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Parks Victoria Research Partners Panel Project Summary Report
The conservation status of reef fish communities in Victorian
waters
Background
Within natural environments there are many naturally rare species, yet
most research tends to focus on species which are common. Naturally rare
species are likely to differ in fundamental ways from their more common
relatives and may therefore require different management protocols.
Understanding how rare species differ from common species and how
naturally rare species persist despite their low densities may offer
information that can be used to reverse population declines of threatened
species or assist the development of strategies to prevent decline of rare
species into a threatened species status.
Aims
• To investigate correlations in fish between abundance and body size,
geographical range size and degree of habitat specialisation across
multiple sites.
Results
• Fish-habitat associations were strongly dependant on scale, with large
bodied fish only displaying strong correlations when measured over
large areas.
• At larger scales, currents, temperatures and habitat discontinuities
explained faunal breaks near Ninety Mile Beach and between Cape
Conran and Cape Howe.
• At the largest scale investigated, body size placed a constraint on
abundance and geographic range size.
• No effect on fish assemblage composition or individual species
abundance was found between protected and non-protected areas.
Implications
• This research provides Parks Victoria with a better understanding of
factors which affect marine fish community structure.
• Adding Baited Remote Underwater Video (BRUV) to Underwater Visual
Census (UVC) methods improves the sampling of fish populations.
Relevant parks and ecosystems
Marengo Reefs Marine Sanctuary,
Barwon Bluff Marine Sanctuary,
Wilsons Promontory Marine National
Park, Beware Reef Marine Sanctuary,
Cape Howe Marine National Park
Subtidal Reef.
More information
Contact Science and Management
Effectiveness Branch, Parks Victoria
on 13 1963
Publications
Colton, M.A. 2011. Patterns in the
Abundance and Distribution of Reef
Fishes in South Eastern Australia. PhD
Thesis, University of Melbourne.
Colton, M.A. and S.E. Swearer. 2012.
Locating faunal breaks in the
nearshore fish assemblage of Victoria,
Australia. Marine and Freshwater
Research 63: 218–231.
Colton, M.A. and S.E. Swearer. 2010.
A comparison of two survey methods:
differences between underwater
visual census and baited remote
underwater video. Marine EcologyProgress Series 400:19-36.
Colton, M.A. and S.E. Swearer. 2009.
The conservation status of reef fish
communities in Victorian waters. Final
Project Report, Regional Catchment
Investment Plan. Port Phillip and
Western Port Catchment.
Left: BRUVS unit for monitoring fish populations, photo credit - Madhavi Colton. Right: mado, photo credit - Mark Norman