Lawrence, Emma, Foster, Scott D., Matthews, Samuel A., Williamson, David, Pratchett, Morgan S., Doyle, Jason, Bainbridge, Scott, Uthicke, Sven, Doll, Peter C., Kusy, Brano, Armin, Mohammad A., and Bonin, Mary C. (2026) A quantitative comparison of tools for monitoring the abundance of crown-of-thorns starfish and coral cover. Coral Reefs. (In Press)

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Abstract

Effective monitoring of crown-of-thorns starfish (COTS) populations and coral cover is critical for informing management of COTS outbreaks throughout their tropical Indo-Pacific range, including Australia’s Great Barrier Reef. However, existing monitoring tools such as manta tow and cull diver surveys have well-known limitations including accuracy and resource demands. This study evaluates a range of monitoring tools for assessing both COTS and coral populations. Tools that measure both COTS and coral include manta tow surveys, scooter-assisted large area diver-based (SALAD) surveys and surveys undertaken using the ReefScan towed camera platform. For COTS-only monitoring, we examine cull diver surveys and environmental DNA (eDNA) sampling. Data from side-by-side deployments on seven to ten reefs (depending on the tool) with varying COTS densities and coral cover were collected and analysed to calibrate estimates between tools. The calibration models developed will aid in integrating data from diverse sources and facilitate the translation of estimates based on one monitoring tool to another. Critically, the models provide a means of estimating COTS density (COTS per hectare) for monitoring tools that do not directly collect this measure, allowing more meaningful decision-making around ecological thresholds and enabling threshold-based management regardless of which tool collected the data. The study emphasises that each tool has specific applications for addressing knowledge gaps and informing management decisions, advocating for an integrated, multi-tool monitoring strategy that leverages the strengths of each tool to improve the overall effectiveness and efficiency of COTS and coral monitoring.

Item ID:	91936
Item Type:	Article (Research - C1)
ISSN:	1432-0975
Keywords:	Crown-of-thorns starfish (COTS); Coral monitoring; Monitoring tool calibration; Tropical Indo-Pacific
Copyright Information:	This article is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License, which permits use, sharing, adaptation, distribution and reproduction in any medium or format, as long as you give appropriate credit to the original author(s) and the source, provide a link to the Creative Commons licence, and indicate if changes were made. The images or other third party material in this article are included in the article’s Creative Commons licence, unless indicated otherwise in a credit line to the material. If material is not included in the article’s Creative Commons licence and your intended use is not permitted by statutory regulation or exceeds the permitted use, you will need to obtain permission directly from the copyright holder. To view a copy of this licence, visit http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/.
Funders:	COTS Control Innovation Program
Date Deposited:	14 May 2026 00:02
FoR Codes:	31 BIOLOGICAL SCIENCES > 3103 Ecology > 310305 Marine and estuarine ecology (incl. marine ichthyology) @ 30% 41 ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCES > 4104 Environmental management > 410402 Environmental assessment and monitoring @ 70%
SEO Codes:	18 ENVIRONMENTAL MANAGEMENT > 1805 Marine systems and management > 180501 Assessment and management of benthic marine ecosystems @ 70% 18 ENVIRONMENTAL MANAGEMENT > 1805 Marine systems and management > 180503 Control of pests, diseases and exotic species in marine environments @ 30%
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