1 / 12

Alan Duckworth, Carsten Wolff, Elizabeth Evans-Illidge, Stephan Whalan and Stanley Lui

Spatial variability in community structure of Dictyoceratid sponges across Torres Strait, Australia. Alan Duckworth, Carsten Wolff, Elizabeth Evans-Illidge, Stephan Whalan and Stanley Lui Australian Institute of Marine Science Torres Strait Regional Authority CRC Torres Strait.

eunice
Download Presentation

Alan Duckworth, Carsten Wolff, Elizabeth Evans-Illidge, Stephan Whalan and Stanley Lui

An Image/Link below is provided (as is) to download presentation Download Policy: Content on the Website is provided to you AS IS for your information and personal use and may not be sold / licensed / shared on other websites without getting consent from its author. Content is provided to you AS IS for your information and personal use only. Download presentation by click this link. While downloading, if for some reason you are not able to download a presentation, the publisher may have deleted the file from their server. During download, if you can't get a presentation, the file might be deleted by the publisher.

E N D

Presentation Transcript

  1. Spatial variability in community structure of Dictyoceratid sponges across Torres Strait, Australia Alan Duckworth, Carsten Wolff, Elizabeth Evans-Illidge, Stephan Whalan and Stanley Lui Australian Institute of Marine Science Torres Strait Regional Authority CRC Torres Strait

  2. Four locations, 50 to 220 km apart

  3. Survey methods • At each location, 5-7 sites, 2 km apart • At each site, 4 x 100 m2 transects, 5-15 m deep on reef • Record every dictyoceratid sponge • Record environmental factors: substrate type and slope, visibility

  4. 25 dictyoceratid species, known and unknown Dysidea herbacea Carteriospongia flabellifera Hyrtios reticulata Phyllospongia lamellosa Phyllospongia papyracea Ircinia ramosa Coscinoderma sp. Dysidea sp. 3 Ircinia sp. 4

  5. Species Richness • No dictyoceratid species found at all four locations • 12 of 25 species found at only one location Richness among locations: P=0.02

  6. Mean abundance of all dictyoceratid sponges

  7. Dendrogram showing similarity of dictyoceratid communities among sites B=Badu T=Thursday Y=Yorke D=Darnley Numbers=sites 7 clusters, sites similar… within a location between neighbouring locations between locations 100’s km apart

  8. CCA plot showing distribution to environmental factors Distribution and abundance patterns only partially explained by environmental factors

  9. Environmental factors Among locations rock varied, highest at Darnley and Yorke rubble varied, highest at Badu and Thursday sand similar Reef slope, survey depth and water visibility also similar Among sites(locations) Rock, rubble, sand, slope, depth and visibility all varied

  10. Conclusions • Abundance patterns can vary greatly between neighbouring sites • Species richness can vary greatly between neighbouring locations • Complex dictyoceratid community structure • Similar patterns between neighbouring sites and among sites 100’s km apart • Great variation between neighbouring sites 2 km apart • Measured environmental factors only partially explain distribution patterns • Spatial variation of dictyoceratid sponges in Torres Strait influenced by a combination of environmental, biological and stochastic processes

More Related