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Ecological Assessment of the Flora and Fauna of Point Lookout Dive Sites North Stradbroke Island, QLD Australia

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Ecological Assessment of the Flora and Fauna of Point Lookout Dive Sites North Stradbroke Island, QLD Australia Ecological Assessment of the Flora and Fauna of Point Lookout Dive Sites North Stradbroke Island, QLD Australia Authors Chris Roelfsema, Ruth Thurstan, Jason Flower, Maria Beger, Michele Gallo, Jennifer Loder, Eva Kovacs, K-le Gomez Cabrera, Alexandra Lea, Juan Ortiz, Dunia Brunner, and Diana Kleine Ecological Assessment of the Flora and Fauna of Point Lookout Dive Sites, North Stradbroke Island, Queensland. Final Report This report should be cited as: Roelfsema C., R. Thurstan, J. Flower, M. Beger, M. Gallo, J. Loder, E. Kovacs, K. Gomez Cabrera, A. Lea, J. Ortiz, D. Brunner, and D. Kleine (2014). Ecological Assessment of the Flora and Fauna of Point Lookout Dive Sites, North Stradbroke Island, Queensland., UniDive, The University of Queensland Underwater Club, Brisbane, Australia. The views and interpretation expressed in this report are those of the authors and not necessarily those of contributing agencies and organisations. UniDive PLEA Final Report 12/12/2014 1 | Page UniDive PLEA Final Report 12/12/2014 2 | Page I see a majestic gliding turtle Like a bird of the ocean Go past colourful stinging coral The slimy fish like darts Miniscule bubbles rising fast That are like ocean toys I hear colossal waves forming A front flip splashing, shrill, bulking dolphin Diving through the salt water, croaking calmly A poem by Felix Pheasant 8 years old, the youngest PLEA participant to join us during the survey weekends.. This Report will give him a chance to enjoy “Straddie” as much as the volunteers did. UniDive PLEA Final Report 12/12/2014 3 | Page Table of Contents Table of Contents 4 List of Figures 5 List of Tables 6 List of Appendices 6 Acknowledgements 7 Core PLEA divers during training weekend in January and March 2014. 9 Executive Summary 10 1. Introduction 13 2. General Methods 15 2.1. Overview 15 2.2. Mapping 17 2.3. Fish Species and Families 18 2.4. Invertebrates 20 2.5. Substrate and Benthos 20 2.6. Reef Impacts 21 2.7. Species List 21 3. Results 22 3.1. Survey Considerations 22 3.2. Mapping 23 3.3. Fish 25 3.4. Invertebrates 29 3.5. Substrate and Benthos 30 3.6. Impacts 31 3.7. A Comparison of 2001 to 2014 Ecological Data 34 4. Discussion 39 4.1. Interpretation of Findings 39 4.2. Project and Data Limitations 40 5. Recommendations for Management and Community 42 5.1. Continued and improved monitoring of the Point Lookout dive sites. 42 5.2. Reducing Physical Damage to Corals 42 5.3. Community Engagement to Create Awareness of the Importance of the Reefs 43 5.4. Support conservation of the reefs by providing peer reviewed information. 44 6. References 45 7. Appendices 47 UniDive PLEA Final Report 12/12/2014 4 | Page List of Figures Figure 1: Point Lookout dive sites, North Stradbroke Island..The white box in the Moreton Bay Region (left panel) indicates the Point Lookout Dive sites at North Stradbroke Island. Approximate transect locations are indicated in yellow. Source image: Landsat Thematic Mapper 5, USGS. ......................................................................................................................................................... 15 Figure 2: Placement of the transect lines. ...................................................................................................... 16 Figure 3: Conceptual diagram of the georeferenced photo transects. ............................................... 17 Figure 4: Diagrammatic representation of the fish survey transects showing the imaginary frame of the diver's view. Fish outside of the diver's view were only counted if they subsequently entered the view eg manta ray. .............................................................................................. 18 Figure 5: Diagrammatic representation of the invertebrate and reef impact survey transects. Divers swam a 5m wide transect in a U‐shaped pattern along the transect tape. ....................... 20 Figure 6: Detail of substrate survey transects. At every 0.5m, using a plumb line to avoid bias, the benthic category located directly beneath the transect tape was recorded. .......................... 20 Figure 7: Prominent features at Shag Rock, North Stradbroke Island, Australia. The transect survey sites are indicated in yellow. ................................................................................................................ 23 Figure 8: Prominent features at Manta Ray Bommie, North Stradbroke Island, Australia. The transect survey site is indicated in yellow. .................................................................................................... 23 Figure 9: Updated map of prominent features at Flat Rock, North Stradbroke Island, Australia. The transect survey sites are indicated in yellow. ................................................................ 2 4 Figure 10: Average abundance of target fish families for the five sites surveyed excluding wrasses and damselfish (error bars indicate standard deviation). .................................................... 25 Figure 11: Average abundance of damselfish and wrasse families for the five sites surveyed. (error bars indicate standard deviation) ....................................................................................................... 26 Figure 12: Seasonal abundance of predators, tropical and subtropical corallivores and omnivores, invertivores and herbivores. (error bars indicate standard deviation) ................... 26 Figure 13: Average abundance of blue damsels at each of the five sites surveyed. (error bars indicate standard deviation) ................................................................................................................................ 27 Figure 14: Seasonal abundance of subtropical fish species. (error bars indicate standard deviation) ..................................................................................................................................................................... 27 Figure 15: Seasonal abundance of tropical fish species. (error bars indicate standard deviation) ..................................................................................................................................................................... 28 Figure 16: Site‐specific abundance of additional indicator fish species surveyed. (error bars indicate standard deviation) ................................................................................................................................ 28 Figure 17: Average abundance of indicator urchins for all sites. (error bars indicate standard deviation) ..................................................................................................................................................................... 29 Figure 18: Average number of indicator invertebrates for all sites. (error bars indicate standard deviation) ................................................................................................................................................. 29 Figure 19: Summary of substrate type for each season derived from analysis of benthic photos. ........................................................................................................................................................................... 31 Figure 20: Summary of substrate type averaged over the four seasons derived from photo analyses. ........................................................................................................................................................................ 31 Figure 21: Normalised cumulative abundance of reef health impacts weighted by coral cover per site across 2014 surveys. .............................................................................................................................. 32 Figure 22: Average abundance of reef health impacts per 100m² normalised for coral cover for each survey site by season. ............................................................................................................................ 33 Figure 23: Average coral health observed for each season. ................................................................... 34 UniDive PLEA Final Report 12/12/2014 5 | Page Figure 24: Comparison of the abundance of indicator urchins from 2001 to 2014 for the Point Lookout region. .............................................................................................................................................. 34 Figure 25: Mean abundance of target fish families for 2001 and 2014 for each of Shag Rock West, Shag Rock East, Flat Rock West and Flat Rock East dive sites. ................................................ 35 Figure 26: Mean abundance of target fish species for 2001 and 2014 for each of Shag Rock West, Shag Rock East, Flat Rock West and Flat Rock East dive sites. ................................................ 36 Figure 27: Substrate composition for 2001 and 2014 for each site. .................................................. 37 Figure 28: Substrate composition for the Point Lookout Region, calculated as an annual average for 2001 and 2014. (error bars indicate standard deviation) ............................................. 37 Figure 29: Comparison of the normalised average abundance of reef health impact categories that were recorded in both 2001 and 2014 studies. ........................................................... 38 Figure 30: Coral cover for 2001 and 2014 with possible scenarios as to what the coral cover could have been for the years in between. ...................................................................................................
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