This work assessed the coral reef fish community associated with a macroalgal bed of a tropical ecosystem. The study areas act as important nursery and feeding grounds for reef fish of adjacent coral reefs. Environmental awareness and law enforcement are necessary for mitigating tourism impact in this important habitat.

Changes in the quantity and quality of food may be an important, though often ignored, problem for consumers in polluted streams. This is one of the first studies to examine the role that food quantity and quality play for invertebrates in mine-impacted streams, and found that food availability was likely to be an issue for predators but not primary consumers. Our results add a new bottom-up perspective to the understanding of food webs in mine-impacted streams and will also likely have consequences for food webs downstream and in adjacent ecosystems.

The western coast of the Iberian Peninsula has high biological diversity, mainly due to coastal upwelling. The response of thermohaline properties to upwelling events was analysed at two estuarine systems over a year. Results suggest that geomorphological characteristics of system–ocean boundaries determine how physical processes occurring in adjacent coastal areas affect estuarine properties.

Impacts of trawling on bycatch species of soft bottom habitats and current biodiversity management was evaluated in Shark Bay, Western Australia. Spatial and temporal variability in faunal assemblages were investigated for sites with varied levels of trawl intensity; impacts from environmental factors outweighed those of trawl intensity. Long term trawl impacts can be mitigated by restricting trawling within current trawl areas.

For many fish populations, reproductive patterns remain unknown, which often results in inadequate management strategies. In this study, we analysed the main reproductive patterns of the ballan wrasse (Labrus bergylta), including the reproductive cycle, maturity and sex change, and found outstanding differences between plain and spotted-body-coloured individuals. The results are directly useful for fisheries management and, as a precautionary measure, we recommend considering both colour patterns as different management units.

Seagrass-derived organic matter can play an important role as food sources for consumers living in and around seagrass habitats. Stable isotope and fatty acid analyses were used to examine trophic transfers within a seagrass bed and its adjacent subtidal and/or intertidal habitats. Our results showed that epiphytes and benthic microalgae served as major nutritional sources for consumer production in the seagrass and the adjacent intertidal habitats.

Bridled terns breed on the islands of south-western Australia. The chemical composition of their tail feathers was analysed to see whether the source of their food changed during the breeding season. We found that after the eggs hatched, the terns fed closer to land than at other times, which links their reproductive success to the abundance of coastal fish.