Sponges, indicators of marine environmental health

1 Pages·1999·0.3 MB·

by  C N Battershill

50 MEMOIRS OF THE QUEENSLAND MUSEUM
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SPONGES, INDICATORS OF MARINE responses to sediment disruption from trawling and
ENVIRONMENTAL HEALTH. Memoirs of the sand mining, and responses to water quality change
QueenslandMuseum44: 50. 1999:-Thereisanurgent duringalgal bloom events.
need for marine ecosystem indicators to facilitate Marine environmental indicators are likely to take
management aimed at either ameliorating impacts or the form of well-defined ecotypes described by
guiding sustainable utilisation of marine resources. characterising species presence. These species have
We propose that qualitative and quantitative knownrangesoftolerancetoenvironmental variables
examination of marine benthic communities will Suchaslight,current, foodsupply,turbidity,BOD,and
provide robust indication of responses to short and sediment regime. They are by their very nature,
long term environmental conditions, and further relevantataregionallevelandwillbesetinthecontext
suggest that information exists which permits the ofabiogeographicclassificationforanycoastorshelf.
creation ofa hierarchy ofindicators for establishing Theycanbefurtherrefinedby interrogationofmodels
ecosystemhealthinaregionalcontext.Theseareinthe relating population structure of key species to
form ofidentifiable marine community assemblages, biological and physical attributes oftheenvironment.
togetherwith biomass and growth indicesdetermined O Porifera, growth, morphology, indicators,
from morphological parameters associated with the environmental health, marine resources, benthic
characterisingspecies foreachassemblage. Examples communities.
airnedicpartoovrisdbeydftoocudseimnognosntrsaptoengtehechsaernascitteirviitsyedocfosmumc-h CM Battershill* (email: c.battershill@/iiwa.cri.nz) & R.
unities. The composition ofassemblages and popul- Abraham, National Institute ofWater andAtmospheric
ationstatisticsofkeyspeciesreflectecosystemdisturb- Research, P.O. Box J4-901, Kilbirnie, Wellington, New
ances following catastrophic sediment deposition Zealand; *Presentaddress:AustralianInstituteof'Marine
followingcyclones,and inresponsetomorerecentand Science, PMB3, TownsvilleMC, Old, 4SI0,Australia; 1
relatively short-term impacts. The latter include June 199S.