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RESEARCH ARTICLE
Contents Vol 61(10)

Assessment of the benthic biota of a deep coastal ecosystem by remote and in situ sampling techniques

Kris I. Waddington A C , Jessica J. Meeuwig A , Scott N. Evans B and Lynda M. Bellchambers B
+ Author Affiliations
- Author Affiliations

A M470 Centre for Marine Futures, The University of Western Australia, 35 Stirling Highway, Crawley, WA 6009, Australia.

B Department of Fisheries Western Australia, PO Box 20, North Beach, WA 6920, Australia.

C Corresponding author. Email: Kris.Waddington@uwa.edu.au

Marine and Freshwater Research 61(10) 1164-1170 https://doi.org/10.1071/MF09273
Submitted: 26 October 2009  Accepted: 17 May 2010   Published: 14 October 2010

Abstract

Deep coastal ecosystems (>35 m) occur on the continental shelf of many regions and are poorly understood relative to shallow-water ecosystems. These ecosystems frequently support commercially important benthic-associated species, such as the western rock lobster – the most valuable single-species fishery in Australia. We used remote (towed video) and in situ (diver collection) sampling techniques to investigate the benthic biota of deep coastal ecosystems along the temperate west coast of Australia. We tested the hypotheses that (1) there is no difference in benthic assemblage structure between shallow and deep coastal ecosystems, (2) there is no difference in benthic assemblage structure between locations, and (3) both sampling techniques provide comparable descriptions of benthic assemblages. Deep coastal ecosystems were found to have significant algal and sponge assemblages, suggesting that a reduction in irradiance with depth is not constraining algal distribution. Differences in sponge, algal and macroinvertebrate community composition were detected at a regional scale between study locations. Both sampling techniques identified differences in the composition of benthic assemblages according to location, and yielded similar outcomes with respect to sponge and algal assemblages, suggesting that a single method of habitat classification can be used in future studies to determine broad scale patterns in benthic assemblage composition.

Additional keywords: algae, diver sampling, habitat classification, macroalgae, sponges, temperate, towed video.


Acknowledgements

The authors thank the divers, Dovid Clarke and Jeremiah Shultz, and the skipper and crew of ‘Southern Image’. Jane Fromont identified many of the sponges collected during this study. Helpful comments regarding the analyses used in this manuscript were provided by Pierre Legendre. Feedback from two anonymous reviewers greatly improved the manuscript. Funding for this research was provided by the Fisheries Research and Development Corporation (FRDC 2004/049), the School of Plant Biology at the University of Western Australia, and the Centre for Marine Futures at the University of Western Australia.


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