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Seagrass Biodiversity Surveys in Yankalilla Bay Jason Tanner and Mandee Theil SARDI Publication No. F2016/000099-1 SARDI Research Report Series No. 890 SARDI Aquatics Sciences PO Box 120 Henley Beach SA 5022 April 2016 Final report prepared for the Adelaide and Mount Lofty Ranges Natural Resources Management Board Tanner, J. & Theil, M. (2016) Yankalilla Seagrass Biodiversity Seagrass Biodiversity Surveys in Yankalilla Bay Final report prepared for the Adelaide and Mount Lofty Ranges Natural Resources Management Board Jason Tanner and Mandee Theil SARDI Publication No. F2016/000099-1 SARDI Research Report Series No. 890 April 2016 II Tanner, J. & Theil, M. (2016) Yankalilla Seagrass Biodiversity This publication may be cited as: Tanner, J.E., and Theil, M.J. (2016). Seagrass biodiversity surveys in Yankalilla Bay. Final report prepared for the Adelaide and Mount Lofty Ranges Natural Resources Management Board. South Australian Research and Development Institute (Aquatic Sciences), Adelaide. SARDI Publication No. F2016/000099-1. SARDI Research Report Series No. 890. 33pp. South Australian Research and Development Institute SARDI Aquatic Sciences 2 Hamra Avenue West Beach SA 5024 Telephone: (08) 8207 5400 Facsimile: (08) 8207 5406 http://www.pir.sa.gov.au/research DISCLAIMER The authors warrant that they have taken all reasonable care in producing this report. The report has been through the SARDI internal review process, and has been formally approved for release by the Research Chief, Aquatic Sciences. Although all reasonable efforts have been made to ensure quality, SARDI does not warrant that the information in this report is free from errors or omissions. SARDI does not accept any liability for the contents of this report or for any consequences arising from its use or any reliance placed upon it. The SARDI Report Series is an Administrative Report Series which has not been reviewed outside the department and is not considered peer-reviewed literature. Material presented in these Administrative Reports may later be published in formal peer-reviewed scientific literature. © 2016 SARDI This work is copyright. Apart from any use as permitted under the Copyright Act 1968 (Cth), no part may be reproduced by any process, electronic or otherwise, without the specific written permission of the copyright owner. Neither may information be stored electronically in any form whatsoever without such permission. Printed in Adelaide: April 2016 SARDI Publication No. F2016/000099-1 SARDI Research Report Series No. 890 Author(s): Jason Tanner and Mandee Theil Reviewer(s): Kathryn Wiltshire and Ana Redondo Rodriguez Approved by: A/Prof Qifeng Ye Science Leader – Inland Waters & Catchment Ecology Signed: Date: 5 April 2016 Distribution: Adelaide and Mount Lofty Ranges Natural Resources Management Board, SAASC Library, University of Adelaide Library, Parliamentary Library, State Library and National Library Circulation: Public Domain III Tanner, J. & Theil, M. (2016) Yankalilla Seagrass Biodiversity TABLE OF CONTENTS LIST OF FIGURES ............................................................................................................... V LIST OF TABLES ................................................................................................................ VII ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS .................................................................................................. VIII EXECUTIVE SUMMARY ...................................................................................................... 1 1. INTRODUCTION ........................................................................................................... 2 1.1. Background............................................................................................................. 2 1.2. Objectives ............................................................................................................... 3 2. METHODS ..................................................................................................................... 4 2.1. Site selection .......................................................................................................... 4 2.2. Fauna and Flora Survey.......................................................................................... 6 2.3. Data analysis .......................................................................................................... 7 3. RESULTS ...................................................................................................................... 9 3.1. Seagrass structure and habitat condition ................................................................ 9 3.2. Infauna .................................................................................................................. 11 3.3. Epifauna ............................................................................................................... 16 3.4. Fish and Larger Invertebrates ............................................................................... 20 4. DISCUSSION .............................................................................................................. 23 REFERENCES ................................................................................................................... 27 APPENDIX 1: INFAUNAL TAXA COLLECTED AT YANKALILLA BAY. NUMBERS ARE THE SUM OVER 8 CORES ON EACH TRANSECT. .................................................................. 29 APPENDIX 2: EPIFAUNAL TAXA COLLECTED AT YANKALILLA BAY. NUMBERS ARE THE SUM OVER 8 CORES ON EACH TRANSECT. .................................................................. 31 APPENDIX 3: LARGE INVERTEBRATES COLLECTED AT YANKALILLA BAY. NUMBERS ARE THE TOTAL NUMBER OF INDIVIDUALS/COLONIES ON EACH 50 M TRANSECT.. 33 IV Tanner, J. & Theil, M. (2016) Yankalilla Seagrass Biodiversity LIST OF FIGURES Figure 1: Map of Yankalilla Bay showing the 2009 mega-transect lines (red) and the 2015 transects (blue) surveyed for seagrass fauna, overlaid on broader scale DEWNR habitat mapping. ............................................................................................................................... 5 Figure 2: Dendrogram showing the results of an average linkage hierarchical cluster analysis on habitat cover along line intercept transects in Yankalilla Bay. Horizontal line indicates groupings at a similarity of 55% (A - Amphibolis, M - Mixed seagrass, P - Posidonia). .......... 9 Figure 3: Principal coordinates analysis of seagrass structural characteristics (SGdw – Seagrass dry weight, Epidw – Epiphyte dry weight). ........................................................... 11 Figure 4. Infaunal abundance (upper panel) and taxonomic richness (lower panel) in different habitats in Yankalilla Bay. A - Amphibolis, M - Mixed Amphibolis and Posidonia, P - Posidonia, S - Sand. ............................................................................................................................. 12 Figure 5: Canonical analysis of principal coordinates plot showing discrimination between infaunal assemblages in different habitats in Yankalilla Bay. A - Amphibolis, M - Mixed Amphibolis and Posidonia, P - Posidonia, S - Sand. Biplot on right shows taxa with correlations >0.5 (taxa in the lower left are Ophiuroidea, Nematoda, Syllidae, Glyceridae and Hesionidae). ........................................................................................................................ 13 Figure 6: Species accumulation curves (solid symbols) and predicted total number of taxa using the Chao 2 estimator (hollow symbols) for infauna in Yankalilla Bay. ......................... 14 Figure 7: Typical examples of infauna found at Yankalilla Bay. From left to right and top to bottom: Amphipods – Ampithoinae, Aoridae, Lysianassidae, Phoxocephalidae; Isopod – Janiridae; Ostracod – Cylindroleberididae; Polychaetes – Clyceridae, Hesionidae, Nereididae, Opheliidae, Spionidae. ........................................................................................................ 15 Figure 8: Epifaunal abundance (upper panel) and taxonomic richness (lower panel) in different habitats in Yankalilla Bay. A - Amphibolis, M - Mixed Amphibolis and Posidonia, P - Posidonia. ........................................................................................................................... 16 Figure 9: Canonical analysis of principal coordinates plot showing discrimination between epifaunal assemblages in different habitats in Yankalilla Bay. A - Amphibolis, M - Mixed Amphibolis and Posidonia, P - Posidonia. Biplot on right shows taxa with correlations >0.6 (obscured taxa on the left are Lysianassidae, Nereididae and Syllidae). ............................. 17 Figure 10: Species accumulation curves (solid symbols) and predicted total number of taxa using the Chao 2 estimator (hollow symbols) for epifauna in Yankalilla Bay. ....................... 18 Figure 11: Typical examples of epifauna found at Yankalilla Bay. From left to right and top to bottom: Amphipods – Aoridae, Maeridae; Isopods – Anthuridae, Cirolanidae Janiridae; Tanaid – Leptochelidae; Pycnogonid; Polychaetes – Dorvilleidae, Nereididae, Syllidae; Mollusacs – Ischnochitonidae, Trochidae. .............................................................................................. 19 V Tanner, J. & Theil, M. (2016) Yankalilla Seagrass Biodiversity Figure 12: Large Invertebrate abundance (upper panel) and taxonomic richness (lower panel) in different habitats in Yankalilla