Exposure to multiple elements reduces the health of Saccostrea glomerata: An assessment of the Richmond River estuary, NSW, Australia

Jamal, Endang; Reichelt‐Brushett, Amanda; Benkendorff, Kirsten

doi:10.1016/j.marpolbul.2022.114177

Cited by 3 publications

(1 citation statement)

References 59 publications

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“…Floods in urbanised areas can also increase contaminants introduced to estuaries such as nitrates (Sigleo and Frick 2007), sewage (Hart et al 2020), metals and metalloids (Conrad et al 2020), pesticides (Laicher et al 2022) and per-and poly-fluoroalkyl substances (PFAS) (van Leeuwen et al 2019). Pollutants can have deleterious effects on marine organisms throughout the food web, potentially resulting in fish kills (Adams et al 2020) and morbidity or mortality of benthic fauna (Diaz and Rosenberg 2001;Jamal et al 2022).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

La Niña Pushes an Endangered Temperate Soft Coral Species to the Brink of Localised Extinction

Larkin,

Davis,

Harasti

et al. 2023

Estuaries and Coasts

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Extreme weather events such as floods are becoming more frequent, and pose a substantial threat to Australia’s nearshore marine communities. In March 2021, a 450 km stretch of the eastern NSW coastline experienced a La Niña-related rainfall event over several days, resulting in large volumes of freshwater ingress to marine systems. Port Stephens, an estuary 250 km north of Sydney, recorded its highest week of rainfall on record. This was followed by two more flood events in March 2022 and June 2022. Prior to 2021, the marine-dominant Eastern Port of Port Stephens was home to the world’s largest aggregations of Dendronephthya australis, an endangered species of soft coral endemic to the south-east coast of Australia. Using data from a 2019–2022 D. australis monitoring program in Port Stephens, spanning the unprecedented series of flood events in 2021–2022, we detail the impacts of flood events on the population. Prior to the floods, aggregations of colonies were persisting, and individuals were growing at two of the four monitored sites. However, flooding in March 2021 caused a 91% decline in the remaining areal extent of D. australis. Modelling of likely causative factors highlighted water depth as the most significant environmental variable correlated with coral loss. Corals in shallower waters experienced lower salinity and were the most impacted. Continued monitoring during 2021 and 2022 documented the loss of all remaining aggregations in the estuary after further La Niña-related rainfall events, to the point where D. australis is now on the brink of localised extinction.

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Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

La Niña Pushes an Endangered Temperate Soft Coral Species to the Brink of Localised Extinction

Larkin,

Davis,

Harasti

et al. 2023

Estuaries and Coasts

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La Niña pushes an Endangered temperate soft coral species to the brink of extinction

Larkin,

Davis,

Harasti

et al. 2023

Preprint

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Extreme weather events such as floods are becoming more frequent, and pose a substantial threat to Australia’s nearshore marine communities. In March 2021, a 450 km stretch of the eastern NSW coastline experienced a La Niña-related rainfall event over several days, resulting in large volumes of freshwater ingress to marine systems. Port Stephens, an estuary 250 km north of Sydney, recorded its highest week of rainfall on record. This was followed by two more flood events in March 2022 and June 2022. Prior to 2021, the marine-dominant eastern port of Port Stephens was home to the world’s largest aggregations of Dendronephthya australis, an Endangered species of soft coral endemic to the south-east coast of Australia. Using data from a 2019–2022 D. australis monitoring program in Port Stephens, spanning the unprecedented series of flood events in 2021-22, we detail the impacts of flood events on the population. Prior to the floods, aggregations of colonies were persisting, and individuals were growing at two of the four monitored sites. However, flooding in March 2021 caused a 91% decline in the remaining areal extent of D. australis. Modelling of likely causative factors highlighted water depth as the most significant environmental variable correlated with coral loss. Corals in shallower waters experienced lower salinity and were the most impacted. Continued monitoring during 2021 and 2022 documented the loss of all remaining aggregations in the estuary after further La Niña-related rainfall events, to the point where D. australis is now on the brink of localised extinction.

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Dive industry perspectives on the threats to coral reefs: A comparative study across four Asia-Pacific countries

Benkendorff,

Ngoc,

Ab Lah

et al. 2023

APN SCI BULL

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The combined effects of climate change, marine tourism and other stressors threaten the ecological and economic sustainability of coral reefs. This study investigates dive industry stakeholder awareness of the threats to coral reefs through structured interviews with Dive Masters, company managers and marine management agencies in Vietnam, Australia, Malaysia and Indonesia. Stakeholders from all locations have observed degradation of local reefs. Destructive fishing was identified as the principal threat in all regions except Australia. Most participants identified threats from climate change and marine tourism. There was a lack of awareness about ocean acidification by all participants from Maluku, Indonesia. However, ocean acidification could make coral more fragile and, therefore, vulnerable to diver-induced damage. The majority of Dive Masters across all regions provide pre-dive briefings to reduce diver impacts and participate in environmental activities to protect local reefs. Stakeholders in three regions thought there was capacity to expand the local dive industry. However, in Nha Trang Vietnam, most industry stakeholders thought they were at, or exceeded, carrying capacity, whereas marine management employees thought there was room to expand. This study highlights an opportunity to improve diver education on the vulnerability of coral to damage in acidifying oceans. This study also identifies various non-regulatory and regulatory strategies used to reduce diver impacts, emphasising the value of multi-national knowledge sharing between the dive industry and regulatory agencies for adaptive management.

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Exposure to multiple elements reduces the health of Saccostrea glomerata: An assessment of the Richmond River estuary, NSW, Australia

Cited by 3 publications

References 59 publications

La Niña Pushes an Endangered Temperate Soft Coral Species to the Brink of Localised Extinction

La Niña Pushes an Endangered Temperate Soft Coral Species to the Brink of Localised Extinction

La Niña pushes an Endangered temperate soft coral species to the brink of extinction

Dive industry perspectives on the threats to coral reefs: A comparative study across four Asia-Pacific countries

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