Status of coral, giant clam and sea cucumber communities including CITES listed species on a remote Australian coral reef atoll and the potential impact of illegal fishing.

Following a recent dramatic increase in illegal fishing by Indonesian fishing vessels in Australian waters in 2022, we conducted an extensive survey of coral reef communities covering 33,000 m at Mermaid Reef Marine Park in the Rowley Shoals off north-western Australia in July 2022. Species richness of sea cucumbers was 13 species (three CITES listed) and 6 species of giant clams (all CITES listed). The most abundant sea cucumber species were the low or intermediate value, asexually reproducing species Holothuria atra and H.

Coral larval recruitment in north-western Australia predicted by regional and local conditions.

Understanding ecological processes that shape contemporary and future communities facilitates knowledge-based environmental management. In marine ecosystems, one of the most important processes is the supply of new recruits into a population. Here, we investigated spatiotemporal variability in coral recruitment at 15 reefs throughout the Dampier Archipelago, north-western Australia between 2015 and 2017 and identified the best environmental predictors for coral recruitment patterns over this period.

Setting priorities for conservation at the interface between ocean circulation, connectivity, and population dynamics.

Population persistence in the marine environment is driven by patterns of ocean circulation, larval dispersal, ecological interactions, and demographic rates. For habitat-forming organisms in particular, understanding the relationship between larval connectivity and meta-population dynamics aids in planning for marine spatial management. Here, we estimate networks of connectivity between fringing coral reefs in the northwest shelf of Australia by combining a particle tracking model based on shelf circulation with models of subpopulation dynamics of individual reefs.

Species traits and climate velocity explain geographic range shifts in an ocean-warming hotspot.

Species' ranges are shifting globally in response to climate warming, with substantial variability among taxa, even within regions. Relationships between range dynamics and intrinsic species traits may be particularly apparent in the ocean, where temperature more directly shapes species' distributions. Here, we test for a role of species traits and climate velocity in driving range extensions in the ocean-warming hotspot of southeast Australia.