Annual Report for Inshore Coral Reef Monitoring
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MARINE MONITORING PROGRAM Annual Report for inshore coral reef monitoring 2015 - 2016 Authors - Angus Thompson, Paul Costello, Johnston Davidson, Murray Logan, Greg Coleman, Kevin Gunn, Britta Schaffelke Marine Monitoring Program Annual Report for Inshore Coral Reef Monitoring 2015 - 2016 Angus Thompson, Paul Costello, Johnston Davidson, Murray Logan, Greg Coleman, Kevin Gunn, Britta Schaffelke MMP Annual Report for inshore coral reef monitoring 2016 © Commonwealth of Australia (Australian Institute of Marine Science), 2017 Published by the Great Barrier Reef Marine Park Authority ISBN: 2208-4118 Marine Monitoring Program: Annual report for inshore coral monitoring 2015-2016 is licensed for use under a Creative Commons By Attribution 4.0 International licence with the exception of the Coat of Arms of the Commonwealth of Australia, the logos of the Great Barrier Reef Marine Park Authority and Australian Institute of Marine Science any other material protected by a trademark, content supplied by third parties and any photographs. For licence conditions see: http://creativecommons.org/licences/by/4.0 This publication should be cited as: Thompson, A., Costello, P., Davidson, J., Logan, M., Coleman, G., Gunn, K., Schaffelke, B., 2017, Marine Monitoring Program. Annual Report for inshore coral reef monitoring: 2015 to 2016. Report for the Great Barrier Reef Marine Park Authority, Great Barrier Reef Marine Park Authority, Townsville.133 pp. A catalogue record for this publication is available from the National Library of Australia Front cover image: The reef-flat coral community at Double Cone Island, Central Great Barrier Reef. Photographer Johnston Davidson © AIMS 2014. DISCLAIMER While reasonable efforts have been made to ensure that the contents of this document are factually correct, AIMS do not make any representation or give any warranty regarding the accuracy, completeness, currency or suitability for any particular purpose of the information or statements contained in this document. To the extent permitted by law AIMS shall not be liable for any loss, damage, cost or expense that may be occasioned directly or indirectly through the use of or reliance on the contents of this document. Comments and questions regarding this document are welcome and should be addressed to: Australian Institute of Marine Science PMB No 3 Townsville MC, Qld 4810 This project is supported by the Great Barrier Reef Marine Park Authority through funding from the Australian Government Reef Program, the Reef 2050 Integrated Monitoring, and Reporting Program and AIMS. MMP Annual Report for inshore coral reef monitoring 2016 Contents 1 Executive Summary ........................................................................................................ 1 2 Preface ........................................................................................................................... 5 3 Introduction ..................................................................................................................... 6 4 Methods .......................................................................................................................... 9 4.1 Sampling design ........................................................................................................... 9 4.1.1 Site Selection .................................................................................................... 9 4.1.2 Depth Selection ............................................................................................... 11 4.1.3 Site marking .................................................................................................... 11 4.1.4 Sampling timing and frequency ........................................................................ 11 4.3 Environmental pressures ............................................................................................ 13 4.3.1 Water quality ................................................................................................. 13 4.3.2 Sea temperature .............................................................................................. 13 4.3.3 River discharge, DIN and TSS loads ............................................................... 14 4.3.4 Sediment sampling .......................................................................................... 14 4.3.5 SCUBA search transects ................................................................................. 14 4.4 Pressure presentation................................................................................................. 17 4.5 Coral community sampling ......................................................................................... 18 4.5.1 Photo point intercept transects ........................................................................ 18 4.5.2 Juvenile coral surveys ..................................................................................... 18 4.6 Coral reef data analysis and presentation ................................................................... 19 4.6.1 Variation in index and metric scores among Regions and depths .................... 19 4.6.2 Variation in index and metric scores to gradients in water quality .................... 20 4.6.3 Relationship between index and metric scores and regional discharge ........... 20 4.6.4 Temporal trends in coral index, indicators and measured water quality. .......... 20 4.6.5 Analysis of change in index and metric scores ................................................ 21 4.7 The Coral Index .......................................................................................................... 21 4.7.1 Coral Cover metric ........................................................................................... 21 4.7.2 Macroalgae metric ........................................................................................... 22 4.7.3 Density of juvenile hard corals metric .............................................................. 23 4.7.4 Cover Change metric ....................................................................................... 24 4.7.5 Community Composition metric ....................................................................... 26 4.7.6 Aggregating indicator scores to regional scale assessments ........................... 27 5 Results ......................................................................................................................... 29 5.1 Variation of coral index and indicator scores observed in 2016 ................................... 29 5.1.1 Regional differences ........................................................................................ 29 5.1.2 Effect of depth ................................................................................................. 30 5.1.3 Response to environmental gradients .............................................................. 31 5.1.4 Influence of discharge and catchment loads .................................................... 33 5.2 Regional condition of coral communities ..................................................................... 35 5.2.1 Wet Tropics Region: Barron Daintree sub-region ............................................. 35 5.2.2 Wet Tropics Region: Johnstone Russell-Mulgrave sub-region ......................... 39 5.2.3 Wet Tropics Region: Herbert Tully sub-region ................................................. 43 5.2.4 Burdekin Region .............................................................................................. 46 5.2.5 Mackay Whitsunday Region ............................................................................ 50 5.2.6 Fitzroy Region ................................................................................................. 54 i MMP Annual Report for inshore coral reef monitoring 2016 6 Discussion .................................................................................................................... 58 6.1 Pressures ................................................................................................................... 58 Acute disturbances ................................................................................................... 58 Chronic conditions - water quality ............................................................................. 59 6.2 Ecosystem State ......................................................................................................... 59 Coral index ............................................................................................................... 59 Coral cover ............................................................................................................... 61 Rate of change in coral cover ................................................................................... 61 Composition ............................................................................................................. 62 Macroalgae .............................................................................................................. 62 Juvenile density ........................................................................................................ 63 6.3 Regional summaries ................................................................................................... 63 Wet Tropics .............................................................................................................. 63 Burdekin ..................................................................................................................