Catastrophic loss of tropical seagrass habitats at the Cocos (Keeling) Islands due to multiple stressors.

Seagrass habitats at the Cocos (Keeling) Islands (CKI), a remote atoll in the Indian Ocean, have suffered a catastrophic decline over the last decade. Seagrass monitoring (1996-2020) in relation to dredging and coastal development works (2009 to 2011) provide a historical baseline, and document the decline of mixed tropical seagrass Thalassia hemprichii and macroalgal (predominantly Caulerpa spp.) beds over a decadal scale time series.

It's not all black and white: investigating colour polymorphism in manta rays across Indo-Pacific populations.

Intraspecific colour polymorphisms have been the focus of numerous studies, yet processes affecting melanism in the marine environment remain poorly understood. Arguably, the most prominent example of melanism in marine species occurs in manta rays ( and ). Here, we use long-term photo identification catalogues to document the frequency variation of melanism across Indo-Pacific manta ray populations and test for evidence of selection by predation acting on colour morph variants.

Subcontinental heat wave triggers terrestrial and marine, multi-taxa responses.

Heat waves have profoundly impacted biota globally over the past decade, especially where their ecological impacts are rapid, diverse, and broad-scale. Although usually considered in isolation for either terrestrial or marine ecosystems, heat waves can straddle ecosystems of both types at subcontinental scales, potentially impacting larger areas and taxonomic breadth than previously envisioned. Using climatic and multi-species demographic data collected in Western Australia, we show that a massive heat wave event straddling terrestrial and maritime ecosystems triggered abrupt, synchronous, and multi-trophic ecological disruptions, including mortality, demographic shifts and altered species distributions.

Linking Seed Photosynthesis and Evolution of the Australian and Mediterranean Seagrass Genus Posidonia.

Recent findings have shown that photosynthesis in the skin of the seed of Posidonia oceanica enhances seedling growth. The seagrass genus Posidonia is found only in two distant parts of the world, the Mediterranean Sea and southern Australia. This fact led us to question whether the acquisition of this novel mechanism in the evolution of this seagrass was a pre-adaptation prior to geological isolation of the Mediterranean from Tethys Sea in the Eocene.

Macroalgae inhibits larval settlement and increases recruit mortality at Ningaloo Reef, Western Australia.

Globally, many coral reefs are degraded and demonstrate reduced coral cover and increased macroalgal abundance. While negative correlations between macroalgae and coral recruitment have commonly been documented, the mechanisms by which macroalgae affects recruitment have received little attention. Here we examined the effect of macroalgae on larval settlement and the growth and survival of coral recruits, in a field experiment over nine months.

Seagrass meadows in a globally changing environment.

Seagrass meadows are valuable ecosystem service providers that are now being lost globally at an unprecedented rate, with water quality and other localised stressors putting their future viability in doubt. It is therefore critical that we learn more about the interactions between seagrass meadows and future environmental change in the anthropocene. This needs to be with particular reference to the consequences of poor water quality on ecosystem resilience and the effects of change on trophic interactions within the food web.

Intergenerational transfer of specific bacteria in corals and possible implications for offspring fitness.

Diverse and abundant bacterial populations play important functional roles in the multi-partite association of the coral holobiont. The specificity of coral-associated assemblages remains unclear, and little is known about the inheritance of specific bacteria from the parent colony to their offspring. This study investigated if broadcast spawning and brooding corals release specific and potentially beneficial bacteria with their offspring to secure maintenance across generations.

Coral-bacterial communities before and after a coral mass spawning event on Ningaloo Reef.

Bacteria associated with three coral species, Acropora tenuis, Pocillopora damicornis and Tubastrea faulkneri, were assessed before and after coral mass spawning on Ningaloo Reef in Western Australia. Two colonies of each species were sampled before and after the mass spawning event and two additional samples were collected for P. damicornis after planulation.

Coral-associated bacterial communities on Ningaloo Reef, Western Australia.

Coral-associated microbial communities from three coral species (Pocillopora damicornis, Acropora tenuis and Favites abdita) were examined every 3 months (January, March, June, October) over a period of 1 year on Ningaloo Reef, Western Australia. Tissue from corals was collected throughout the year and additional sampling of coral mucus and seawater samples was performed in January. Tissue samples were also obtained in October from P.