Dr Camille White1, Associate Professor Jeff Ross1, Dr Neville Barrett1, Mrs Megan Hartog1, Professor Catriona Macleod1
1Institute for Marine & Antarctic Studies, Taroona, Australia
As coastal urbanisation and industry continue to intensify, nutrient enrichment from human activity has been identified as a key local threat to temperate reefs in many regions. Understanding the local-scale sensitivity or resilience of temperate reefs is critical to develop appropriate management strategies for industry and urbanisation in coastal areas. However, reef systems are inherently complex, being multidimensional habitats with multi-trophic linkages, making proactive management difficult. In south-east Tasmania, open cage finfish aquaculture is well established, however, to be sustainable it must operate without adversely impacting ecosystem services. Developing monitoring methods which are sensitive to a loss of resilience from nutrient enrichment, yet simple and cost-effective enough to be used in ongoing monitoring is a challenge. In this study we designed and tested a method based on a suite of relatively easy-to-observe functional parameters and nutrient enrichment indicators in temperate reef ecosystems. Parameters mainly focused on macroalgae, characterising ecosystem structure (canopy, brown/green/red algae, substrate), along with typical responses to nutrient enrichment, such as the cover of epiphytic, filamentous and nuisance algae. The method was tested through diver-based surveys in several marine farming areas across multiple years. It was successful in detecting both broadscale and local scale enrichment gradients with a good level of power. It was simple enough to have high transferability between divers with a low variability between assessors. This technique shows promise for ongoing monitoring of temperate reefs in areas affected by nutrient enrichment from human activity in coastal areas, including finfish aquaculture.
Presentation Slides – Camille White
Biography:
Dr Camille White is a Research Fellow at Institute for Marine and Antarctic Studies, University of Tasmania. She is a team leader in the Aquaculture Environment program, with an interest in how marine ecosystems assimilate and respond to nutrient enrichment. Her current work focuses on interactions between salmon farming and temperate reef ecosystems, and the development of monitoring tools for managing this interaction.
