the reef biota at bunurong marine national park - Parks Victoria

Parks Victoria Technical Series No. 84
Bunurong Subtidal Reef Monitoring
CONTENTS
EXECUTIVE SUMMARY .............................................................................................. I
CONTENTS ............................................................................................................... IV
INDEX OF FIGURES AND TABLES .......................................................................... V
1 INTRODUCTION .................................................................................................. 1
1.1 Subtidal Reef Ecosystems on the Victorian Coast ........................................ 1
1.2 Subtidal Reef Monitoring Program ................................................................ 6
1.2.1 Objectives .............................................................................................. 6
1.2.2 Monitoring Protocols and Locations ....................................................... 8
1.3 Subtidal Reef Monitoring at Bunurong ........................................................... 9
2 METHODS ......................................................................................................... 10
2.1 Site Selection and Survey Times ................................................................ 10
2.2 Census Method ........................................................................................... 13
2.2.1 Underwater Visual Census Approach .................................................. 13
2.2.2 Survey Design ...................................................................................... 13
2.2.3 Method 1 – Mobile Fishes and Cephalopods ....................................... 14
2.2.4 Method 2 – Invertebrates and Cryptic Fishes ....................................... 14
2.2.5 Method 3 – Macroalgae ....................................................................... 15
2.2.6 Method 4 – Macrocystis ....................................................................... 15
2.2.7 Method 5 – Fish Stereo Video .............................................................. 16
2.3 Data Analysis - Condition indicators ............................................................ 22
2.3.1 Approach .............................................................................................. 22
2.3.2 Biodiversity ........................................................................................... 23
2.3.3 Ecosystem Functional Components ..................................................... 25
2.3.4 Introduced species ............................................................................... 26
2.3.5 Climate change .................................................................................... 26
2.3.6 Fishing ................................................................................................. 28
3 RESULTS ........................................................................................................... 30
3.1 Biodiversity .................................................................................................. 30
3.1.1 Community Structure ........................................................................... 30
3.1.2 Species richness and Diversity ............................................................ 39
3.1.3 Abundances of Selected Species ......................................................... 43
3.2 Ecosystem Components ............................................................................. 53
3.3 Introduced Species ...................................................................................... 60
3.4 Climate Change........................................................................................... 61
3.5 Fishing ......................................................................................................... 70
4 REFERENCES ................................................................................................... 79
5 ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS .................................................................................. 82
IV