Nudibranchs of the Central Western Australian Coast

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Nudibranchs of the Central Western Australian Coast Nudibranchs of the Central Western Australian Coast Justine M. Arnold This thesis is presented as part of the requirements for the Degree of Bachelor of Science in Marine Science with Honours at Murdoch University. October 2014 DECLARATION I declare that the work presented here is my own research conducted from March to October 2014, and has not been submitted for the award of any other degree at another tertiary institution. Justine Arnold October 2014 i ABSTRACT Nudibranchs are a diverse group of gastropod molluscs that are distributed around the world found inhabiting coral reef ecosystems. Baseline data on nudibranchs is lacking in the mid west region of Western Australia. Four sub-regions across the Midwest; Geraldton and the three groups at the Abrolhos Islands, the Easter Group, the Wallabi Group and the Pelsaert Group were the focus of nudibranch diversity surveys. Collection of quantitative information to establish a biogeographical baseline for the nudibranchs of this region was one of the main aims of this study. In total 89 dives were made over the duration of this study, with an average dive time of 30 minutes. A total of 296 individual nudibranchs were observed. The most abundant family found was Chromodorididae and Chromodoris westraliensis was the dominant species. Equal numbers of nudibranchs were found at shallow and deep sites, with depth found to not have a significant difference on nudibranch abundance or species abundance. Sub-region was suggested to be the predominant influence in nudibranch abundance and species richness. The probable cause for this is the influence from the Leeuwin Current and its effects on the habitat composition. The Leeuwin Current is believed to strongly influence recruitment of planktonic larvae along the Western Australian coast. Suggesting that larval recruitment of all marine species including nudibranchs, nudibranch prey items and benthic flora nudibranchs inhabit is influenced by the Leeuwin Current. Investigations into key nudibranch prey items and their seasonal occurrence may help in predicting abundance of sub-annual nudibranch species in an area. Benthic habitat differences and nudibranch prey items could be distributed at different rate over each sub- region due to local hydrology effects from the Leeuwin Current. Geraldton was found to be clearly different to the three Abrolhos Island groups, with sub-region being a determining factor for abundance and species abundance. Greater sampling effort into ii destructive day-time and night-time sampling is also predicted to increase the number of species and abundance of nudibranchs found in the Midwest region. iii ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS There are several people that deserve honorable mention for their assistance throughout the duration of this study. I was lucky enough to be the recipient of the Calver Family Scholarship for 2014. Thank you for allowing me to be the recipient of such a highly regarded award. With the assistance of the scholarship I was able to expand my research to areas that at first seemed impossible. I would like to thank my parents, Charlie and Lorraine Arnold, without their love, support and encouragement I would not have been able to make it through the past 5 years at university, especially this last year where they have bent over backwards and became fully involved in my honours research. It was such an honor to spend so much time with such giving people. Thank you. I would like to extend my gratitude to my volunteer dive buddies for donating their precious time to my research, Peter Howie, Rowan Kleindienst, Claire Cocking, Brenda Arnold and Ellen Boylen, Thank you. Thank you to Laura Bradshaw for always knowing the right thing to say and for last minute technical assistance. And to my supervisor Mike Van Keulen, Thank you; for taking me on-board, your endless wealth of knowledge and advice and for allowing me the opportunity to apply the numerous skills I have learnt in my undergraduate degree in this project. iv TABLE OF CONTENTS DECLARATION ...................................................................................................... i ABSTRACT ............................................................................................................ ii ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS ..................................................................................... iv TABLE OF CONTENTS ......................................................................................... v 1.0 INTRODUCTION .......................................................................................... 1 1.1 Nudibranchs .................................................................................................. 2 1.1.1 Family Characteristics ............................................................................ 2 1.1.2 Distribution ............................................................................................. 2 1.1.3 Habitat and Feeding ............................................................................... 3 1.1.4 Life History ............................................................................................. 4 1.1.5 The Leeuwin Current .............................................................................. 5 1.2 Climate Change ............................................................................................ 7 1.2.1 Known Climate Change Impacts ............................................................ 8 1.2.2 Postulated Climate Change Impacts ...................................................... 9 1.3 Worldwide Nudibranch Diversity ................................................................... 9 1.4 Western Australian Nudibranch Diversity .................................................... 11 1.5 Aims of This Study ...................................................................................... 12 2.0 METHODS.................................................................................................. 14 2.1 Area Description ......................................................................................... 14 2.2 Environmental Description .......................................................................... 16 2.2.1 Wind ..................................................................................................... 16 2.2.2 Swell ..................................................................................................... 16 2.2.3 Current ................................................................................................. 17 2.2.4 Water Temperatures ............................................................................ 17 2.2.5 Salinity .................................................................................................. 18 2.3 Habitat Description ..................................................................................... 18 2.4 Site Selection .............................................................................................. 18 2.5 Survey Methods .......................................................................................... 19 2.6 Species Identification .................................................................................. 20 2.7 Statistical Analysis ...................................................................................... 21 2.7.1 Species and Abundance ...................................................................... 21 v 2.7.2 Species Diversity and Evenness .......................................................... 22 2.7.3 Connectivity .......................................................................................... 23 3.0 RESULTS ................................................................................................... 24 3.1 Species and Abundance ............................................................................. 24 3.2 Family Level Analyses ................................................................................ 27 3.3 Total Abundance Analyses ......................................................................... 29 3.4 Total Species Analyses ............................................................................... 30 3.5 Interactions ................................................................................................. 32 3.6 Species Diversity and Evenness Indices .................................................... 33 3.7 Connectivity ................................................................................................ 35 3.8 Substrate Preference and Activity ............................................................... 38 4.0 DISCUSSION ............................................................................................. 40 4.1 Estimating and Comparing Diversity ........................................................... 40 4.2 Family Level Analysis ................................................................................. 42 4.3 Total Species and Abundance .................................................................... 44 4.4 Species Diversity and Evenness ................................................................. 47 4.5 Distribution .................................................................................................. 49 4.6 Substrate Preference and Activity ............................................................... 50 4.7 General Discussion ..................................................................................... 50 5.0 CONCLUSION ..........................................................................................
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