Risk factors for fouling biomass: evidence from small vessels in Australia.

Invasive non-indigenous species (NIS) are a threat to marine biodiversity and marine reliant industries. Recreational vessels are recognised as an important vector of NIS translocation, particularly domestically. This paper reports on a novel application of multilevel modelling and multiple imputation in order to quantify the relationship between biofouling biomass (wet weight) and the vessel-level characteristics of recreational and fishing vessels. It was found that the number of days since the vessel was last cleaned strongly related to the biofouling biomass, yet differed dependent on vessel type. Similarly, the median number of trips undertaken was related to the biofouling biomass, and varied according to the type of antifouling paint (AF) used. No relationship was found between vessel size and biofouling biomass per sample unit. To reduce the spread of NIS, vessel owners should use an AF paint suitable to their vessel's operational profile, and follow a maintenance schedule according to the paint manufacturer's specifications.

Australia's deep-water octocoral fauna: historical account and checklist, distributions and regional affinities of recent collections.

The number of deep-water (>80 m) octocoral species recorded from Australian waters has more than tripled from 135 to 457 following six surveys undertaken between 1997 and 2008 on the deep continental margin of south-eastern, western and north-western Australia and the Tasman Sea.  This rapid increase in knowledge follows a slow accumulation of records since the earliest collections were made by vessels such as the Géographe and the Naturaliste in the early years of the 19 century. Consistent identification and alpha-labelling of the octocoral fauna between surveys has permitted a multi-region description and comparison.  We detail the identities, distributions and regional affinities of 457 octocoral species in 131 genera and 28 families from the orders Alcyonacea and Pennatulacea, including 69 new species, 17 new genera and 43 first records for Australia. Five of the more common genera were widely distributed (present at 35 and 66 sampling stations spanning all of the 4 survey regions), but two were restricted to south-eastern Australia-Pleurogorgia Versluys, 1902 and Tokoprymno Bayer, 1996-and were only sampled from depths below 700 m.  The great majority of species (81%) and nearly half of all genera (47%) were only sampled once or twice.  The highest average number of species per sampling station (3.2) was reported from the outer shelf. The proportion of new species was highest (22%) on the upper and lower slope bathomes, intermediate (13-15%) on the mid-slope bathome and lowest (8%) on the outer shelf bathome.  Species overlap between bathomes was low, but all families were shared across bathomes. Most described species (55 of 69) have an Indo-West Pacific affinity, 20 have an Indian Ocean affinity, while three were previously recorded from the Atlantic Ocean only; 20 appear to be Australian endemics. Octocorals can now be added to an emerging set of taxon-specific data sets-including fishes, ophiuroids and galatheids-that permit regional-scale analysis of biodiversity distributions to support Australia's efforts in marine conservation management. However, because so much of the world octocoral literature is inadequate for accurate identifications to species level, there is a pressing need for taxonomic revisions using modern morphological and molecular techniques to fine-tune the current use of octocorals as indicators of vulnerable marine ecosystems in many national and high seas conservation initiatives.

A database of zooplankton biomass in Australian marine waters.

Zooplankton biomass data have been collected in Australian waters since the 1930s, yet most datasets have been unavailable to the research community. We have searched archives, scanned the primary and grey literature, and contacted researchers, to collate 49187 records of marine zooplankton biomass from waters around Australia (0-60°S, 110-160°E). Many of these datasets are relatively small, but when combined, they provide >85 years of zooplankton biomass data for Australian waters from 1932 to the present. Data have been standardised and all available metadata included. We have lodged this dataset with the Australian Ocean Data Network, allowing full public access. The Australian Zooplankton Biomass Database will be valuable for global change studies, research assessing trophic linkages, and for initialising and assessing biogeochemical and ecosystem models of lower trophic levels.

A database of marine phytoplankton abundance, biomass and species composition in Australian waters.

There have been many individual phytoplankton datasets collected across Australia since the mid 1900s, but most are unavailable to the research community. We have searched archives, contacted researchers, and scanned the primary and grey literature to collate 3,621,847 records of marine phytoplankton species from Australian waters from 1844 to the present. Many of these are small datasets collected for local questions, but combined they provide over 170 years of data on phytoplankton communities in Australian waters. Units and taxonomy have been standardised, obviously erroneous data removed, and all metadata included. We have lodged this dataset with the Australian Ocean Data Network (http://portal.aodn.org.au/) allowing public access. The Australian Phytoplankton Database will be invaluable for global change studies, as it allows analysis of ecological indicators of climate change and eutrophication (e.g., changes in distribution; diatom:dinoflagellate ratios). In addition, the standardised conversion of abundance records to biomass provides modellers with quantifiable data to initialise and validate ecosystem models of lower marine trophic levels.

Strong depth-related zonation of megabenthos on a rocky continental margin (∼700-4000 m) off southern Tasmania, Australia.

Assemblages of megabenthos are structured in seven depth-related zones between ∼700 and 4000 m on the rocky and topographically complex continental margin south of Tasmania, southeastern Australia. These patterns emerge from analysis of imagery and specimen collections taken from a suite of surveys using photographic and in situ sampling by epibenthic sleds, towed video cameras, an autonomous underwater vehicle and a remotely operated vehicle (ROV). Seamount peaks in shallow zones had relatively low biomass and low diversity assemblages, which may be in part natural and in part due to effects of bottom trawl fishing. Species richness was highest at intermediate depths (1000-1300 m) as a result of an extensive coral reef community based on the bioherm-forming scleractinian Solenosmilia variabilis. However, megabenthos abundance peaked in a deeper, low diversity assemblage at 2000-2500 m. The S. variabilis reef and the deep biomass zone were separated by an extensive dead, sub-fossil S. variabilis reef and a relatively low biomass stratum on volcanic rock roughly coincident with the oxygen minimum layer. Below 2400 m, megabenthos was increasingly sparse, though punctuated by occasional small pockets of relatively high diversity and biomass. Nonetheless, megabenthic organisms were observed in the vast majority of photographs on all seabed habitats and to the maximum depths observed--a sandy plain below 3950 m. Taxonomic studies in progress suggest that the observed depth zonation is based in part on changing species mixes with depth, but also an underlying commonality to much of the seamount and rocky substrate biota across all depths. Although the mechanisms supporting the extraordinarily high biomass in 2000-2500 m depths remains obscure, plausible explanations include equatorwards lateral transport of polar production and/or a response to depth-stratified oxygen availability.