Predicting the location and spatial extent of submerged coral reef habitat in the Great Barrier Reef world heritage area, Australia

Bridge, Thomas, Beaman, Robin, Done, Terry, and Webster, Jody (2012) Predicting the location and spatial extent of submerged coral reef habitat in the Great Barrier Reef world heritage area, Australia. PLoS ONE, 7 (10). pp. 1-11.

[img] PDF (Published Version) - Published Version
Available under License Creative Commons Attribution.

Download (935kB)
View at Publisher Website: http://dx.doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0...
 
44
1164


Abstract

Aim: Coral reef communities occurring in deeper waters have received little research effort compared to their shallow-water counterparts, and even such basic information as their location and extent are currently unknown throughout most of the world. Using the Great Barrier Reef as a case study, habitat suitability modelling is used to predict the distribution of deep-water coral reef communities on the Great Barrier Reef, Australia. We test the effectiveness of a range of geophysical and environmental variables for predicting the location of deep-water coral reef communities on the Great Barrier Reef.

Location: Great Barrier Reef, Australia.

Methods: Maximum entropy modelling is used to identify the spatial extent of two broad communities of habitat-forming megabenthos phototrophs and heterotrophs. Models were generated using combinations of geophysical substrate properties derived from multibeam bathymetry and environmental data derived from Bio-ORACLE, combined with georeferenced occurrence records of mesophotic coral communities from autonomous underwater vehicle, remotely operated vehicle and SCUBA surveys. Model results are used to estimate the total amount of mesophotic coral reef habitat on the GBR.

Results: Our models predict extensive but previously undocumented coral communities occurring both along the continental shelf-edge of the Great Barrier Reef and also on submerged reefs inside the lagoon. Habitat suitability for phototrophs is highest on submerged reefs along the outer-shelf and the deeper flanks of emergent reefs inside the GBR lagoon, while suitability for heterotrophs is highest in the deep waters along the shelf-edge. Models using only geophysical variables consistently outperformed models incorporating environmental data for both phototrophs and heterotrophs.

Main Conclusion: Extensive submerged coral reef communities that are currently undocumented are likely to occur throughout the Great Barrier Reef. High-quality bathymetry data can be used to identify these reefs, which may play an important role in resilience of the GBR ecosystem to climate change.

Item ID: 24245
Item Type: Article (Research - C1)
ISSN: 1932-6203
Date Deposited: 30 Jan 2013 02:05
FoR Codes: 06 BIOLOGICAL SCIENCES > 0608 Zoology > 060808 Invertebrate Biology @ 50%
04 EARTH SCIENCES > 0403 Geology > 040305 Marine Geoscience @ 50%
SEO Codes: 96 ENVIRONMENT > 9608 Flora, Fauna and Biodiversity > 960808 Marine Flora, Fauna and Biodiversity @ 100%
Downloads: Total: 1164
Last 12 Months: 101
More Statistics

Actions (Repository Staff Only)

Item Control Page Item Control Page