Kimberley Marine Research Program final reports

/in /by

More than nine final reports for the Western Australian Marine Science Institution Kimberley Marine Research Program will be available online this month delivering the marine research needed to support the management of the marine environments of the Kimberley region.

The $30 million program, which began in 2012, has had up to 160 scientists from 10 partner agencies working across four themes along the 13,500km Kimberley coastline.

Information and updates on the 24 projects is available at www.wamsi.org.au/kmrp/kimberley-marine-research-node-projects.

The final reports that will be available in September include:

Habitats, Biodiversity Assessments and Baselines

1.1.3 ECOLOGICAL CONNECTIVITY: Ecological Connectivity of Kimberley Marine Communities www.wamsi.org.au/ecological-connectivity

Marine Fauna

1.2.4 DOLPHINS: Relative abundance, population genetic structure and acoustic monitoring of Australian snubfin and humpback dolphins in regions within the Kimberley www.wamsi.org.au/ dolphins

Reef Growth and Maintenance

Understanding ecological processes in the Kimberley and their influence on marine biodiversity conservation

 

The $30 million Kimberley Marine Research Program is funded through major investment supported by $12 million from the Western Australian government co-invested by the WAMSI partners and supported by the Traditional Owners of the Kimberley.

Category: 

Kimberley Marine Research Program

WAMSI Kimberley Marine Research Program seminar series available online

/in /by

The Kimberley Marine Research Program is presenting its latest research results with two open sessions scheduled for September and seven presentations held at the Department of Biodiversity, Conservation and Attractions (DBCA) in Kensington over the past month. The Lunch and Learn sessions are part of the knowledge transfer process to Kimberley marine managers and stakeholders.

Presentations in September will include:

  • 15 Sep – Marine Turtles (Scott Whiting, Tony Tucker, DBCA) www.wamsi.org.au/marine-turtles (more details to follow on the WAMSI events calendar)
  • 21 Sep – Using models to predict future scenarios in the Kimberley region (Fabio Boschetti, CSIRO) www.wamsi.org.au/modelling-future-kimberley-region    (click here to see event listing)
    As part of the WAMSI Kimberley Marine Research Program, supported by the Kimberley Science and Conservation Strategy, scientists from CSIRO and ALCES (based in Canada) have been building a modelling tool to condense data collected from the KMRP projects to help inform future management decisions that may be required for the marine environment. Researchers have employed the use of two models (Ecopath with Ecosim [EwE] and ALCES) to help improve our understanding of the likely impact of increases in different pressures, and how effective different management strategies might be. Its hoped that such a tool and the outputs will improve capacity to plan and manage the Kimberley’s network of marine reserves. Dr. Fabio Boschetti from CSIRO will give an overview of the initial results from the EwE simulations of impact on the marine environment under different scenarios.  

Links to the presentation abstracts, audio and slides now online are listed below:

  1. Predicting biophysical response to climate change (Dr Ming Feng, CSIRO)
  2. The spatial distribution of humback whales in the Kimberley (Dr MIchelle Thums, AIMS)
  3. Monitoring of Humpback Whales at Pender Bay, southern Kimberley region (Chandra Salgado Kent, Curtin)
  4. Understanding the ‘impact’ of the Ningaloo Research Program (Chris Cvitanovic, UTAS)
  5. The long-term drivers of Environmental Change in King Sound, Kimberley: the Coral record
  6. Impact of the 2015/16 Marine Heatwave and unprecedented Coral Mass Bleaching in the Kimberley Corals
  7. Historical reconstructions from sediment records of water quality as an influence on coral reefs (John Keesing, CSIRO)
     

  8. Predicting biophysical response to climate change (Ming Feng, CSIRO) (29 August)

    www.wamsi.org.au/climate-change#Presentations

As part of the WAMSI Kimberley Marine Research Program, scientists from CSIRO have been using historical data and numerical modelling to investigate how sensitive the coastal marine waters off the Kimberley are to changes in ocean temperature, sea level, and shelf circulations that may be caused by human activity and natural climate drivers in the Indo-Pacific Ocean.

Dr. Ming Feng from CSIRO gives an overview of the sensitivity of coastal sea levels, ocean temperature and precipitation to climate variability such as the Pacific ENSO, with focus on climate drivers of the marine heatwaves off the coast. He also discusses potential impacts of climate change on the physical environment off the Kimberley coast and recent regional downscaling model results that are relevant to the future management of the Kimberley environment.

Back to Top

  1. The spatial distribution of humback whales in the Kimberley (Michele Thums, AIMS) (8 August)

    www.wamsi.org.au/humpback-whale-monitoring#Presentations

As part of the WAMSI Kimberley Marine Research Program, supported by State Government investment,  scientists from AIMS, Centre for Whale Research, Curtin and the Department have been investigating how humpback whale use of the Kimberley has changed over time and the best methods to continue to monitor the population and its use of Kimberley coastal waters. 

There is a great deal of information on the presence of whales and the recovery of the humpback whale population, much of it recorded by industry. Dr Michele Thums and Dr Mark Meekan from AIMS have worked with Curt Jenner from the Centre for Whale Research to compile existing information on whale presence and distribution across the Kimberley from a variety of sources to produce heat maps of core areas and important habitat. Dr Thums also discusses new cutting edge science looking at the potential for counting whales from space, using satellite imagery to understand how whale numbers and distribution across the Kimberley may change as an alternative to vessel and aerial survey techniques that can be very expensive in the remote Kimberley environment.

  1. Monitoring of Humpback Whales at Pender Bay, southern Kimberley region (Chandra Salgado Kent, Curtin) (8 August)

    Monitoring of Humpback Whales at Pender Bay, southern Kimberley region (Chandra Salgado Kent, Curtin) (8 August) www.wamsi.org.au/humpback-whale-monitoring#Presentations

Another alternative means of monitoring is the use of a land based site manned by volunteers. Dr Chandra Salgado Kent describes a project that has evaluated the data collection methods and five years of data from a community monitoring program at Two Moons Whale and Marine Research Base at Pender Bay on the Dampier Peninsula. She discusses the type of information that can be gained from such a monitoring tool and its applicability in the Kimberley.

Back to Top

  1. Understanding the ‘impact’ of the Ningaloo Research Program (Chris Cvitanovic, UTAS) (4 August)

    www.wamsi.org.au/news/understanding-%E2%80%98impact%E2%80%99-ningaloo-research-program#presentation

Dr Chris Cvitanovic is an Interdisciplinary Research Fellow in the Centre for Marine Socio-ecology at The University of Tasmania. His research is focused on maximising the real world impacts of scientific research by enhancing knowledge exchange among scientists and decision-makers and improving public engagement in science.

In this presentaiton Chris shares his research evaluating the impact of the Ningaloo Research Program, an extensive program of marine research conducted through WAMSI and the CSIRO Wealth From Oceans program between 2006 and 2011:

The Ningaloo Reef is Australia’s largest fringing coral reef, extending across 300 kilometres of coastline between Exmouth and Carnarvon in Western Australia.  This area is a global biodiversity hotspot and in 2011 was inscribed on the World Heritage List in recognition of the ‘outstanding universal value of the area’. It is also a premier tourist destination, a key service point for oil and gas development and exploration, and supports two permanent communities in Exmouth and Coral Bay.  Given the multiple and competing uses of the region, in 2004 the Western Australian Government allocated $5 million for research to support the management of the Ningaloo Marine Park. This program was then incorporated into the broader WAMSI research program in 2006 and grew in value to $36 million of research funding over ten years.  In this talk, Dr Cvitanovic will present two of the key impacts that have resulted from the Ningaloo Research Program.  First, he provides an overview of the new scientific knowledge that has emerged from the program that can support the ongoing management of the region.  He then presents the results of his current research that explores how the Ningaloo Research Program has enhanced trust between the local Ningaloo communities and WA Department of Biodiversity, Conservaiton and Attractions, and how this can be leveraged to further engage local communities in the management of the region. 

Back to Top

  1. The long-term drivers of Environmental Change in King Sound, Kimberley: the Coral record (Faye Chen and Malcolm McCulloch, UWA) (27 July)

  2. Impact of the 2015/16 Marine Heatwave and unprecedented Coral Mass Bleaching in the Kimberley Corals (Verena Schoepf, Christoper Cornwall, Steeve Comeau, Morane Le Nohaïc and Malcolm  McCulloch, UWA) (27 July)

     www.wamsi.org.au/calcification#Presentations

The Kimberley region in northwest Australia is a naturally extreme environment that features abundant and highly diverse coral reefs. However, it is currently unknown how Kimberley corals can cope with these extreme conditions and whether this affects their calcification rates and resistance to climate and environmental change. Professor McCulloch from UWA has undertaken research to understand how corals, the key ecosystem engineers on tropical reefs, have adapted and will respond in the future to the extreme variations in physical (e.g., light, temperature, water motion) and chemical (e.g., pCO2, oxygen, and nutrients) conditions characteristic of the Kimberley coastal region.

Back to Top

  1. Historical reconstructions from sediment records of water quality as an influence on coral reefs (John Keesing, CSIRO) (27 July)

    www.wamsi.org.au/sediment-record#Presentations

Dr John Keesing from CSIRO has been working with a team of researchers to obtain baseline and historical water quality information on the Kimberley so that future impacts and risks can be forecast, better managed and understood in the context of coastal development and global climate change. Dr Keesing describes how this research has used a palaeoecological approach to reconstruct a timeline of change in water quality over the last 100 years using a series of biogeochemical proxies for phytoplankton composition and biomass, temperature and terrestrial influences. Where possible these were matched to historical land/water use, meteorological or hydrological observational records.

The project examined sediment cores from three coastal locations, Koolama Bay (King George River), Cygnet Bay and Roebuck Bay. Each sampling location provided a contrast with which to evaluate changes over either a spatial or temporal gradient of human or natural influence. The presentation gives an overview of the results available to date for all sites but will focus in detail primarily on the analysis of Cygnet Bay samples which gave an indication of the subtle, but long-term effects of pearl oyster farming over the last 60 years and the more abrupt effects of climate change on phytoplankton biomass over the last 20 years and how temperature increases rather than rainfall increases have influenced this. ​

Back to Top

The $30 million Kimberley Marine Research Program is funded through major investment supported by $12 million from the Western Australian government co-invested by the WAMSI partners and supported by the Traditional Owners of the Kimberley.

 

Category: 

Kimberley Marine Research Program

Study finds early warning triggers for corals during dredging operations

/in , /by

Effective management of dredging operations requires understanding the effect of the activities on the surrounding environment including important habitats like coral. New research conducted by researchers from the Australian Institute of Marine Science (AIMS) and The University of Western Australia (UWA) has supported decision-making in this field by defining a series of thresholds that can be used to reliably predict the impact of water quality levels on coral health.

The study, conducted as part of the Western Australia Marine Science Institution Dredging Science Node, used a comprehensive water quality and coral monitoring dataset collected by industry during a past dredging project that occurred off Western Australia.

“Essentially, we’ve used this data to understand how turbid the water can get before coral health begins to be affected,” AIMS Ecological Risk Assessment Modeller and lead author Dr Rebecca Fisher said.

The researchers examined water quality measurements, such as light levels, turbidity and sedimentation, and compared them to observed changes in the health of hundreds of individually marked corals that were surveyed each fortnight. This led to an improved understanding of how corals in shallow, reef environments respond to changing water quality which then allowed the team to develop water quality ’trigger-points‘– or thresholds – at which the corals were negatively affected. Cutting-edge modelling techniques were applied to account for uncertainty in the assessment of coral health in order to increase the reliability of the water quality thresholds.

Figure 3 from Fisher et al –  Example coral mortality and water quality data used for analyses, showing time series of proportional live coral cover measurements for representative colonies of each taxa (black circles) and mean daily turbidity (NTU; red lines). Solid black lines represent GAM smooths (see Appendix S2 for details) with grey bands indicating 95% confidence bounds, fitted using a beta distribution to the proportion of live coral cover. Right hand panels show images of each colony at the start of dredging and immediately preceding the start of bleaching (day 203, used as the end point in the present analysis, Figure 2)

 

“The dataset used was particularly valuable because it contained measurements of water quality and coral health close to the dredging, in areas where it was expected and approved by the regulators that corals would be impacted through to areas further away where there was no effect,” Dr Fisher explained. “It’s important to understand how corals respond when exposed to a full range of conditions, including those that are more extreme. This provided the information needed to build a pressure:response curve: without observing those upper limits, you just have no way of finding thresholds.

“This work will be useful to industry to improve confidence in managing dredging operations to protect the environment. It will assist managers and regulators assessing future proposals to provide confidence about the potential impacts to coral reef environments, based on the predicted water quality conditions,” Dr Fisher said.

Links:

 

The WAMSI Dredging Science Node is made possible through $9.5 million invested by Woodside Energy, Chevron Australia and BHP Billiton as environmental offsets. A further $9.5 million has been co-invested by the WAMSI Joint Venture partners, adding significantly more value to this initial industry investment. The node is also supported through critical data provided by Chevron Australia, Woodside Energy and Rio Tinto Iron Ore. The commercial entities had no role in data analysis, decision to publish, or preparation of the manuscript.

 

Category:

Dredging Science

A thin layer of sediment impacts coral settlement behaviour

/in , /by

Further research into dredging pressures on coral has revealed that even a very fine layer of sediment can prevent coral larvae from settling on a surface and building on the coral community.

Successful recruitment, where coral larvae attach and establish themselves as part of the adult community, is important for sustaining and recovery of coral reefs.

The research published in the Science of The Total Environment for the Western Australian Marine Science Institution’s Dredging Science Node found that coral larvae avoid sediment-covered surfaces, but will settle nearby on clean substrates including grooves and downward facing surfaces.

 

A conceptual diagram showing possible coral settlement behaviour and cause–effect pathways in response to sediment stressors, such as suspended sediments, deposited sediment and reduced light. (Ricardo et al)

 

The study also looked at how sediment affects coral behaviour with regard to calcareous red algae (CRA), which are rock-hard calcareous algae that contribute significantly to reef calcification and cementation, and induce larval settlement of many benthic organisms including corals.

Study author, Gerard Ricardo, from the Australian Institute of Marine Science, looked at coral settlement on sediment-covered and sediment-free surfaces under controlled conditions at the National Sea Simulator facility in Townsville.

 

VIDEO: A time-lapse of Acropora millepora larvae settling on calcareous red algae (CRA) recorded over 2.5 hours.

 

VIDEO: A time-lapse of Acropora millepora larvae settling on sediment-covered and sediment free calcareous red algae (CRA).

 

“We found a very fine layer of sediment prevents larvae from settling in two ways,” Gerard Ricardo said. “First by creating a physical barrier over the CRA, and second by deteriorating the quality of the CRA. This means that sediment deposited during dredging, and even following some natural deposition events, may influence where larvae settle on a reef.”

“These results have implications for reef recovery and resilience because of the overall reduction in optimal-substrate space, and the flow-on effects for newly-metamorphosed corals that settle in sub-optimal locations,” Mr Ricardo said

 

Ricardo G.F., Jones R.J., Nordborg M, Negri A.P. (2017) Settlement patterns of the coral Acropora millepora on sediment-laden surfaces. Science of the Total Environment doi.org/10.1016/j.scitotenv.2017.07.153

The WAMSI Dredging Science Node is made possible through $9.5 million invested by Woodside Energy, Chevron Australia and BHP Billiton as environmental offsets. A further $9.5 million has been co-invested by the WAMSI Joint Venture partners, adding significantly more value to this initial industry investment. The node is also supported through critical data provided by Chevron Australia, Woodside Energy and Rio Tinto Iron Ore. The commercial entities had no role in data analysis, decision to publish, or preparation of the manuscript.

Category:

Dredging Science

Award goes to WAMSI sea sponge responses to dredging project

/in , /by

Three researchers from Western Australian Marine Science Institution’s Dredging Science Node recently presented their findings at the World Sponge Conference in Ireland, with PhD candidate Brian Strehlow winning a prize for best student presentation.

Mr Strehlow, from The University of Western Australia, won the prize for best student presentation in the category of organismal biology, for his full-length presentation (12 minutes with 3 minutes for questions) which elaborated on the mechanisms of resilience to sediment-related stress that some sponge species possess.

“Identifying relative impacts by different types of pressures in combination with thresholds and guidelines will assist managers to reduce the risks and severity of impacts from dredging developments,” Mr Brian Strehlow said.

As part of the presentation, short videos showed that sediments that enter a sponge (Video 1) can be expelled after a return to controlled conditions (Video 2).

 

VIDEO 1: 3D X-ray of Ianthella basta after 48 hours of acute sediment exposure to siliciclastic sediments (shown in white) in the high sediment (135 ± 30 mg L-1) treatment

 

VIDEO 2: 3D X-ray of Ianthella basta after 3 weeks of recovery in control conditions (0 mg L-1) after 48 hours of acute sediment exposure to siliciclastic sediments in the high sediment (135 ± 30 mg L-1) treatment.

 

“Describing these mechanisms was an important part of determining the pressure-response relationships of sponges to sediment-related stress,” Mr Strehlow said.

Dr Mari Carmen Pineda and Team leader Dr Muhammad Abdul Wahab, both from the Australian Institute of Marine Science, also presented talks on their dredging science results.

Whereas Brian Strehlow’s presentation focused on the mechanisms underpinning the resilience of some species, Dr Pineda’s talk (12 min) elaborated on the dose:response relationships and cause:effect pathways for multiple sponge species exposed to sediment stress.

Dr Abdul Wahab presented a talk entitled, “Effects of dredging on benthic filter feeding”. This talk also presented results of the WAMSI research, including field surveys of filter feeding communities before and after dredging.

 

WAMSI project sponge group
Top: Brian Strehlow (PhD candidate; winner best student talk)
Bottom left to right: Cecilia Pascelli (PhD candidate; winner best student talk), Heidi Luter (Post-doc), Blake Ramsby (PhD candidate), Muhammad Abdul Wahab (Post-doc), Mari-Carmen Pineda (Post-doc)

 

Presentations

Pineda MC, Strehlow B, Duckworth A, Jones R (2017) Pressure-response relationships of sponges to dredge pressures – a laboratory approach. 10th World Sponge Conference. Sponges & their Environment ABSTRACT

Strehlow B, Pineda MC,  Duckworth A, Clode P, Webster N (2017) Sub-lethal stress responses of sponges to dredging pressures. 10th World Sponge Conference. Sponges & their Environment. ABSTRACT

Wahab MAA, Fromont J, Gomez O, Fisher R, Jones R (2017) Effects of dredging on benthic filter feeding communities. 10th World Sponge Conference. Ecosystems & Environment. ABSTRACT

Posters

Fromont J, Wahab MAA, Gomez O, Ekins Merrick, Goverdina Geerruida Grol M, Hooper J.N.A. (2017) North-western Australia: a sponge biodiversity hotspot. 10th World Sponge Conference ABSTRACT

LINKS:

The WAMSI Dredging Science Node is made possible through $9.5 million invested by Woodside Energy, Chevron Australia and BHP Billiton as environmental offsets. A further $9.5 million has been co-invested by the WAMSI Joint Venture partners, adding significantly more value to this initial industry investment. The node is also supported through critical data provided by Chevron Australia, Woodside Energy and Rio Tinto Iron Ore. The commercial entities had no role in data analysis, decision to publish, or preparation of the manuscripts.

Category:

Dredging Science

Sponges show varying levels of tolerance and resilience to sediment stress

/in , /by

Different sponge species adopt different strategies to cope with sediments in turbid environments and while many of these alleviate pressure in the short-term, researchers have found that longer-term exposure may still compromise fitness and overcome the sponge’s ability to withstand sediment stress.

Sponges are ecologically important filter feeders that employ a wide variety of mechanisms to cope with turbid environments, such as those affected by dredging activity.

As part of a Western Australian Marine Science Institution Dredging Science Node project supported through co-investment from industry and the Australian Institute of Marine Science (AIMS), a team of researchers led by Dr Nicole Webster tested the sensitivity of sponges to poor water quality conditions. Five main experiments were performed by Dr Mari-Carmen Pineda and PhD student Brian Strehlow at the National Sea Simulator (SeaSim).

The researchers used tanks equipped with an automatic sediment delivery system in which all relevant environmental parameters were also electronically controlled. The latest results have been published in three separate articles in Scientific Reports.

 

PhD student Brian Strehlow and intern Miriam Sternel working on effects of combined dredging pressures experiment at SeaSim (MCP)

 

High concentrations of suspended sediments in the water column were found to interfere with suspension feeding, the strategy used by most sponge species to uptake their food from the seawater.

 

Sponges smothered by sediments and mucus layer in Carteriospongia foliascens (MCP)

 

Sediments were found to clog sponges’ internal chambers (aquiferous system), which affect their nutritional stores in the long term. In addition, light reduction associated with high turbidity also negatively affected the sponge photosymbionts, which are another source of nutrition for some species. However, most species also possessed an array of different mechanisms for coping with those pressures, such as the production of mucus that traps sediments or oscular closure and tissue regression to minimize the risk of clogging.

 

Tissue regression in Ianthella basta (MCP)

 

“Although sponges seem generally resilient to sediment pressures and can present several strategies to ameliorate their effects, we believe that long-term exposure will adversely impact their energetic resources which can certainly affect sponge population dynamics and their important roles in the oceans,” Dr. Pineda said.

Sub-lethal thresholds for suspended sediment concentrations and light intensity were also identified for some sponge species during the experiments.

“These thresholds can be used to help proponents to more reliably predict the effects of their dredging proposals on sponge communities and also to design dredging programs to minimise impacts overall,” Dr. Pineda said. “Also, where the sponge species we used in our experiments occur in the field, they could be used as sentinels in dredge environmental monitoring and management programs and, with knowledge of the thresholds and indicators of stress we have identified, used to reduce risks on these important benthic communities.”

Future experiments will focus on the effects of dredging pressures on sponge larvae and juveniles, as early life stages may be more vulnerable than adult sponges.

LINKS:

Pineda MC, Strehlow B, Sternel M, Duckworth A, Jones R, Webster N.S. (2017) Effect of suspended sediments on the sponge holobiont with implications for dredging management. Scientific Reports. doi:10.1038/s41598-017-05243-x

Pineda MC, Strehlow B, Sternel M, Duckworth A, den Haan J, Jones R, Webster N.S. (2017) Effects of sediment smothering on the sponge holobiont with implications for dredging management Scientific Reports 7, Article number: 5156 doi:10.1038/s41598-017-05243-x

Pineda MC, Strehlow B, Kamp J, Duckworth A, Jones R, Webster N.S. (2017) Effects of combined dredging-related stressors on sponges: a laboratory approach using realistic scenarios Scientific Reports doi:10.1038/s41598-017-05251-x

Project Page: www.wamsi.org.au/filter-feeder-responses-dredging

 

The WAMSI Dredging Science Node is made possible through $9.5 million invested by Woodside Energy, Chevron Australia and BHP Billiton as environmental offsets. A further $9.5 million has been co-invested by the WAMSI Joint Venture partners, adding significantly more value to this initial industry investment. The node is also supported through critical data provided by Chevron Australia, Woodside Energy and Rio Tinto Iron Ore. The commercial entities had no role in data analysis, decision to publish, or preparation of the manuscript.

Category:

Dredging Science