Miss Deepika Satchithananthan1
1IMAS, Salamanca, Australia
Marine habitats are negatively affected by a range of anthropogenic impacts, such as waste, overfishing, climate change, pollution, coastal erosion, and urbanisation. Artificial reefs (AR) have been widely implemented as a means to combat the effects of anthropogenic-driven habitat loss and degradation. However, the effectiveness of artificial reefs remains debated. The primary aim of this study is to identify characteristics of ARs that are most likely to determine reef success as fish habitats Two reef success characteristics have been selected for this study: abundance of fish juveniles on the AR and level of convergence of fish community on AR and natural reefs.
A range of explanatory variables associated with artificial reef characteristics and deployment sites have been extracted. These fall under broad categories: paper characteristics, AR type, AR structural characteristics, AR geographical characteristics, AR design characteristics, and AR reef environment characteristics. A classification tree analysis is used to identify the best combination of factors that are most frequently linked to the highest positive outcomes for each measure of success.
The outcomes of this study will be the ability to quantify the chance of success for deployments of artificial reefs case by case, as well as determine the best combination of design features that will allow for juvenile recruitment to artificial reefs and a community composition most similar to nearby natural reefs.
Presentation Slides – Deepika Satchithananthan
Biography:
Deepika is currently studying her Master of Marine Biology at IMAS after a successful undergraduate degree in Animal Science at CSU, Wagga Wagga. Malayisan-born, Tassie raised, she hopes to finish her studies and spend time employing her newfound interest in eco-engineering and artificial habitats overseas
