%0 Report %D 2021 %T Designing a targeted monitoring program to support evidence-based management of Australian Marine Parks A pilot in the South-east Marine Park Network %A Keith R. Hayes %A Piers K Dunstan %A Skipton N. C. Woolley %A Neville Barrett %A Howe, Steffan %A Samson, C. R. %A Bowling, R. %A Ryan, M.P. %A Scott D Foster %A Jacquomo Monk %A David Peel %A Geoffrey R. Hosack %A Francis, S.O. %K Australian Marine Park monitoring %X

To inform the development of a Monitoring, Evaluation, Reporting and Improvement (MERI) framework for the Australian Marine Park (AMP) estate, the Marine Biodiversity Hub has led a collaborative project with Parks Australia to move from the scoping and planning stages of the adaptive management cycle to the do, evaluate, report and improve stages. This involved defining a common language across natural values, socio-economic and cultural benefits, anthropogenic pressures and key drivers. A vulnerability assessment was undertaken across the South-east marine region, with cumulative impacts providing the basis for a monitoring prioritisation in this region. Monitoring questions and high-level indicators were then developed for ecosystems identified as priorities, which were also informed by ecosystem conceptual models. This report documents the outcomes of this evaluation process, and provides the framework for applying this across other AMP network regions and the Coral Sea.

%8 5 Jul 2021 %G eng %0 Generic %D 2021 %T High Level Summary of Technical Report describing Guidelines for analysis of cumulative impacts and risks to the Great Barrier Reef for Environmental Standards, DAWE. %A Piers K Dunstan %A Jeffrey M Dambacher %K cumulative impact assessment %X

The high level summary summarises the key points in the Guidelines for cumulative impact assessment for Environmental Standards, DAWE, and links to the key policy documents supporting cumulative impact assessment. It also provides examples of practical steps that describe the potential necessary data and methods to complete a cumulative impact assessment within a standard risk assessment framework.

%G eng %0 Generic %D 2021 %T High Level Summary of Technical Report describing Guidelines for analysis of cumulative impacts and risks to the Great Barrier Reef for GBRMPA. %A Piers K Dunstan %A Jeffrey M Dambacher %K cumulative impact assessment %X

The high level summary summarises the key points in the Guidelines for cumulative impact assessment for GBRMPA and links to the key policy documents supporting cumulative impact assessment. It also provides examples of practical steps that describe the potential necessary data and methods to complete a cumulative impact assessment within a standard risk assessment framework.

%G eng %0 Report %D 2020 %T Guidelines for analysis of cumulative impacts and risks to the Great Barrier Reef %A Piers K Dunstan %A Jeffrey M Dambacher %A Thornborough, K %A Marshall, N %A Rick D Stuart-Smith %K cumulative %K impacts %K risk assessment %X

The purpose of this document is to provide guidance on the assessment of cumulative risks and impacts in the Great Barrier Reef (GBR). The guidance is intended to be applied at a regional or plan of management level, and at a development application level. The guidance details the necessary concepts and outlines a series of steps to work through and link multiple pressures with their impacts on identified values. It is not meant to replace existing frameworks and guidance for standard environmental risk assessments, rather it is intended as a supplement to these approaches that facilitates the understanding and assessment of cumulative impacts in complex ecosystems of the GBR. For each step, this guidance provides criteria to select the appropriate tools or methods to use in cumulative impact analysis. The tools and methods identified will provide robust assessments and will reduce the uncertainty at each step. While a full and rigorous environmental risk assessment can take various forms and have many steps, this guidance is specifically designed to address analysis of cumulative impacts within a standard risk assessment framework. Beyond the guidance provided in this work, we anticipate the need for a “tool-box”, largely internet based, to provide access to existing and developing resources and approached for completing the more technically challenges steps of the risk assessment. This report (Part 1) describes the steps in the guidelines and their application. Part 2 will describe a detailed case study from the GBRMPA region and a plain language summary that can be used by proponents and regulators as an entry point to the technical guidelines contain summaries, specific to GBRMPA, QLD State Government and DAWE.

%8 7 Jul 2020 %G eng %0 Report %D 2020 %T Qualitative Models of Northern Seascapes %A Piers K Dunstan %A Skipton N. C. Woolley %A Jeffrey M Dambacher %K cumulative impact %K ecosystems %K northern seascapes %K pressures %K qualitative models %X

We describe the pressures, values and conceptual models for ecosystems in the Northern Marine Region.

To do this, we implement the first three of five steps of the GBR Cumulative Impact Guidelines (Dunstan et al. 2019):  1) understanding pressures; 2) understanding values; and 3) the description of conceptual models of ecosystems. These first three steps provide a systematic hazard assessment for the Northern Marine Region, adding a consistent spatial component to earlier hazard assessments. Progressing from this hazard assessment to a cumulative impact assessment requires the subsequent or final two steps of the GBR Cumulative Impact Guidelines: 4) dose-response curves and 5) quantitative assessment. Parks Australia has recently described a set of ecosystem complexes we spatially mapped in the Northern Marine Region using a number of different data layers generated from previous NESP work to provide the values (Step 1). The data on pressures (Step 2) was also obtained from previous work completed by the NESP Marine Biodiversity Hub. Finally (Step 3), a workshop was held in Darwin in September 2019 to describe the conceptual models for each ecosystem complex, namely the ecosystem components and the pressures that are acting on each component. This analysis is designed to identify which ecosystem components should be examined in the future to assess the significance of cumulative impacts (ie through a formal risk assessment). The outputs from this first stage have identified the key natural values in the ecosystem complexes that may be at risk of unsustainable impacts. These outputs will also be useful in identifying potential indicators for the ecosystem complexes described by Parks Australia

%8 7 Jul 2020 %G eng %0 Report %D 2018 %T Changes in pressures on the marine environment over three decades %A Piers K Dunstan %K cumulative pressure %K pressure %X

Pressures in the marine environment will change the status and trends of many different values (ecological, social and economic). However, an understanding of how pressure has changed around Australia has not been available until now. This analysis shows that pressure in all the marine regions (Temperate-East, South-East, South-West, North-West and North) is highly variable and changes as a function of regulatory, social and economic interests. There is a general pattern of decreases in fisheries and increases in oil and gas and shipping activities. Increased cumulative pressure especially evident in the South-West due to increases in some fisheries, anthropogenic noise and climate change. However, all other marine regions show increases in many combinations of pressure and climate change remains present in all regions. The overlaps with matters of national environmental significance (MNES) are identified and may be responsible for changes in their status. It is recommended that the next stage of this work is to identify which pressures affect each MNES (and by how much) and use this information to develop national heat maps that identify for each MNES where the cumulative pressures are greatest. The pressure data has been collated, supplied to the Department of the Environment and Energy (DoEE), available through web services, and used in the 2016 State of the Environment (SOE) report.

%8 29 Aug 2018 %G eng %0 Journal Article %J Scientific Reports %D 2018 %T Global patterns of change and variation in sea surface temperature and chlorophyll a %A Piers K Dunstan %A Scott D Foster %A King, Edward %A Risbey, James %A ’Kane, Terence J. %A Monselesan, Didier %A Alistair J Hobday %A Hartog, Jason R. %A Thompson, Peter A. %X

Changes over the scale of decades in oceanic environments present a range of challenges for management and utilisation of ocean resources. Here we investigate sources of global temporal variation in Sea Surface Temperature (SST) and Ocean Colour (Chl-a) and their co-variation, over a 14 year period using statistical methodologies that partition sources of variation into inter-annual and annual components and explicitly account for daily auto-correlation. The variation in SST shows bands of increasing variability with increasing latitude, while the analysis of annual variability in Chl-a shows mostly mid-latitude high variability bands. Covariation patterns of SST and Chl-a suggests several different mechanisms impacting Chl-a change and variance. Our high spatial resolution analysis indicates these are likely to be operating at relatively small spatial scales. There are large regions showing warming and rising of Chl-a, contrasting with regions that show warming and decreasing Chl-a. The covariation pattern in annual variation in SST and Chl-a reveals broad latitudinal bands. On smaller scales there are significant regional anomalies where upwellings are known to occur. Over decadal time scales both trend and variation in SST, Chl-a and their covariance is highly spatially heterogeneous, indicating that monitoring and resource management must be regionally appropriate.


This article uses methods developed previously by the NERP Marine Biodiversity Hub as published in the 2014 article Twenty years of high-resolution sea surface temperature imagery around Australia: inter-annual and annual variability

%B Scientific Reports %V 8 %8 2 Oct 2018 %G eng %U http://www.nature.com/articles/s41598-018-33057-y %N 14624 %! Sci Rep %R 10.1038/s41598-018-33057-y %0 Journal Article %J Frontiers in Marine Science %D 2018 %T Linking capacity development to GOOS monitoring networks to achieve sustained ocean observation %A Nicholas J. Bax %A Appeltans, Ward %A Brainard, Russell %A Duffy, J. Emmett %A Piers K Dunstan %A Hanich, Quentin %A Harden Davies, Harriet %A Hills, Jeremy %A Miloslavich, Patricia %A Muller-Karger, Frank Edgar %A Simmons, Samantha %A Aburto-Oropeza, O. %A Sonia D. Batten %A Benedetti-Cecchi, Lisandro %A David Checkley %A Chiba, Sanae %A Fischer, Albert %A Andersen Garcia, Melissa %A Gunn, John %A Klein, Eduardo %A Kudela, Raphael M. %A Marsac, Francis %A Obura, David %A Shin, Yunne-Jai %A Sloyan, Bernadette %A Tanhua, Toste %A Wilkin, John %K capacity development %K essential ocean variables %K global ocean observing system %K GOOS %K international reporting %K monitoring %K SDG14 %K technology transfer %X

Developing enduring capacity to monitor ocean life requires investing in people and their institutions to build infrastructure, ownership, and long-term support networks. International initiatives can enhance access to scientific data, tools and methodologies, and develop local expertise to use them, but without ongoing engagement may fail to have lasting benefit. Linking capacity development and technology transfer to sustained ocean monitoring is a win-win proposition. Trained local experts will benefit from joining global communities of experts who are building the comprehensive Global Ocean Observing System (GOOS). This two-way exchange will benefit scientists and policy makers in developing and developed countries. The first step toward the GOOS is complete: identification of an initial set of biological Essential Ocean Variables (EOVs) that incorporate the Group on Earth Observations (GEO) Essential Biological Variables (EBVs), and link to the physical and biogeochemical EOVs. EOVs provide a globally consistent approach to monitoring where the costs of monitoring oceans can be shared and where capacity and expertise can be transferred globally. Integrating monitoring with existing international reporting and policy development connects ocean observations with agreements underlying many countries’ commitments and obligations, including under SDG 14, thus catalyzing progress toward sustained use of the ocean. Combining scientific expertise with international capacity development initiatives can help meet the need of developing countries to engage in the agreed United Nations (UN) initiatives including new negotiations for the conservation and sustainable use of marine biological diversity of areas beyond national jurisdiction, and the needs of the global community to understand how the ocean is changing.

%B Frontiers in Marine Science %V 5 %8 25 Sep 2018 %G eng %U https://www.frontiersin.org/article/10.3389/fmars.2018.00346/full %! Front. Mar. Sci. %R 10.3389/fmars.2018.00346 %0 Report %D 2018 %T Options for assessing cumulative impact and risk to environmental values in Matters of National Environmental Significance and Australian Marine Parks %A Piers K Dunstan %A Jeffrey M Dambacher %K cumulative impact %K risk %X

Understanding the existing impacts and the risks of new impacts on Matters of National Environmental Significance (MNES) and Australian Marine Parks (AMPs) remains a significant challenge for all stakeholders who have an interest in the Marine Environment. Coasts and oceans provide a range of vital services such as food, transport, recreation, waste disposal and cultural inspiration. These services are under a range of pressures, including harvesting, habitat loss, pollution, and climate change, while the demands of a growing human population continue to rise. Managing pressures in this complicated ecological, social and economic environment is challenging and it will not always be possible to achieve agreed objectives. Many coastal environments are expected to degrade given the increasing strength of external factors, including climate change, that cannot be managed locally, which will diminish these ecosystems and the services that they provide. Successful management that can slow or even reverse these trends requires understanding the long-term capacity of ocean ecosystems to respond to increasing or new pressures, identifying appropriate tools that communities, industry and government are able and willing to use to determine sustainable resource use, and providing access to this information. One of the key sets of tools available to ensure that long term outcomes are sustainable are through Environmental Impact Assessments and incorporating tools to assess cumulative impacts into EIA remains a challenge.

%8 23 May 2018 %G eng %0 Report %D 2018 %T Rethinking approaches to valuation in marine systems %A Russell Gorddard %A Michael Dunlop %A Wise, Russell %A Piers K Dunstan %K impact %K pressure %K risk %X

Understanding the range of values that are held and ascribed to the marine environment is key to supporting sustainable management across environmental, social and economic dimensions. The work builds on a wide range of literature on values in environmental management and on the authors’ experiences in addressing the roles that values (of individuals, communities and industry) play in climate adaptation problems in a range of terrestrial, coastal and, to a more limited extent, marine environments.
This report focuses on presenting a conceptual and analytical framework designed to help stakeholders understand, interrogate and deliberate over: 1) the concept of values; 2) the dependence or conditionality of values on the magnitudes of environmental change and the decision-making context of stakeholders; 3) the roles that values do, can or should play in environmental research, management and governance; and 4) what this means for future marine systems research and governance. We propose that the next steps flowing from this work might involve testing and revising this conceptual framework with a range of stakeholders in the marine research and policy space to identify key issues and potential case studies for further work.

%8 20 Dec 2017 %G eng %0 Journal Article %J Marine Policy %D 2018 %T Reviewing the EBSA process: Improving on success %A Johnson, David E. %A Frojan, Christopher Barrio %A Turner, Phillip J. %A Weaver, Philip %A Gunn, Vikki %A Daniel C. Dunn %A Halpin, Patrick %A Nicholas J. Bax %A Piers K Dunstan %K CBD %K EBSA %K Ecologically or Biologically Significant Area %K marine environment %K onvention on Biological Diversity %X

This paper reviews key aspects of the implementation of the Convention on Biological Diversity's Ecologically or Biologically Significant Area (EBSA) process to date, anticipating global marine coverage of that process in so far as is possible by the end of 2018. EBSAs merge marine and coastal physical, biological and biogeographical information held by States, diverse scientific institutions and individual experts to identify inherent value of marine biodiversity, as well as providing a focus for either States or international organisations with sectoral competences to apply potential management measures to protect and sustainably manage biodiversity. In assessing information made available at dedicated EBSA Regional Workshops, several common patterns emerged, both in the data made available and in the gaps in information. The latter include missing information, representation of taxa and features of interest, and specialist expertise. The review exercise detailed here has highlighted the value and efficacy of the EBSA process and the information it has generated, despite some recognised shortcomings. It further suggests that there is potential to strengthen the EBSA portfolio by (i) adding some selected new areas yet to be described, (ii) revisiting existing EBSAs to add both new and existing information, and (iii) reconsidering some areas previously deemed to not meet the EBSA criteria by incorporating both new and existing information. Improving the systematic assessment of areas against the EBSA criteria could be achieved using a combination of (i) spatially precise systematic conservation approaches, supported by (ii) predictive modelling and biogeographic multi-criteria approaches based on expert judgement.

%B Marine Policy %V 88 %P 75 - 85 %8 22 Nov 2017 %G eng %U https://linkinghub.elsevier.com/retrieve/pii/S0308597X1730711X %! Marine Policy %R 10.1016/j.marpol.2017.11.014 %0 Generic %D 2017 %T Towards a value based approach to cumulative risk and impact analysis %A Piers K Dunstan %K cumulative impact %K pressure %K values %X

Understanding the pressures and impacts on Australia’s marine environment is critical to effective biodiversity conservation and sustainable resource use. The marine environment in Australia is influenced by a wide range of different pressures that impact on different parts of the marine ecosystem in different ways. Managers, regulators and proponents are grappling to provide practical approaches that can effectively assess the cumulative risks and impacts to ecosystems. Such approaches must be able to respond to a diversity of uses and provide:

  1. an understanding of the state and trends of shared values of the marine environment,
  2. an understanding of the state and trends of the pressures and uses acting on values and
  3. options for assessing cumulative risks to environmental values that can accommodate a range of spatial and data contexts.
  4. Practical and repeatable guidance for how to conduct an assessment of cumulative risk and impact

The NESP Marine Biodiversity Hub has been progressing research to establish understanding in first three of requirements to support Australia’s marine managers, regulators and proponents by providing. This document provides a snapshot of our progress to delivering on these requirements.

%0 Journal Article %J Nature %D 2016 %T Deep-sea diversity patterns are shaped by energy availability %A Skipton N. C. Woolley %A Tittensor, Derek P. %A Piers K Dunstan %A Guillera-Arroita, Gurutzeta %A Lahoz-Monfort, J. %A Wintle, Brendan A. %A Worm, Boris %A Tim O'Hara %X

The deep ocean is the largest and least-explored ecosystem on Earth, and a uniquely energy-poor environment. The distribution, drivers and origins of deep-sea biodiversity remain unknown at global scales1–3. Here we analyse a database of more than 165,000 distribution records of Ophiuroidea (brittle stars), a dominant component of sea-floor fauna, and find patterns of biodiversity unlike known terrestrial or coastal marine realms. Both patterns and environmental predictors of deep-sea (2,000–6,500 m) species richness fundamentally differ from those found in coastal (0–20 m), continental shelf (20–200 m), and upper-slope (200–2,000 m) waters. Continental shelf to upper-slope richness consistently peaks in tropical Indo-west Pacific and Caribbean (0–30°) latitudes, and is well explained by variations in water temperature. In contrast, deep-sea species show maximum richness at higher latitudes (30–50°), concentrated in areas of high carbon export flux and regions close to continental margins. We reconcile this structuring of oceanic biodiversity using a species–energy framework, with kinetic energy predicting shallow-water richness, while chemical energy (export productivity) and proximity to slope habitats drive deep-sea diversity. Our findings provide a global baseline for conservation efforts across the sea floor, and demonstrate that deep-sea ecosystems show a biodiversity pattern consistent with ecological theory, despite being different from other planetary-scale habitats.

%B Nature %8 11 May 2016 %G eng %U http://www.nature.com/doifinder/10.1038/nature17937 %! Nature %R 10.1038/nature17937 %0 Journal Article %J Ocean & Coastal Management %D 2016 %T Using ecologically or biologically significant marine areas (EBSAs) to implement marine spatial planning %A Piers K Dunstan %A Nicholas J. Bax %A Jeffrey M Dambacher %A Keith R. Hayes %A Paul Hedge %A Smith, David C. %A Smith, Anthony D.M. %X

The Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD) agreed in 2008 on the need to identify Ecologically or Biologically Significant Marine Areas (EBSAs) in the world's oceans to focus future conservation and management efforts. From 2010 to 2014, 9 workshops had described 204 areas meeting the EBSA criteria in approximately 68% of the world's oceans. The workshops comprised experts nominated by more than 100 governments and a similar number of regional and global non government and intergovernmental organizations, supported by a technical team that collated data and provided mapping expertise. Despite this progress, there is uncertainty about how to use EBSA in Marine Spatial Planning (MSP). We review a suite of the existing MSP, Ecosystem Based Management, fisheries and conservation frameworks to determine their common elements and suggest how they can be synthesized. We propose an adaptive hierarchical approach that takes key elements from existing frameworks and show how EBSA can be used to support this approach within national jurisdictions and in areas beyond national jurisdiction. The adaptive hierarchical process encourages early implementation of MSP/EBM using available scientific knowledge and governance and supports the gradual progress to more complex and information rich structures as needed and appropriate. The EBSA process provides a sound basis for developing the scientific advice to support national and international management of the world's oceans by identifying marine systems and the criteria for which they are valued by regional experts.

%B Ocean & Coastal Management %V 121 %P 116 - 127 %8 12 Jan 2016 %G eng %U https://linkinghub.elsevier.com/retrieve/pii/S0964569115300703 %! Ocean & Coastal Management %R 10.1016/j.ocecoaman.2015.11.021 %0 Journal Article %J Journal of Applied Ecology %D 2015 %T The cumulative effect of trawl fishing on a multispecies fish assemblage in south-eastern Australia %A Scott D Foster %A Piers K Dunstan %A Althaus, Franziska %A Williams, Alan %E Punt, Andre %K cumulative impacts %K ecosystem-based fisheries management %K fish assemblage %K multispecies %K Species archetype model %K species traits %K trawl fishing %X

Summary

  1.  Understanding the effect of anthropogenic pressure on animal assemblages over time is a challenging problem that integrates human activities and community ecology. Our ability to make informed decisions for managing pressures depends on estimating their ecological effects, and a rigorous and objective approach should be used. There are three requirements for this type of approach to be successful: sufficient biological and ecological data, congruent data describing human activity and an appropriate statistical method that can link the ecological information to the pressures.
  2. In this work, we explore the effects of cumulative bottom-trawl fishing on fish assemblages over a 20-year period. The analysis captures assemblage responses during the early period of the fishery's development and shows the changes in the abundance of many species as a small and coherent set of ‘archetypical’ responses to cumulative pressure.
  3.  The effect of the cumulative pressure is heterogeneous: some archetypical responses show consistent decline with increased fishing effort, some are less sensitive, and some show an increase in abundance.
  4.  Some, but not all, archetypical response groups are composed of species with similar ecological and life-history traits. Most obviously, the archetype showing greatest decline in abundance is made up of species that have the highest mean values of generation time, oldest age at maturity and longest life span.
  5.  Applications of the methods include identifying spatially explicit system-level trade-offs – between species, species groups (archetypes) and fishery subareas – for ecosystem-based management.
  6.  Synthesis and applications The impact of fishing pressure, accumulated over time, induces heterogeneous patterns of change in fish assemblage composition. The patterns of change are grouped into ‘archetypical response groups’ to provide an interpretable and robust description. The composition of the species groups show that life-history traits are indicative but do not always provide a complete description of how a species might respond to the pressure.
%B Journal of Applied Ecology %V 52 %P 129 - 139 %8 01 Feb 2015 %G eng %U http://doi.wiley.com/10.1111/1365-2664.12353 %N 1 %! J Appl Ecol %R 10.1111/1365-2664.12353 %0 Report %D 2015 %T A hierarchical risk assessment framework for ecosystem based management %A Piers K Dunstan %A Jeffrey M Dambacher %A Nicholas J. Bax %A Tony Smith %A Elizabeth A. Fulton %A Paul Hedge %A Alistair J Hobday %A Scott D Foster %X

There is general agreement that assessment of risk in the marine environment needs to move toward an ecosystem approach to account for the single and cumulative impacts from multiple sectors that operate within the world’s oceans.


Despite there being fewer marine activities than in terrestrial environments, marine systems are challenging to manage on an ecosystem basis as a result of their complexity, high degree of connectivity and difficulties associated with observing ocean processes, flora and fauna. These challenges can make it difficult for researchers to know how to make best-use of available scientific information to inform policy makers about options for ecosystem management. A broad range of scientific tools and approaches have emerged to attempt to meet these differing needs and together these challenges and choices have stymied decision makers.
There is a clear need to develop a process that can assist governments and other decision makers to reduce the uncertainty around the risks of significant impacts in ecosystem based management. An important consideration in developing a framework for risk-based approach to ecosystem management is clarifying the terminology associated with the assessment, this is particularly important for facilitating collaboration between researchers and policy makers.


We suggest that a productive way to approach this would be to use a hierarchical approach where a range of tools can be used to identify activities that have a high risk of significant impact. We use values (eg conservation, resource or community) that have been described through an expert process to identify the relevant subsystem for management. The first level builds a conceptual model of the relevant subsystem and identifies the pressures that act on that subsystem. The second level uses mathematical qualitative models to refine the understanding of the system and to reduce the uncertainty around the system structure. The final level uses quantitative and qualitative models to identify specific thresholds, management trigger points and scenarios. Each level reduces the uncertainty in decisions but increase the costs and time taken.


The hierarchical framework proposed in this paper provides scientists and policy makers with guidance and a common lexicon for assessing cumulative risks and estimating impacts to marine ecosystems. The framework provides for a cost-effective and consistent approach to assessments, accommodating a broad range of marine environment assessment cases, leading to priorities for action. The approach acknowledges the importance of ecosystem models for estimating cumulative risks and provides a frame for understanding how they can be cost-effectively and consistently applied to estimate impacts and improve understanding.

 

%8 01 Sep 2015 %G eng %0 Journal Article %J Ecological Indicators %D 2015 %T Identifying indicators and essential variables for marine ecosystems %A K.R. Hayes %A Jeffrey M Dambacher %A G.R. Hosack %A Nicholas J. Bax %A Piers K Dunstan %A Elizabeth A. Fulton %A Peter A. Thompson %A Hartog, J.R. %A Alistair J Hobday %A R. W. Bradford %A Scott D Foster %A Paul Hedge %A Smith, D.C. %A Marshall, C.J. %K ecological indicators %K Essential variables %K Monitoring; Ecosystem health %X

Identifying essential biological variables in marine ecosystems is harder than essential ocean variables because choices about the latter are guided by the needs of global oceanic models, and the number of candidate variables to choose from is much smaller. We present a process designed to assist managers identify biological indicators and essential variables for marine ecosystems, and demonstrate its application to Australia's Exclusive Economic Zone. The process begins with a spatially explicit description of key ecological systems and predicts how these systems are impacted by anthropogenic pressures. The process does not require experts to agree on the system's structure or the activities that threaten the ecosystem. Rather it defines a suite of pressure scenarios that accommodate uncertainty in these aspects, and seeks to identify indicators that are predicted to respond in a consistent fashion across these scenarios. When the process is applied at national or regional scales, essential biological variables emerge as the set of consistent indicators that are common to similar but spatially distinct systems.
 

%B Ecological Indicators %V 57 %P 409 - 419 %8 01 Jun 2015 %G eng %U http://linkinghub.elsevier.com/retrieve/pii/S1470160X15002265 %! Ecological Indicators %R 10.1016/j.ecolind.2015.05.006 %0 Report %D 2015 %T Towards a blueprint for monitoring Key Ecological Features in the Commonwealth Marine Area %A Keith R Hayes %A Jeffrey M Dambacher %A Paul Hedge %A David Watts %A Scott D Foster %A Peter A. Thompson %A G.R. Hosack %A Piers K Dunstan %A Nicholas J. Bax %X

The Australian Government Department of the Environment is seeking to strengthen the evidence base to protect, sustainably manage and report on the health of the Commonwealth Marine Area (CMA). The Department is also (but initially in a terrestrial and freshwater context) trying to improve the availability of timely and meaningful information on trends in the state of the environment through a new initiative, called the Essential Environmental Measures for Australia, under the National Plan for Environmental Information (NPEI). This document supports these objectives by providing options for monitoring of, and reporting on, Key Ecological Features (KEFs) to help the Department identify a limited set of Essential Environmental Measures and strengthen the evidence base for reporting on the health of the CMA: it represents the first step towards a blueprint for a sustained approach to environmental monitoring and reporting.


Also view the brochure - Monitoring Australia's oceans: towards a blueprint

%8 01 Nov 2015 %G eng %0 Journal Article %J Marine Policy %D 2014 %T The Convention on Biological Diversity's Ecologically or Biologically Significant Areas: Origins, development, and current status %A Daniel C. Dunn %A Jeff A Ardron %A Nicholas J. Bax %A Bernal, Patricio %A Cleary, Jesse %A I D Cresswell %A Donnelly, Ben %A Piers K Dunstan %A Kristina M. Gjerde %A Johnson, David %A Kaschner, Kristin %A Lascelles, Ben %A Rice, Jake %A von Nordheim, Henning %A Wood, Louisa %A Halpin, Patrick N. %K Areas beyond national jurisdiction %K Convention on Biological Diversity %K EBSA %K Ecologically or Biologically Significant Areas %K High seas %K Marine protected areas %X

In 2008, the Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD) adopted seven criteria to identify Ecologically or Biologically Significant Areas (EBSAs) “…in need of protection, in open ocean waters and deep sea habitats”. This paper reviews the history of the development of the “EBSA process”, which was originally driven by the commitment to establish marine protected areas in areas beyond national jurisdiction, but which has since broadened to encompass the possibility of informing marine spatial planning and other activities, both within and beyond national jurisdiction. Additionally, the paper summarizes ongoing efforts through CBD regional workshops to describe EBSAs and the development of the EBSA Repository, where information on these areas is to be stored. The overlap between the EBSA criteria and biodiversity criteria suites used by various authorities in areas beyond national jurisdiction is illustrated. The EBSA process has reached a critical juncture, whereby a large percentage of the global ocean has been considered by the regional workshops, but the procedure by which these areas can be incorporated into formal management structures has not yet been fully developed. Emerging difficulties regarding the mandate to describe, identify, endorse, or adopt EBSAs, are discussed.

%B Marine Policy %8 01 Jan 2014 %G eng %U http://linkinghub.elsevier.com/retrieve/pii/S0308597X13002856 %! Marine Policy %R 10.1016/j.marpol.2013.12.002 %0 Journal Article %J Ecology %D 2014 %T Do communities exist? Complex patterns of overlapping marine species distributions %A Rebecca Leaper %A Piers K Dunstan %A Scott D Foster %A Neville Barrett %A Graham J. Edgar %K clements %K community %K composition %K gleason %K Grouping %K Prediction %K Species archetype %K struct ure %K subtidal rocky reefs %X
Understanding the way in which species are associated in communities is a fundamental question in ecology. Yet there remains a tension between communities as highly structured units or as coincidental collections of individualistic species. We explore these ideas using a new statistical approach that clusters species based on their environmental response- a species archetype, rather than clustering sites based on their species composition. We find that there are groups of species, which are consistently highly correlated, but that these groups are not unique to any set of locations and overlap spatially. The species present at a single site are a realisation of species from the (multiple) archetype groups that are likely to be present at that location based on their response to the environment.
 


 

%B Ecology %P 140203151921008 %8 01 Jul 2014 %G eng %U http://www.esajournals.org/doi/abs/10.1890/13-0789.1 %! Ecology %R 10.1890/13-0789.1 %0 Journal Article %J Plant Ecology %D 2014 %T Model-Based Thinking for Community Ecology %A David I. Warton %A Scott D Foster %A De'ath, Glenn %A Stoklosa, Jakub %A Piers K Dunstan %K Community-level modelling %K Fourth-corner problem %K Model checking %K multivariate analysis %K Ordination %K Species distribution models %X

In this paper, a case is made for the use of model-based approaches for the analysis of community data. This involves the direct specification of a statistical model for the observed multivariate data. Recent advances in statistical modelling mean that it is now possible to build models that are appropriate for the data which address key ecological questions in a statistically coherent manner. Key advantages of this approach include interpretability, flexibility, and efficiency, which we explain in detail and illustrate by example. The steps in a model-based approach to analysis are outlined, with an emphasis on key features arising in a multivariate context. A key distinction in the model-based approach is the emphasis on diagnostic checking to ensure that the model provides reasonable agreement with the observed data. Two examples are presented that illustrate how the model-based approach can provide insights into ecological problems not previously available. In the first example, we test for a treatment effect in a study where different sites had different sampling intensities, which was handled by adding an offset term to the model. In the second example, we incorporate trait information into a model for ordinal response in order to identify the main reasons why species differ in their environmental response.
 

%B Plant Ecology %8 19 Nov 2014 %G eng %U http://link.springer.com/10.1007/s11258-014-0366-3 %! Plant Ecol %R 10.1007/s11258-014-0366-3 %0 Journal Article %J Annual Review of Marine Science %D 2014 %T Tropical Marginal Seas: Priority Regions for Managing Marine Biodiversity and Ecosystem Function %A McKinnon, A. David %A Williams, Alan %A Jock W. Young %A Daniela Ceccarelli %A Piers K Dunstan %A Brewin, Robert J.W. %A Reg A. Watson %A Brinkman, Richard %A Cappo, Mike %A Duggan, Samantha %A Kelley, Russell %A Ridgway, Ken %A Lindsay, Dhugal %A Gledhill, Daniel %A Hutton, Trevor %A Richardson, Anthony J. %K Coral reef %K deep sea %K fisheries %K management %K pelagic %K transboundary %X

Tropical marginal seas (TMSs) are natural subregions of tropical oceans containing biodiverse ecosystems with conspicuous, valued, and vulnerable biodiversity assets. They are focal points for global marine conservation because they occur in regions where human populations are rapidly expanding. Our review of 11 TMSs focuses on three key ecosystems—coral reefs and emergent atolls, deep benthic systems, and pelagic biomes—and synthesizes, illustrates, and contrasts knowledge of biodiversity, ecosystem function, interaction between adjacent habitats, and anthropogenic pressures. TMSs vary in the extent that they have been subject to human influence—from the nearly pristine Coral Sea to the heavily exploited South China and Caribbean Seas—but we predict that they will all be similarly complex to manage because most span multiple national jurisdictions. We conclude that developing a structured process to identify ecologically and biologically significant areas that uses a set of globally agreed criteria is a tractable first step toward effective multinational and transboundary ecosystem management of TMSs.

%B Annual Review of Marine Science %V 6 %P 415 - 437 %8 01 Mar 2014 %G eng %U http://www.annualreviews.org/doi/abs/10.1146/annurev-marine-010213-135042 %N 1 %! Annu. Rev. Marine. Sci. %R 10.1146/annurev-marine-010213-135042 %0 Journal Article %J PLoS ONE %D 2014 %T Twenty years of high-resolution sea surface temperature imagery around Australia: inter-annual and annual variability %A Scott D Foster %A Griffin, David A. %A Piers K Dunstan %X

The physical climate defines a significant portion of the habitats in which biological communities and species reside. It is important to quantify these environmental conditions, and how they have changed, as this will inform future efforts to study many natural systems. In this article, we present the results of a statistical summary of the variability in sea surface temperature (SST) time-series data for the waters surrounding Australia, from 1993 to 2013. We partition variation in the SST series into annual trends, inter-annual trends, and a number of components of random variation. We utilise satellite data and validate the statistical summary from these data to summaries of data from long-term monitoring stations and from the global drifter program. The spatially dense results, available as maps from the Australian Oceanographic Data Network's data portal (http://www.cmar.csiro.au/geonetwork/srv/​en/metadata.show?id=51805), show clear trends that associate with oceanographic features. Noteworthy oceanographic features include: average warming was greatest off southern West Australia and off eastern Tasmania, where the warming was around 0.6°C per decade for a twenty year study period, and insubstantial warming in areas dominated by the East Australian Current, but this area did exhibit high levels of inter-annual variability (long-term trend increases and decreases but does not increase on average). The results of the analyses can be directly incorporated into (biogeographic) models that explain variation in biological data where both biological and environmental data are on a fine scale.


A subsequent CSIRO study, published in 2018 in Nature Scientific Reports (see Global patterns of change and variation in sea surface temperature and chlorophyll a), applied the statistical approach above to seek and recover the necessary details from the aggregated data at a global scale. It identified how fine scale ocean structures respond to events including climate change. This statistical approach has now been ​adapted for use in the Australian sea surface temperature atlas which is available through the Australian Ocean Data Network.

%B PLoS ONE %V 9 %P e100762 %8 07 Feb 2014 %G eng %U http://dx.plos.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0100762 %N 7 %! PLoS ONE %R 10.1371/journal.pone.0100762 %0 Journal Article %J Marine Policy %D 2013 %T Better integration of sectoral planning and management approaches for the interlinked ecology of the open oceans %A Natalie C. Ban %A Maxwell, Sara M. %A Daniel C. Dunn %A Alistair J Hobday %A Nicholas J. Bax %A Jeff A Ardron %A Kristina M. Gjerde %A Edward T Game %A Devillers, Rodolphe %A Kaplan, David M. %A Piers K Dunstan %A Halpin, Patrick N. %A Pressey, Robert L. %K Areas beyond national jurisdiction %K Benthic-pelagic interlinkages %K High seas %K Marine conservation %K Marine protected areas %K Sustainable fisheries %X

Open oceans are one of the least protected, least studied and most inadequately managed ecosystems on Earth. Three themes were investigated that differentiate the open ocean (areas beyond national jurisdiction and deep area within exclusive economic zones) from other realms and must be considered when developing planning and management options: ecosystem interactions, especially between benthic and pelagic systems; potential effects of human activities in open oceans on ecological linkages; and policy context and options. A number of key ecological factors differentiate open oceans from coastal systems for planners and managers: (1) many species are widely distributed and, especially for those at higher trophic levels, wide ranging; (2) the sizes and boundaries of biogeographical domains (patterns of co-occurrence of species, habitats and ecosystem processes) vary significantly by depth; (3) habitat types exhibit a wide range of stabilities, from ephemeral (e.g., surface frontal systems) to hyper-stable (e.g., deep sea); and (4) vertical and horizontal linkages are prevalent. Together, these ecological attributes point to interconnectedness between open ocean habitats across large spatial scales. Indeed, human activities – especially fishing, shipping, and potentially deep-sea mining and oil and gas extraction – have effects far beyond the parts of the ocean in which they operate. While managing open oceans in an integrated fashion will be challenging, the ecological characteristics of the system demand it. A promising avenue forward is to integrate aspects of marine spatial planning (MSP), systematic conservation planning (SCP), and adaptive management. These three approaches to planning and management need to be integrated to meet the unique needs of open ocean systems, with MSP providing the means to meet a diversity of stakeholder needs, SCP providing the structured process to determine and prioritise those needs and appropriate responses, and adaptive management providing rigorous monitoring and evaluation to determine whether actions or their modifications meet both ecological and defined stakeholder needs. The flexibility of MSP will be enhanced by the systematic approach of SCP, while the rigorous monitoring of adaptive management will enable continued improvement as new information becomes available and further experience is gained.

%B Marine Policy %8 27 Dec 2013 %G eng %U http://linkinghub.elsevier.com/retrieve/pii/S0308597X13002832 %! Marine Policy %R 10.1016/j.marpol.2013.11.024 %0 Journal Article %J Advances in Marine Biology %D 2013 %T The Coral Sea: Physical Environment, Ecosystem Status and Biodiversity Assets %A Daniela Ceccarelli %A McKinnon, A. David %A Serge Andréfouët %A Allain, Valerie %A Jock W. Young %A Daniel C Gledhill %A Flynn, Adrian %A Nicholas J. Bax %A R J Beaman %A Borsa, Philippe %A Brinkman, Richard %A Rodrigo H. Bustamante %A Campbell, Robert %A Cappo, Mike %A Cravatte, Sophie %A D’Agata, Stephanie %A Dichmont, Catherine M. %A Piers K Dunstan %A Dupouy, Cecile %A Graham J. Edgar %A Farman, Richard %A Furnas, Miles %A Garrigue, Claire %A Hutton, Trevor %A Kulbicki, Michel %A Letourneur, Yves %A Lindsay, Dhugal %A Menkes, Christophe %A Mouillot, David %A Parravicini, Valeriano %A Payri, Claude %A Pelletier, Bernard %A Richer de Forges, Bertrand %A Ridgway, Ken %A Rodier, Martine %A Samadi, Sarah %A Schoeman, David %A Skewes, Tim %A Swearer, Steven %A Vigliola, Laurent %A Wantiez, Laurent %A Williams, Alan %A Williams, Ashley %A Richardson, Anthony J. %K Collaborative research %K connectivity %K Ecosystem function %K Food web %K Pristine ecosystems %K Tropical sea %X

The Coral Sea, located at the southwestern rim of the Pacific Ocean, is the only tropical
marginal sea where human impacts remain relatively minor. Patterns and processes
identified within the region have global relevance as a baseline for understanding
impacts in more disturbed tropical locations. Despite 70 years of documented research,
the Coral Sea has been relatively neglected, with a slower rate of increase in publications
over the past 20 years than total marine research globally. We review current knowledge
of the Coral Sea to provide an overview of regional geology, oceanography, ecology
and fisheries. Interactions between physical features and biological assemblages influence
ecological processes and the direction and strength of connectivity among Coral
Sea ecosystems. To inform management effectively, we will need to fill some major
knowledge gaps, including geographic gaps in sampling and a lack of integration of
research themes, which hinder the understanding of most ecosystem processes.

%B Advances in Marine Biology %I Advances in Marine Biology %V 66 %P 213 - 290 %@ 9780124080966 %G eng %U http://linkinghub.elsevier.com/retrieve/pii/B9780124080966000043 %R 10.1016/B978-0-12-408096-6.00004-3 %0 Journal Article %J Diversity and Distributions %D 2013 %T Fathom out: biogeographical subdivision across the Western Australian continental margin – a multispecies modelling approach %A Skipton N. C. Woolley %A Anna W McCallum %A Wilson, Robin %A Tim O'Hara %A Piers K Dunstan %E Rouget, Mathieu %K benthic invertebrates %K Biogeography %K bioregions %K continental margin %K finite mixture models %K Marine biodiversity %X
Aim
Biogeographical regions are often used as a basis for management strate-
gies, yet a challenge for biodiversity management across broad scales is estab-
lishing biogeographical regions that are robust across taxonomic groups.
Methods
Finite mixture models were developed to predict multiple species
assemblages termed archetypes. Modelled species archetypes were developed
using Decapoda, Ophiuroidea and Polychaeta species, which were grouped
based on their similar responses to oceanographic and geographical gradients.
Location
Outer-shelf and slope (50–1200 m) of the continental margin of Western Australia (~11°S–36°S).
Results
Four faunal regions were defined based on cross-taxa surrogates
grouped as archetypes. These faunal regions were defined by oxygen, salinity,
carbon and temperature gradients across latitude and bathymetry. Two broad
latitudinal bands and two bathyal regions were described. Adjacent faunal
groups were not defined by abrupt geographical breaks but rather transitions.
Main conclusions
These results suggest that faunal distributions were less
finely resolved than existing marine bioregions on the Western Australian con-
tinental margin and that environmental gradients are correlated with distribu-
tions of benthic marine invertebrates. Identifying biogeographical regions based
on these methods has the potential to inform management across a broad
range of environments.
%B Diversity and Distributions %V 19 %P 1506 - 1517 %8 12 Jan 2013 %G eng %U http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/ddi.12119/abstract %N 12 %! Diversity Distrib. %R 10.1111/ddi.2013.19.issue-1210.1111/ddi.12119 %0 Journal Article %J Journal of Agricultural, Biological, and Environmental Statistics %D 2013 %T Finite mixture of regression modeling for high-dimensional count and biomass data in ecology %A Piers K Dunstan %A Scott D Foster %A Francis K.C. Hui %A David I. Warton %K Community-level model %K Mixture model %K Multi-species %K Species archetype model %K Species distribution model %K weedie. %X

Understanding how species distributions respond as a function of environmental
gradients is a key question in ecology, and will benefit from a multi-species approach.
Multi-species data are often high dimensional, in that the number of species sampled
is often large relative to the number of sites, and are commonly quantified as either
presence–absence, counts of individuals, or biomass of each species. In this paper,
we propose a novel approach to the analysis of multi-species data when the goal is
to understand how each species responds to their environment. We use a finite mixture
of regression models, grouping species into “Archetypes” according to their environmental
response, thereby significantly reducing the dimension of the regression
model. Previous research introduced such Species Archetype Models (SAMs), but only
for binary assemblage data. Here, we extend this basic framework with three key
innovations: (1) the method is expanded to handle count and biomass data, (2) we
propose grouping on the slope coefficients only, whilst the intercept terms and nuisance
parameters remain species-specific, and (3) we develop model diagnostic tools
for SAMs. By grouping on environmental responses only, the model allows for interspecies
variation in terms of overall prevalence and abundance. The application of our
expanded SAM framework data is illustrated on marine survey data and through simulation.

%B Journal of Agricultural, Biological, and Environmental Statistics %V 18 %P 357 - 375 %8 01 Sep 2013 %G eng %U http://link.springer.com/10.1007/s13253-013-0146-x %N 3 %! JABES %R 10.1007/s13253-013-0146-x %0 Journal Article %J Environmetrics %D 2013 %T Modelling biological regions from multi-species and environmental data %A Scott D Foster %A Givens, G.H. %A Grant J Dornan %A Piers K Dunstan %A Ross Darnell %K assemblage %K Mixture model %K mixture of experts %K region of common profile %K species distribution %X

Partitioning the environment into areas that appear to contain similar biological content is useful for investigating questions of distribution and habitat and for helping guide resource conservation and utilization. The statistical task requires relating presence/absence data from multiple species to co-located environmental data. In this article, we introduce a statistical modelling framework that models the environment as a set of regions where the vector of probabilities of observing a set of species remains approximately constant within a region and distinct between regions. This is achieved within a mixture-of-experts model framework, which treats the region type as a latent variable whose distribution varies as a function of the environment. This approach allows us to predict probabilities of region types for sampled and unsampled locations. The model synthesizes biological and environmental data, incorporating both in a single likelihood that enables propagation of uncertainty through the entire model. The method is demonstrated using a synthetic example and data from a survey of fish from the North West Shelf, which is located off Western Australia. An R package, RCPmod, which implements the methods described in this article, is available from CRAN. Copyright © 2013 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

%B Environmetrics %V 24 %P 489 - 499 %8 11 Jan 2013 %G eng %U http://doi.wiley.com/10.1002/env.v24.7http://doi.wiley.com/10.1002/env.2245 %N 7 %! Environmetrics %R 10.1002/env.v24.710.1002/env.2245 %0 Journal Article %J Conservation Letters %D 2013 %T Systematic conservation planning: A better recipe for managing the high seas for biodiversity conservation and sustainable use %A Natalie C. Ban %A Nicholas J. Bax %A Kristina M. Gjerde %A Devillers, Rodolphe %A Daniel C. Dunn %A Piers K Dunstan %A Alistair J Hobday %A Maxwell, Sara M. %A Kaplan, David M. %A Pressey, Robert L. %A Jeff A Ardron %A Edward T Game %A Halpin, Patrick N. %K Areas beyond national jurisdiction; deep sea; marine conservation; marine protected areas; marine spatial planning; open ocean; sustainable fisheries. %X
At the UN Conference on Sustainable Development in Rio in June 2012, world
leaders committed to the conservation and sustainable use of marine biological
diversity in areas beyond national jurisdiction (the high seas). Our analysis of
gaps in high seas management indicates that a paradigm shift to a more system-
atic approach will be needed to safeguard high seas biodiversity from mounting
threats. Experience from terrestrial and coastal areas indicates that a system-
atic approach to conservation planning and management can help to maintain
ecosystem health and productivity while enabling sustainable use. Our anal-
ysis further demonstrates that the current legal regime on the high seas is
insufficient to realize these objectives: management institutions have neither
an adequate mandate for integrated planning nor the ability to effectively co-
ordinate across multiple management regimes. We identify key elements for
future high seas management and posit that a two-pronged approach is most
promising: the development of an improved global legal regime that incorpo-
rates systematic planning as well as the expansion of existing and new regional
agreements and mandates. This combined approach is most likely to achieve
the required ecosystem-based, integrated and science-based management that
world leaders at Rio acknowledged should underpin ocean management.
%B Conservation Letters %8 01 Feb 2013 %G eng %U http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/conl.12010/abstract %! CONSERVATION LETTERS %R 10.1111/conl.12010 %0 Journal Article %J Ecology %D 2013 %T To mix or not to mix: comparing the predictive performance of mixture models vs. separate species distribution models %A Francis K.C. Hui %A David I. Warton %A Scott D Foster %A Piers K Dunstan %K community level modeling %K cross validation %K generalized linear models %K mixture models %K species archetypes %K Species distribution models %X

Species distribution models (SDMs) are an important tool for studying the patterns of species across environmental and geographic space. For community data, a common approach involves fitting an SDM to each species separately, although the large number of models makes interpretation difficult and fails to exploit any similarities between individual species responses. A recently proposed alternative that can potentially overcome these difficulties is species archetype models (SAMs), a model-based approach that clusters species based on their environmental response. In this paper, we compare the predictive performance of SAMs against separate SDMs using a number of multi-species data sets. Results show that SAMs improve model accuracy and discriminatory capacity compared to separate SDMs. This is achieved by borrowing strength from common species having higher information content. Moreover, the improvement increases as the species become rarer.

Read More: http://www.esajournals.org/doi/abs/10.1890/12-1322.1


 

%B Ecology %V 94 %P 1913 - 1919 %8 09 Jan 2013 %G eng %U http://www.esajournals.org/doi/abs/10.1890/12-1322.1 %N 9 %! Ecology %R 10.1890/12-1322.1 %0 Journal Article %J PLoS ONE %D 2012 %T Characterising and predicting benthic biodiversity for conservation planning in deepwater environments %A Piers K Dunstan %A Althaus, Franziska %A Williams, Alan %A Nicholas J. Bax %A Bograd, Steven J. %X

Understanding patterns of biodiversity in deep sea systems is increasingly important because human activities are extending further into these areas. However, obtaining data is difficult, limiting the ability of science to inform management decisions. We have used three different methods of quantifying biodiversity to describe patterns of biodiversity in an area that includes two marine reserves in deep water off southern Australia. We used biological data collected during a recent survey, combined with extensive physical data to model, predict and map three different attributes of biodiversity: distributions of common species, beta diversity and rank abundance distributions (RAD). The distribution of each of eight common species was unique, although all the species respond to a depth-correlated physical gradient. Changes in composition (beta diversity) were large, even between sites with very similar environmental conditions. Composition at any one site was highly uncertain, and the suite of species changed dramatically both across and down slope. In contrast, the distributions of the RAD components of biodiversity (community abundance, richness, and evenness) were relatively smooth across the study area, suggesting that assemblage structure (i.e. the distribution of abundances of species) is limited, irrespective of species composition. Seamounts had similar biodiversity based on metrics of species presence, beta diversity, total abundance, richness and evenness to the adjacent continental slope in the same depth ranges. These analyses suggest that conservation objectives need to clearly identify which aspects of biodiversity are valued, and employ an appropriate suite of methods to address these aspects, to ensure that conservation goals are met.

%B PLoS ONE %V 7 %P e36558 %8 01 May 2012 %U http://www.plosone.org/article/info:doi/10.1371/journal.pone.0036558 %N 5 %! PLoS ONE %R 10.1371/journal.pone.0036558 %0 Journal Article %J Journal of Applied Ecology %D 2012 %T Comparing large-scale bioregions and fine-scale community-level biodiversity predictions from subtidal rocky reefs across south-eastern Australia %A Rebecca Leaper %A Piers K Dunstan %A Scott D Foster %A Neville Barrett %K Biodiversity %K bioregion %K community %K conservation planning %K evenness %K Marine %K rank abundance distributions %K species richness %K subtidal rocky reefs %X
  1. In the absence of knowledge of the large-scale structure and distribution of marine biota, bioregionalisations, that is, spatial classifications of data on a range of environmental and⁄ or biological attributes, are often viewed as one of the most appropriate frameworks within which to develop networks of marine protected areas (MPAs). However, despite their potential usefulness, few studies have assessed whether bioregionalisations can be used for management of species other than those it was derived from or whether bioregionalisations capture fully fine-scale community-level biodiversity patterns.
  2. We investigated the large-scale structure and distribution of demersal fishes and macroinvertebrates in south-eastern Australia, using rank abundance distributions (RADs). We used a recently developed community modelling method that allows their multivariate distribution to vary according to environmental gradients, assessing the congruency of mapped biogeographic patterns between the different taxa, and in the light of the Interim Marine and Coastal Regionalisation for Australia (IMCRA).
  3. A clear pattern in our analysis based on RADs showed a large difference in assemblage structure (i.e. in abundance, richness and evenness) between South Australia, where assemblages were generally more species rich and even, and Victoria and Tasmania, where assemblages were generally more species poor and uneven. The strong longitudinal pattern in species richness and evenness was generally congruent for both demersal fishes and macroinvertebrates and related to regional differences in oceanography.
  4. We found that the regions of highest species richness were found in the ‘core’ bioregions rather than ‘transition’ bioregions as defined in the IMCRA and for both taxa. Moreover, we found that not all assemblage structures were equally alike and that South Australia had the greatest range of unique assemblage structures.
  5. Synthesis and applications. While bioregionalisations are typically based on data from a single taxon, our findings highlight that they can be used as a surrogate for biological patterns seen in other taxa. Bioregionalisations, however, may not capture fully fine-scale communitylevel biodiversity patterns, and this may compromise the ability of protected area networks to protect the full variability in assemblage types. We suggest that it may be necessary to  validate existing regionalisations with additional data and analyses such as the RAD analyses conducted here.
%B Journal of Applied Ecology %U http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/j.1365-2664.2012.02155.x/abstract %R 10.1111/j.1365-2664.2012.02155.x %0 Journal Article %J Diversity and Distributions %D 2012 %T Identifying hotspots for biodiversity management using rank abundance distributions %A Piers K Dunstan %A Nicholas J. Bax %A Scott D Foster %A Williams, Alan %A Althaus, Franziska %K Biodiversity %K hotspot %K Prediction %K rank abundance distribution %X

Identification of biodiversity hotspots has typically relied on species richness. We extend this approach to include prediction to regional scales of other attributes of biodiversity based on the prediction of Rank Abundance Distributions (RADs). This allows us to identify areas that have high numbers
of rare species and areas that have a rare assemblage structure.

%B Diversity and Distributions %V 18 %P 22 - 32 %8 01 Jan 2012 %G eng %U http://doi.wiley.com/10.1111/j.1472-4642.2011.00838.x %N 1 %R 10.1111/j.1472-4642.2011.00838.x %0 Journal Article %J Ecological Modelling %D 2011 %T Model based grouping of species across environmental gradients %A Piers K Dunstan %A Scott D Foster %A Ross Darnell %K Biodiversity %K Finite mixture model %K Grouping %K Prediction %K Species archetype %X

We present a novel approach to the statistical analysis and prediction of multispecies data. The approach allows the simultaneous grouping and quantification of multiple species’ responses to environmental gradients. The underlying statistical model is a finite mixture model, where mixing is performed over the individual species’ responses to environmental gradients. Species with similar responses are grouped with minimal information loss. We term these groups species archetypes. Each species archetype has an associated GLM that can be used to predict distributions with appropriate measures of uncertainty. Initially, we illustrate the concept and method using artificial data and then with application to real data comprising 200 species from the Great Barrier Reef (GBR) lagoon on 13 oceanographic and geological gradients from 12°S to 24°S. The 200 species from the GBR are well represented by 15 species archetypes. The model is interpreted through maps of the probability of presence for a fine scale set of locations throughout the study area. Maps of uncertainty are also produced to provide statistical context. The presence of each species archetype was strongly influenced by oceanographic gradients, principally temperature, oxygen and salinity. The number of species in each group ranged from 4 to 34. The method has potential application to the analysis of multispecies distribution patterns and for multispecies management.

%B Ecological Modelling %I Ecological Modelling %V 222 %P 955 - 963 %8 01 Feb 2011 %U http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0304380010006393 %N 4 %! Ecological Modelling %R 10.1016/j.ecolmodel.2010.11.030 %0 Journal Article %J Ecography %D 2011 %T RAD biodiversity: prediction of rank abundance distributions from deep water benthic assemblages %A Piers K Dunstan %A Scott D Foster %X

Rank abundance distributions (RADs) are a description of community structure common to every ecological sample where counts are recorded and are useful for managing and understanding biodiversity. We use RADs to describe patterns of biodiversity in samples with high numbers of unique species. We use a novel statistical method to analyse RADs and demonstrate prediction methods for attributes of biodiversity. The RAD is defined by the total abundance (Ni), species richness (Si) and the vector of relative abundances (nij) and the joint probability distribution of these quantities is modelled. Models were fitted to benthic biological data sampled on the Western Australian coast from depths of 100 to 1500 m and a latitudinal range of 22 to 35oS, using topographic and oceanographic data as covariates. Predictions from fitted models give attributes of biodiversity derived from RADs at a regular grid over the sampled area. The Leeuwin current and Leeuwin undercurrent appear to be key structuring forces for the predicted biodiversity attributes. The predictions show that benthic biodiversity is complex and varies with a number of different covariates. The predictions are unique, as they characterise important aspects of biodiversity and how it varies with large spatial scales. The predictions enable the complete reconstruction of the expected RAD at any point where covariates are available with estimates of uncertainty.

%B Ecography %I Ecography %V 34 %P 798 - 806 %8 01 Oct 2011 %U http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/j.1600-0587.2010.06552.x/abstract %N 5 %! Ecography %R 10.1111/j.1600-0587.2010.06552.x %0 Online Database %D 2010 %T Predicted patterns of seabed biodiversity in the East Marine Region (EMR) - Product Description %A Piers K Dunstan %A Scott D Foster %X This product provides planners and managers with biologically informed predictions about the patterns in species abundance, species richness and species evenness of seabed fishes on the outer shelf and slope in the EMR. It can be used as follows: 1. To provide scientific analysis and input to planners and managers with the responsibility to conserve and managed marine biodiversity in the EMR; 2. As a biological data input to models, where appropriate, of the marine environment in the EMR (e.g. Marxan); 3. To compare predictions in patterns of seabed biodiversity in the EMR with the findings of future biological surveys; and 4. To produce maps of predicted spatial patterns of species abundance, species richness and species evenness for seabed fishes in depths from 50 to 700 metres; It will be of value in planning and managing the conservation of marine biological diversity in the EMR, particularly in relation to predicting areas of high biodiversity when there is very little or no biological data. %I CSIRO %U http://www.marine.csiro.au/marq/edd_search.Browse_Citation?txtSession=8763 %0 Online Database %D 2010 %T Predicted patterns of seabed biodiversity in the North Marine Region (NMR) - Product Description %A Piers K Dunstan %A Scott D Foster %X

This product provides planners and managers with biologically informed predictions about the patterns in species abundance, species richness and species evenness of seabed fishes on the outer shelf and slope in the NMR. It can be used as follows: 1. To provide scientific analysis and input to planners and managers with the responsibility to conserve and managed marine biodiversity in the NMR; 2. As a biological data input to models, where appropriate,  of the marine environment in the NMR (e.g. Marxan); 3. To compare predictions in patterns of seabed biodiversity in the NMR with the findings of future biological surveys; and 4. To produce maps of predicted spatial patterns of species abundance, species richness and species evenness for seabed fishes in depths from 50 to 1500 metres; It will be of value in planning and managing the conservation of marine biological diversity in the NMR, particularly in relation to predicting areas of high biodiversity when there is very little or no biological data.

Notes on entries above:
URL field – contains link to datasets
Item field – launches a pdf document of additional information (product description)

Version: 18 January 2010

%I CSIRO %U http://www.marine.csiro.au/marq/edd_search.Browse_Citation?txtSession=8764 %0 Online Database %D 2010 %T Predicted patterns of seabed biodiversity in the North-West Marine Region (NWMR) - Product Description %A Piers K Dunstan %A Scott D Foster %X

This product provides planners and managers with biologically informed predictions about the patterns in species abundance, species richness and species evenness of seabed fishes on the outer shelf and slope in the NWMR. It can be used as follows: 1. To provide scientific analysis and input to planners and managers with the responsibility to conserve and managed marine biodiversity in the NWMR; 2. As a biological data input to models, where appropriate,  of the marine environment in the NWMR (e.g. Marxan); 3. To compare predictions in patterns of seabed biodiversity in the NWMR with the findings of future biological surveys; and 4. To produce maps of predicted spatial patterns of species abundance, species richness and species evenness for seabed fishes in depths from 50 to 1500 metres; It will be of value in planning and managing the conservation of marine biological diversity in the NWMR, particularly in relation to predicting areas of high biodiversity when there is very little or no biological data.

Notes on entries above:
URL field – contains link to datasets
Item field – launches a pdf document of additional information (product description)

%I CSIRO %U http://www.marine.csiro.au/marq/edd_search.Browse_Citation?txtSession=8765 %0 Online Database %D 2010 %T Predicted patterns of seabed biodiversity in the South-East Marine Region (SEMR) - Product Description %A Piers K Dunstan %A Scott D Foster %X This product provides planners and managers with biologically informed predictions about the patterns in species abundance, species richness and species evenness of seabed fishes on the outer shelf and slope in the SEMR. It can be used as follows: 1.To provide scientific analysis and input to planners and managers with the responsibility to conserve and managed marine biodiversity in the SEMR; 2. As a biological data input to models, where appropriate, of the marine environment in the SEMR (e.g. Marxan); 3. To compare predictions in patterns of seabed biodiversity in the SEMR with the findings of future biological surveys; and 4. To produce maps of predicted spatial patterns of species abundance, species richness and species evenness for seabed fishes in depths from 50 to 900 metres from 35oS to 44oS; It will be of value in planning and managing the conservation of marine biological diversity in the SEMR, particularly in relation to predicting areas of high biodiversity when there is very little or no biological data. %I CSIRO %U http://www.marine.csiro.au/marq/edd_search.Browse_Citation?txtSession=8767 %0 Report %D 2010 %T Scales of habitat heterogeneity and megabenthos biodiversity on an extensive Australian continental margin (100-1,000m depths) %A Williams, Alan %A Althaus, Franziska %A Piers K Dunstan %A Gary C. B. Poore %A Nicholas J. Bax %A Rudy J Kloser %A Felicity McEnnulty %K Biodiversity conservation %K continental slope %K diversity %K hierarchy %K Leeuwin Current %K rarity %K seabed habitat %K spatial scales %X

The first large systematic collection of benthic invertebrate megafauna from the Australian continental margin (depths > 100 m) revealed high species richness and novelty on the south-western continental slope (∼100–1100 m depth; ∼18° S–35° S). A total of 1979 morphologically defined species was discriminated in seven taxa across all samples: Demospongiae, Decapoda, corals (Octocorallia and Antipatharia), Mollusca, Echinodermata, Ascidiacea, and Pycnogonida. Collectively, 59% were estimated to be new or unnamed species. The distribution pattern of megafaunal communities, analysed with a suite of 17 physical covariates, was most influenced at large spatial scales (>100s km) by bottom temperature, oxygen concentration and latitude, whereas at smaller scales (10s of km), seabed type was most influential. Many covariates are driven by the same physical processes and are correlated (e.g. to depth or latitude), thus it is not possible to ascribe causal relationships to fauna distributions. However, their identification highlights the spatial scales that determine the composition of megafaunal communities. Regional-scale transitions in bottom temperature and oxygen concentration are determined by water masses and currents that interact with the south-western margin seabed in different ways depending on location. The nested, smaller-scale heterogeneity of seabed type, classified simply as ‘hard’ or ‘soft’ terrain, differentiates consolidated attachment sites for sessile fauna from sediments suited to mobile and burrowing fauna. Different physical factors affect the distribution of benthic fauna at different scales. Collectively, these patterns of heterogeneity can be represented in a hierarchical framework that consists of biogeographic provinces, biomes, biogeomorphic features, terrains, and finer scales. The Australian government is using a hierarchical approach to identify bioregions for management purposes; a key aim is to ensure that a National Representative System of Marine Protected Areas (NRSMPA) will meet the requirement of comprehensiveness, adequacy and representativeness. Important findings from this study are that the provincial structure of invertebrate megabenthos broadly aligns with the provincial structure derived earlier from the distribution of fishes, but there are differences in the distribution of individual major taxa at both provincial and megahabitat scales. Representative coverage of rarer taxa or narrowly distributed taxa might not be feasible at the same time as ensuring main fauna groups are adequately represented. The hierarchical scales of heterogeneity of the megabenthos in this area, the differences between taxa, and the high proportion of apparently rare species make it clear that it will be as important to manage the area outside the NRSMPA as to manage the NRSMPA itself. Management will be required at different scales that correspond to the multiscale spatial heterogeneity of continental margin fauna.

%I Marine Ecology %U http://www3.interscience.wiley.com/journal/123264322/abstract %0 Journal Article %J Biometrics %D 2009 %T Biodiversity analysis using rank abundance distributions %A Scott D Foster %A Piers K Dunstan %X

This poster was displayed at the CSIRO Division of Mathematics and Information Science’s divisional conference (19-21 November 2008) and was awarded the Chief’s prize.

Biodiversity is an important topic of current ecological research. However, it is generally ambiguously defined and usually quantified by single metrics that vary with multiple aspects of biodiversity. This approach is likely to obscure real patterns seen in observed data. We consider that the abundance, species richness, and the species’ relative frequency (evenness) to be central for considering biodiversity.

 

 

 

%B Biometrics %I CSIRO %V 66 %P 186 - 195 %8 01 Mar 2010 %N 1 %R 10.1111/j.1541-0420.2009.01263.x %0 Online Database %D 2009 %T Predicted patterns of seabed biodiversity in the South-West Marine Region (SWMR) - Product Description %A Piers K Dunstan %A Scott D Foster %X

This product provides planners and managers with biologically informed predictions about the patterns in species abundance, species richness and species evenness of seabed fishes on the outer shelf and slope in the SWMR. It can be used as follows: 1. To provide scientific analysis and input to planners and managers with the responsibility to conserve and managed marine biodiversity in the SWMR; 2. As a biological data input to models, where appropriate,  of the marine environment in the SWMR (e.g. Marxan); 3. To compare predictions in patterns of seabed biodiversity in the SWMR with the findings of future biological surveys; and 4. To produce maps of predicted spatial patterns of species abundance, species richness and species evenness for seabed fishes in depths from 50 to 1500 metres; It will be of value in planning and managing the conservation of marine biological diversity in the SWMR, particularly in relation to predicting areas of high biodiversity when there is very little or no biological data.

Notes on entries above:
URL field – contains link to datasets
Item field – launches a pdf document of additional information (product description)

%I CSIRO %U http://www.marine.csiro.au/marq/edd_search.Browse_Citation?txtSession=8766 %0 Report %D 2009 %T RAD biodiversity: modelling many species counts together %A Scott D Foster %A Piers K Dunstan %0 Audiovisual Material %D 2009 %T Statistical analysis of video transects for areal prediction from expansive data %A Piers K Dunstan %X

Underwater video data collection is becoming more widespread with recent improvements in technology and affordability. However, no appropriate analytical methods to take advantage of these data have hitherto been developed. Observations taken along a camera transect are strongly autocorrelated and require special statistical methods.

%I CSIRO