Evidence of large, local variations in recruitment and mortality in the small giant clam, Tridacna maxima, at Ningaloo Marine Park, Western Australia
Robert Black A D , Michael S. Johnson A , Jane Prince A C , Anne Brearley B C and Todd Bond AA School of Animal Biology M092, University of Western Australia, 35 Stirling Highway, Crawley, WA 6009, Australia.
B School of Plant Biology, University of Western Australia, 35 Stirling Highway, Crawley, WA 6009, Australia.
C Oceans Institute, University of Western Australia, 35 Stirling Highway, Crawley, WA 6009, Australia.
D Corresponding author. Email: robert.black@uwa.edu.au
Marine and Freshwater Research 62(11) 1318-1326 https://doi.org/10.1071/MF11093
Submitted: 21 April 2011 Accepted: 3 August 2011 Published: 12 October 2011
Abstract
Understanding variability of recruitment and mortality is essential for attempts to conserve populations or assessing changes resulting from perceived disturbances. In the absence of long-term studies, we examined population density and size-frequency distributions of the small giant clam, Tridacna maxima, at 20 sites in Ningaloo Marine Park, Western Australia, where the clams are abundant on discontinuous, intertidal rocky platforms attached to the shoreline. Density ranged over two orders of magnitude (0.04–8.27 m–2), and size ranged from 1.5 to 31.0 cm. The shapes of the size-frequency distributions varied substantially, indicating variability in recruitment and mortality, including failures of cohorts to recruit and catastrophic events of mortality. Consistency of recruitment, as indexed by the coefficient of variation of the size-frequency distribution, was greater towards the north of the Park, on intertidal platforms with greater complexity across their widths, and with smoother surfaces in the part of the platform occupied by the clams. The average turnover time was estimated at 5.4 years, giving a median age of 13 years. However, variation among sites was large, highlighting the importance of variability of the dynamics of local populations and the need for long-term studies to understand any particular population.
Additional keywords: demographic variability, intertidal platforms, marine conservation, population density, size-frequency distributions.
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