the reef biota at point addis marine national park - Parks Victoria

Parks Victoria Technical Series No. 83
Point Addis Subtidal Reef Monitoring
populations because changes over shorter time periods and actual minima and maxima may
not be adequately sampled (e.g. Figure 1.3). Furthermore, because the nature and
magnitude of environmental variation is different over different time scales, variation over
long periods may not be adequately predicted from shorter-term data. Sources of
environmental variation can operate at the scale of months (e.g. seasonal variation,
harvesting), years (e.g. el Niño), decades (e.g. pollution, extreme storm events) or even
centuries (e.g. tsunamis, global warming). Other studies indicate this monitoring program will
begin to adequately reflect average trends and patterns as the surveys continue over longer
periods (multiple years to decades). Results of this monitoring need to be interpreted within
the context of the monitoring frequency and duration.
Parameter
Time
Figure 1.3. An example plot depicting change in an environmental, population or community variable
over time (days, months or years) and potential patterns from isolated observations.
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