Book Moreton Bay Quandamooka & Catchment
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Book Moreton Bay Quandamooka & Catchment: Past, present, and future ISBN 978-0-6486690-0-5 Chapter Chapter 5. Habitats, Biodiversity and Ecosystem Function Research Paper Title Fishes of Moreton Bay: Ecology, human impacts, and conservation DOI 10.6084/m9.figshare.8074232 Publication date 2019 Cite this paper as: Olds AD, Gilby BL, Connolly RM, Tibbetts IR, Henderson CJ, Stevens T, Thackwray SK, Schlacher TA. 2019. Fishes of Moreton Bay: EcoloGy, human impacts, and conservation. In: Tibbetts IR, Rothlisberg PC, Neil DT, Homburg TA, Brewer DT, & ArthinGton AH (Eds). Moreton Bay Quandamooka & Catchment: Past, present, and future. The Moreton Bay Foundation. Brisbane, Australia. Available from: https://moretonbayfoundation.orG/ Chapter 5 - Habitats, Biodiversity and Ecosystem Function Fishes of Moreton Bay: Ecooy, hman impacts and conseration Andre ds1 Ben L iy1 od M Connoy2, an ietts3 Christopher J enderson1 im tevens2 arah K hackwray1 Thomas A chacher1 Author affiliations: 1. Animal Research Centre and School of Science and Engineering, University of the Sunshine Coast, Maroochydore Qld, 4558, Australia; 2. Australian Rivers Institute and School of Environment and Science, Griffith University, Gold Coast Qld, 4222, Australia; 3. School of Biological Sciences, University of Queensland, St Lucia Qld, 4072, Australia. Corresponding author: [email protected] ORCID Andrew Olds: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-8027-3599 Ben Gilby: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-8642-9411 Rod Connolly: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-6223-1291 Ian Tibbetts: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-1481-238X Christopher Henderson: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-9397-8064 Tim Stevens: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-0876-5169 Sarah Thackwray: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-2073-7478 This page left intentionally blank Thomas Schlacher: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-2184-9217 Astract Moreton Bay is a heterogeneous seascape containing a mosaic of habitats that support a diversity of fish. The fish fauna includes many species that are harvested by recreational and commercial fishers as well as numerous taxa that are of conservation concern. The fish fauna of mangroves, seagrasses, inshore reefs and intertidal flats is well sampled. By contrast, fish surveys in saltmarshes, soft sediments, offshore reefs and surf zones are sparse and incomplete. Fish diversity and abundance are typically highest on reefs and seagrass meadows, but most species move among habitats to feed and spawn. These movements connect habitats and link both fish assemblages and food webs across seascapes. The combined effects of water quality, coastal urbanisation and fishing also shape fish assemblages in Moreton Bay. Fish diversity and abundance increases from the urbanised western to the less developed eastern Bay. This spatial pattern mirrors gradients in water quality and habitat condition across the Bay. The shorelines of many estuaries and ocean beaches have been developed, and this coastal urbanisation has altered fish diversity, abundance and diet. Numerous species have, however, adapted to capitalise on the abundance of food and shelter in urban estuaries. No-take marine reserves prohibit fishing, and this promotes fish abundance and diversity in some ecosystems (e.g. coral reefs, seagrass meadows), but not in others (e.g. estuaries, ocean beaches). Important challenges for future research in Moreton Bay include: (i) testing how multiple human pressures combine to modify fish assemblages and fish habitats; (ii) identifying how the ecological attributes of ecosystems and seascapes shape conservation outcomes; and (iii) examining how fish assemblages, habitats and fisheries change in response to range shifts of tropical species that move south with rising sea temperatures. Keywords: coastal waters, estuary, fish, fisheries, habitats, marine reserves, reef, seascape ecology, seagrass 378 Moreton Bay Quandamooka & Catchment: Past, present, and future In: Tibbetts IR, Rothlisberg PC, Neil DT, Homburg TA, Brewer DT, Arthington AH. (Eds). 2019. Moreton Bay Quandamooka & 379 Catchment: Past, present and future. The Moreton Bay Foundation. Brisbane, Australia. pp. 379 - 400 https://moretonbayfoundation.org Chapter 5 - Habitats, Biodiversity and Ecosystem Function Fishes of Moreton Bay: Ecology, human impacts, and conservation Introdction ecology research has examined the role of fish in performing herbivory (n=8), predation (n=3) Moreton Bay contains a diverse fish fauna that is of immense cultural, social and economic and scavenging (n=2). value to a broad range of people (1, 2). Historically, the region was an important fishing area for Indigenous Australians (3, 4); it now attracts large numbers of recreational anglers each Tae Summary of research on fish in Moreton Bay illustrating focal research themes, and year (5, 6) and supports significant commercial fisheries (7, 8) (Thurstan et al. 2019, this the number of studies and citations for each topic (n=166). volume). Many fish species are prized by recreational anglers (9, 10) or are harvested in esearch themes Stdies eferences commercial fisheries (7, 11). The region also provides essential habitat for numerous fish Haitat 69 species that are of international conservation significance (12–14). Seagrass 20 (10, 13, 21-38) Reef 19 (19, 20, 39-55) Descriptive accounts of fish catches date back to the early 1900s (15), but research on the Sand/mud flat 17 (11, 17, 21-23, 26, 29, 38, 56-65) biology and ecology of fish in Moreton Bay did not commence until the 1970s (1). Early studies Mangroves 11 (21, 22, 25, 29, 37, 41-43, 65-68) described patterns in fish abundance, size and diet, and discussed how assemblages vary among Estuaries 10 (11, 21, 22, 29, 62, 63, 69-72) habitats or between different parts of the Bay (16, 17). The range of fish research in the Bay is Urban shores 7 (63, 71-75) now considerably broader and encompasses a large body of publications on habitat use, health, Saltmarsh 5 (76-80) trophic ecology and population biology (1, 18). The fish assemblages of Moreton Bay are diverse and of considerable value to the economy; but have also been heavily modified by the Surf zones 2 (9, 81) combined effects of water quality degradation, coastal urbanisation and fishing (2, 19, 20). Heath 8 Parasites 55 (82-136) ynthesis of research on fish in Moreton Bay Toxins 3 (137-139) To describe the thematic focus and distribution of research on fish in Moreton Bay, we Trophic ecoogy 8 reviewed published literature on fish in the region by searching the Elsevier Scopus and Diet 29 (21, 23, 30, 32-34, 38, 45, 46, 49, 52, 63, 64, 66, 70, 75, 76, 79, 80, 140- Thompson Reuters Web of Science databases using the keywords: ‘Moreton Bay’, ‘fish’, Food webs 9 149)(40, 41, 143, 59, 144, 69, 145, 71, 72, 146, 150 147,-152) 148, 149) ‘shark’, ‘ray’, ‘elasmobranch’ and ‘teleost’. This search yielded 166 studies (Table 1) with Popation ioogy 25 most focused on describing how fish use different ecosystems as habitat (n=69). A sizable Reproduction 12 (3, 14, 140, 153-161) proportion of research also addressed questions about fish health (n=58), trophic ecology (n=38) and population biology (n=25). Fewer studies have examined the impacts of human Movement 7 (13, 14, 16, 162-165) activities on fish populations (n=21), the benefits of conservation for fish (n=15) or the effects Growth 7 (38, 140, 156, 159, 160, 166, 167) of fish on ecological functions (n=12). Therefore, examining the combined effects of human Morphology 3 (168, 169) pressures on fish assemblages, identifying the ecological features of seascapes that affect Behaviour 3 (35, 170) conservation performance, and testing whether, and how, fish modify ecosystem functioning Human impacts 21 will be promising avenues for future research. Fishing 8 (36, 52, 143, 171-175) Urbanisation 8 (9, 63, 71-74, 176, 177) Research on how fish use habitats in Moreton Bay is dominated by studies in seagrass meadows Water quality 5 (10, 20, 45, 47, 62) (n=20), coral and rocky reefs (n=19), and sand/mud flats (n=17) (Table 1). Less research has Conservation 15 been done on fish in mangrove forests (n=11), estuaries (n=10), urban waterways (i.e. canals, Marine reserves 12 (10, 11, 13, 19, 20, 31, 42, 43, 45, 47-49, 54) artificial lakes, modified estuaries) (n=7), saltmarshes (n=5) and the surf zones of ocean beaches (n=2). The body of research on fish health primarily comprises descriptive studies of Threatened species 4 (13, 14, 62, 167) fish parasites (n=55) and the accumulation of toxins in fish tissues (n=3). Research on fish Fnctiona ecoogy 12 trophic ecology encompasses studies of fish diets (n=29) and food webs (n=9). Studies of fish Herbivory 8 (20, 32, 33, 45, 46, 49, 141, 145) population biology include research on reproduction (n=12), movement (n=7), growth (n=7), Predation 3 (64, 66, 145) morphology (n=3) and behaviour (n=3). Research on human impacts has examined the Scavenging 2 (63, 70) ecological effects of heavy fishing pressure (n=8), urbanisation (n=8) and water quality degradation (n=5) on fish populations. Conservation research has focused on the effectiveness of marine reserves (n=12) for fish and the ecology of threatened fish species (n=4). Functional 380 Moreton Bay Quandamooka & Catchment: Past, present, and future Moreton Bay Quandamooka & Catchment: Past, present, and future 381 Chapter 5 - Habitats, Biodiversity and Ecosystem Function Fishes of Moreton Bay: Ecology, human impacts, and conservation Introdction ecology research has examined the role of fish in performing herbivory (n=8), predation (n=3) Moreton Bay contains a diverse fish fauna that is of immense cultural, social and economic and scavenging (n=2). value to a broad range of people (1, 2). Historically, the region was an important fishing area for Indigenous Australians (3, 4); it now attracts large numbers of recreational anglers each Tae Summary of research on fish in Moreton Bay illustrating focal research themes, and year (5, 6) and supports significant commercial fisheries (7, 8) (Thurstan et al.