NESP MB Project D1 - Ecosystem understanding to support sustainable use, management and monitoring of marine assets in the North and North-west regions

Research Project

Researchers: Miller, Karen, Dr (Principal investigator) ,  Miller, Karen, Dr (Principal investigator) ,  Emma Flukes (Point of contact) ,  Emma Flukes (Point of contact)

Brief description This record provides an overview of the scope and research output of NESP Marine Biodiversity Hub Project D1 - "Ecosystem understanding to support sustainable use, management and monitoring of marine assets in the North and North-west regions". For specific data outputs from this project, please see child records associated with this metadata. -------------------- Effective management of marine assets requires an understanding of ecosystems and the processes that influence patterns of biodiversity. Focusing on the North and North-west regions, this project will leverage previous research to improve ecosystem understanding through a synthesis of existing information and by making testable predictions about the character and extent of conservation values, including for key ecological features (KEFs) and Commonwealth Marine Reserves. End-users and stakeholders will benefit from improved regional descriptions of marine ecosystems and uncertainty statements. In turn, this will inform prioritisation of future investments in monitoring marine ecosystems and State of the Environment reporting. Planned Outputs • A report on the synthesis (based on collations completed in 2015) of datasets and models for the North and NW identifying areas of greatest information coverage, gaps and themed to CMRs and KEFs in those regions. This report will also describe key spatial patterns in biodiversity (benthic and pelagic) and associations between benthic environments, fish and megafauna and large scale processes (e.g. oceanography). • Predictions and related products (maps) of the spatial distribution of biodiversity across the Oceanic Shoals CMR that encompasses benthic habitat, pelagic and demersal fish and megafauna communities. This will provide an example/test case at the National Prioritisation Workshop of how confidently predictive modelling can be used to describe assets and values in data poor areas to inform management and monitoring. • An updated conceptual model of ecosystem processes (benthic and pelagic) within the Oceanic Shoals CMR based on extension of modelling into pelagics. • A review of existing knowledge of the Ancient Coastline KEF. • A qualitative model of Glomar Shoal KEF (to be confirmed in consultation with DOE). • Communication products that capture activities and general interest stories of scientific results disseminated through NW Atlas social media links. • Upload of new relevant spatial data layers in NW Atlas for management and planning, and engagement with end users to maximize uptake of the NW Atlas products.

Lineage Maintenance and Update Frequency: asNeeded

Notes Credit
Karen Miller (AIMS), Ben Radford (AIMS), Marji Puotinen (AIMS), Andrew Heyward (AIMS), Julian Caley (AIMS), Mark Meekan (AIMS), Michele Thums (AIMS), Camille Mellin (AIMS), Rebecca Fisher (AIMS), Mary Wakeford (AIMS), Scott Nichol (Geoscience Australia), Johnathan Kool (Geoscience Australia), Zhi Huang (Geoscience Australia), Rachel Przeslawski (Geoscience Australia), Kim Picard (Geoscience Australia), Justy Siwabessy (Geoscience Australia), Lynda Radke (Geoscience Australia), Jin Li (Geoscience Australia), Floyd Howard (Geoscience Australia), Jessica Meeuwig (UWA), Phil Bouchet (UWA), John Keesing (CSIRO)

Notes Credit
National Environmental Science Program (NESP) Marine Biodiversity Hub

Notes Credit
Department of the Environment and Energy, Australian Government

Notes Credit
In addition to NESP (DoE) funding, this project is matched by an equivalent amount of in-kind support and co-investment from project partners and collaborators.

Notes Purpose
The main focus of this project is to leverage prior investment in data collection and collation to apply and refine spatial models previously developed under CERF and NERP. This project will enable predictions of the extent of benthic habitats, pelagic hotspots and connectivity in priority areas in the North and NW regions, particularly for KEFs and CMRs where data is particularly sparse (Figure 1). Through data collation and the application of predictive models, key information gaps relevant to the management and the CMR network will be derived and used, in consultation with DOE staff, to prioritize and plan future activities necessary to fill the most important data gaps. These activities in combination with integration of our current understanding (observed and predicted) of benthic, pelagic, megafauna movement/behaviour and oceanographic patterns will help identify and characterise Biologically Important Areas (BIAs) where we see concentrations of species/biodiversity within the region. Over the three years, the project will be achieved as a three step process: • Apply existing models generated through CERF, NERP, WAMSI and elsewhere to predict key ecosystem attributes at locations (e.g. CMRs and KEFs) identified and prioritised through science and stakeholder workshops; • Identify and prioritise opportunities to fill data gaps, based on the information needs of DOE, through targeted field programs in ways that will maximize the gain of new information for these priority areas and to consolidate our understanding of biodiversity values and ecosystem function; and • Assess the application of equivalent approaches nationally, based on regional learnings.

Data time period: 2015-07-01 to 2018-12-31

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130.166015625,-16.851324525455

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