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SEMINAR: OI Seminar Series - Martial Depczynski

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Today's date is Thursday, March 28, 2024
OI Seminar Series - Martial Depczynski Other events...
Title: Juvenile reef fish assemblages of Ningaloo.

Abstract: The abundance, species richness and assemblage structure of juvenile fishes was quantified in the summers of 2009-2012 along Australia’s largest fringing reef, Ningaloo in Western Australia. In total, over 50,000 juvenile fishes from 127 species were encountered along 953 transects. Recruitment rates were far from uniform in time or space. Mean abundance in 2010 was 75% lower than in 2009, 2011 or 2012. Peculiarly, this drop in recruitment strength co-incided with an overall increase in mean species diversity and distinct assemblage composition. Spatially, sampling across a number of scales including between locations, reef zones (back reef versus lagoon) and management zones (sanctuary versus recreational) was also highly variable. Although coral-dominated back reefs generally held higher abundances than macroalgal-dominated lagoons, species richness was similar and both exhibited distinctive assemblages. In fact, many species recruited exclusively to either back reef (16 spp.) or lagoonal habitats (19 spp.). Among these, a number of commercially and/or functionally important groups including the Emperors, Goat and Rabbitfishes recruited solely to lagoon sites revealing the value of these seasonal macroalgal habitats as critical juvenile nurseries. These results clearly demonstrate the importance of censusing all biomes within coral reef ecosystems to ensure species coverage and provide an excellent example of ecological co-evolution and co-dependency on a coral reef. Bio Martial Depczynski completed a PhD in marine ecology at James Cook University in 2007 and is currently a research scientist with the Australian Institute of Marine Science. His main area of research interest is in ecosystem ecology and its application to the management of aquatic systems. In particular, the importance of biodiversity in the functioning of marine ecosystems and the role of key communities in that process. Within this, past research focus includes the role of fish communities in trophodynamics, quantitative spatial ecology, environmental shifts in community structures, life history theory and the importance of prey life histories to energy allocations and budgets within ecosystems.
Speaker(s) Martial Depczynski, Research Scientist from AIMS
Location OI Seminar Room
Contact Lauren White <[email protected]>
Start Wed, 01 Aug 2012 12:30
End Wed, 01 Aug 2012 13:30
Submitted by Lauren White <[email protected]>
Last Updated Thu, 26 Jul 2012 14:30
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