. The mortality was first evident in the deepest plants and culminated in the elimination of large areas of kelp forest. The event was not associated with any previously reported mortality agents. Investigations of the effects of the mortality on other organisms are continuing.

Potential influence of shells on multibeam backscatter imagery within the Te Matuku Marine Reserve, New Zealand

2008 ◽  
Vol 123 (5) ◽  
pp. 3212-3212
Author(s):  
Alexandre C. Schimel ◽  
David Johnson ◽  
Terry Healy ◽  
Peter J. McComb ◽  
Brett Beamsley ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
New Zealand ◽  
Marine Reserve ◽  
Potential Influence

Enhanced biodiversity and abundance of benthic invertebrate macrofauna in a New Zealand marine reserve

2020 ◽  
Vol 30 (10) ◽  
pp. 1854-1867
Author(s):  
H. Lee Mello ◽  
Abigail M. Smith ◽  
Anna C. L. Wood ◽  
Emily J. Tidey
Keyword(s):  
New Zealand ◽  
Marine Reserve ◽  
Benthic Invertebrate
Sign in / Sign up

Export Citation Format

Share Document