Australian RegionWhat do we have?

Alan ButlerCSIRO Marine and Atmospheric ResearchHobart

Have a very rough draft in form of the template

• But awaiting this meeting to decide detailed treatment …• A. Some potential co-authors contacted but, again, awaiting

clarity on what I’m asking of them• B. Taxonomic groups

• Can say a little about many taxa, but details about:• Fish• Ophiuroids• Sponges• Some decapods• ?polychaetes• ?corals – soft, hard

• C. Ecosystems – coastal, offshore to upper slope• D. Australia. ??exclude subantarctic?• E. Data sources, F. Gaps, G. future directions – below

Identification Guides

• No problem to list them (though a large bibliographic task)• Many “popular”• Significant number “serious”, but some of them are out of date• ABRS pubs and a few similar are most authoritative• Costello’s criteria would narrow it down a little (e.g. illustrations)• ??include listing of authoritative faunal “catalogues” etc.?

Taxonomic expertise

• Can make a reasonable statement• Recent National Taxonomy Forum report • Survey data from ABRS 2003-6 data• Would need to get permission to list people

How many species?

• A reasonable statement can be made.• Need to be clearer about what’s required (below)

• Have some databases:• CAAB• (OBIS)• AFD • (OZCAM)

• And paper by Chapman, Numbers of Living Species in Australia and the World, 2005, now being revised

An example from Chapman (for Porifera) …

WorldDescr. min.

WorldDescr. max.

WorldAccepted

WorldEstimate

AustraliaDescribed

AustraliaPercent.

AustraliaEstimate

AustraliaEndemic

WorldThreatened90

AustraliaThreatened91

Australian Threatenedas percentage ofWorld Threatened

5500 10000 5500 ~18000 1416 25.7% ~3500 56% 0 0 -

Status and threats

• Much can be said• Regional statements prepared for Regional Marine Planning in

some areas• SE

• SW

• NW

• N

• Draw on recent SoE reporting for most points• Account of the NRSMPA status, progress and difficulties

We’ve done quite a bit …but …

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500 0 500 1000 Kilometers

N

EW

S

Land

Bathymetry0-100-200-1000-2000

Benthos sample sites# 1.5 m benthic sled# 1.5m_BENTHIC_SLED# 3 x 1.2 m Church Dredge (30 mm mesh)# 3m_CHURCH_DREDGE# Beam Trawl - CMAR# Beam Trawl - MUSORSTOM# Dredge# Rock Dredge# Sled - Combination# Sled - NIW A# Sled - Sherman

Benthic sleds

Australian coverage patchy

Spatially

And TaxonomicallyQuestion about inclusion

of individual survey data

Possible approaches (not mutually exclusive)

• Strictly the template• Spp (many data are just compiled for “Australia”, some for “large marine domains”)• Guides• Expertise• Status and threats etc.

• Regionalisations• Focus on groups for which a bioregionalisation has been prepared for Govt planning

purposes• Fish (combined with other data – geomorph, phys oceanogr … )

• And groups for which this has been done over restricted areas• Sponges• Ophiuroids (compared with fish)• (crustacea, polychaetes underway)

• “Whole-biota” datasets• Focus on surveys endeavouring to examine large part of the biota simultaneously, using

multiple devices and associated with physical variables• 17 or more of these (recent CERF Hub work)• Restricted locations (not all same methods)• Shelf and upper slope depths

• Methods• Place some emphasis on how to approach design and conduct of future surveys• “smart” survey design based on surrogates• Multiple devices• Interpolation and extrapolation using surrogates

What will we present?

• For whole Australian region, can fill out something like:

Taxonomic Group

Coverage and taxonomic consistency

Regional Species-number

Other forms of diversity?

%endemic

% rare % introduced

% migratory

Threatened (by listing category)

protected Source

Marine mammals Excellent DEWHA

Seabirds ****policy decision – are these “marine life”?****

Excellent ?Birds Aust?

Teleost Fish Excellent C of A 2005;Last et al. 2005;Lyne et al. 2008

Chondrichthyans Excellent Recent sharks & Rays book

Etc

Etc

What will we present?

• For whole Australian region, can fill out something like:

Taxonomic Group

Coverage and taxonomic consistency

Regional Species-number

Other forms of diversity?

%endemic

% rare

% introduced

% migratory

Threatened (by listing category)

protected Source

Marine mammals Excellent DEWHA

Seabirds ****policy decision – are these “marine life”?****

Excellent ?Birds Aust?

Teleost Fish Excellent C of A 2005;Last et al. 2005;Lyne et al. 2008

Chondrichthyans Excellent Recent sharks & Rays book

Etc

Etc

Or in more detail?

• But “bioregions” vary for different purposes

• And extracting the data by bioregions would be a major project • data are now point data• Have been summarised by the Australian Govt’s large marine domains • and for some groups by the National Bioregionalisation Provinces

Taxonomic Group

Province Species number in each province

Other forms of diversity?

%endemic

% rare

% introduced

% migratory

Threatened (by listing category)

protected

Source

Marine mammals

There are 24 Provinces in the Nat Bioreg (not including subantarctic). So each row of this table gets subdivided by 24. Perhaps OK if very few taxa used. Perhaps only those in red here?

We may not want or be able to do these subdivisions here

d’o d’o d’o d’o d’o DEWHA

Or, for detailed, consistent-method surveys only

• For a given survey (defined location, etc.), can fill out something like this (some headings debatable):

Taxonomic Group

Coverage taxonomic consistencyAnd collection method

Species-numberIn survey region

Other forms of diversity?

% new %endemic

% rare % introduced

% migratory

Threatened (by listing category)

Taxonomic identifier

Teleost Fish Excellent Trawl + BRUVS

Last, Gledhill

Chondrichthyans ExcellentTrawl + BRUVS

Last, Gledhill

Soft corals ExcellentBenthic sled and video/stills

Alderslade

Etc

Contact UsPhone: 1300 363 400 or +61 3 9545 2176

Email: enquiries@csiro.au Web: www.csiro.au

Thank you

CSIRO Marine & Atmospheric ResearchAlan ButlerResearch Program Leader

Phone: +61 3 6232 5157Email: alan.butler@csiro.au