4.5 Coral Biogeography

Description

To guide the choice of coral species for the laboratory experiments on the effects of dredging activities on adult and juvenile corals, the biogeographic distribution of hard corals in Western Australia was examined over a ~2,500 km latitudinal gradient from Ashmore Reef (12°S) in the Timor Sea to the Recherche Archipelago near Esperance (34°S).

Since the laboratory studies were based in Townsville (central Great Barrier Reef (GBR)) using locally collected corals, the WA coral distributions were also compared with the species list from the inner and mid-shelf reefs of the central GBR.

Aims

To examine the biogeographic range of hard corals in Western Australia to guide the choice of organisms for the laboratory experiments of effects of sediments from dredging and dredging activities (such as dredge material placement) on adult and juvenile corals.