National Marine Science Plan Biodiversity Conservation and Ecosystem Health White Paper: Pelagic Ecosystems Contributors so far: Jess Melbourne-Thomas Beth Fulton Al Gabric Karen Evans Kerrie Swadling Marcus Sheaves Jessica Meeuwig Overall objectives and considerations: Address key issues of Biodiversity Conservation and Ecosystem Health as identified in “Marine Nation 2025” relating to discovery and description of biodiversity, functional understanding, environmental monitoring, and changes in biodiversity as a result of human intervention. Provide high-level input and have the bigger picture in mind; Recognise links with other themes, such as Food Security, Dealing with climate change, Optimal resource allocation, Urban coastal environments and Infrastructure. Excerpt from Marine Nation 2025: Biodiversity Conservation and Ecosystem Health Australia is a world-leader in biodiversity conservation, with internationally renowned marine protected areas such as the Great Barrier Reef and Ningaloo Reef, and the largest representative network of marine reserves in the world covers over a third of Commonwealth waters. Our primary environmental legislation, the Environmental Protection and Biodiversity Conservation Act (1999) establishes a robust legal framework to provide protection for the environment while at the same time allowing sustainable economic development. Frameworks such as Australia’s Biodiversity Conservation Strategy 2010–203020 and Commonwealth marine bioregional plans21 provide clear guidance to support future conservation and management of the marine environment. Nevertheless, critical gaps in knowledge about biodiversity, ecosystem function and processes limit the evidence base to support decision-making for biodiversity conservation. This is especially true in understanding the cumulative impact of, and management options for multiple stressors. Part of this evidence base will be built by focusing marine research on three key areas over the next 10–20 years: discovery, monitoring and decision-support tools. Marine biodiversity is virtually unknown in vast areas of Australia’s oceans. Every new voyage of discovery describes new species (typically 50 per cent of species recovered in deep water surveys are new to science) and habitats. Seabed environments in these areas are also poorly known and recent surveys have even found undocumented seamounts as large as Mount Kosciusko. The vast, deep and remote Southern Ocean holds unseen assemblages of life and remains very poorly understood. Understanding how marine biodiversity is distributed, the key ecological interactions and processes supporting biodiversity, how pressures are distributed and are changing and how marine species and ecosystems respond to cumulative pressures is essential to effectively manage competing uses of the marine estate while simultaneously protecting the biodiversity and ecosystem services that support those uses. A fundamental limitation to effective marine management in Australia (with the notable exception of single-species fisheries management) is the lack of adequate, robust baseline information and clear measureable objectives22. Very few marine areas have been mapped or described adequately to allow assessment of change23. An added complexity is that marine systems are already changing irreversibly in response to global climate change meaning that in many areas we cannot return to earlier baselines or even expect to stay on the current baseline. Robust, innovative and cost-effective characterisation of the unmapped areas of our marine estate, coupled with monitoring at a national scale is required to evaluate and report on the ecosystem health of our oceans, the state of our marine biodiversity, the effectiveness of marine protected areas and the social and economic benefits of our marine environment. Well designed and comprehensive monitoring can underpin a national debate on what we want from the marine environment and how to achieve it. The National Plan for Environmental Information sets out the minimum needs for baseline information in the marine environment. The Integrated Marine Observing System (IMOS) provides part of the underlying framework to support ecological monitoring. Sustainable regional development and ecosystem-based management rely on simultaneous consideration of harvesting and extraction of natural resources (for food as well as energy security and mining), maritime trade and transport, cultural services (indigenous values, recreation and tourism), climate change and variability and the provision of other ecosystem services (e.g. coastal protection, nutrient cycling). This requires sophisticated tools and data management to integrate and evaluate information on biodiversity, systems processes, cumulative impacts and values to provide clear scenarios and options for marine industries and biodiversity conservation under alternative future management regimes. Innovative and cost effective ways to predict how biodiversity, ecosystems, society and the economy might change under future scenarios at the appropriate scale while understanding the limits of our predictive capacity will provide the basis for more effective management to support biodiversity conservation and sustainable resource use. Whtie papers will be on the following: Topic Lead contact Benthic ecosystems (all bioregions) gary.kendrik@uwa.edu.au Biosecurity/Marine invasive species mccampbell@waikato.ac.nz Climate change impacts Elvira.Poloczanska@csiro.au Discovering, predicting, and monitoring biodiversity Nic.Bax@csiro.au Documentation, curating and systematics of marine biodiversity Pat.Hutchings@austmus.gov.au Ecosystem Health Ecosystem services Ecosystem-based management beth.fulton@csiro.au Estuarine ecosystems colinmwnrm@bigpond.com Marine biotechnology josephbaker7@hotmail.com Marine protected areas rkenchin@uow.edu.au Microbial processes Martina.Doblin@uts.edu.au Pelagic ecosystems (all bioregions) Andrew.Constable@aad.gov.au Vertebrate conservation (including TEPS) Peter.Harrison@scu.edu.au National Marine Science Plan Biodiversity Conservation and Ecosystem Health White Paper: Pelagic Ecosystems Abstract (100 words) Background (1 page max) Who does the work in Australia (institutions, # research scientists involved): Institutions Key contacts Maturity (brief history of pelagic ecosystem research): Mostly centred around studies of pelagic predators either currently harvested or harvested in the past and now protected Research into pelagic systems (other than predators) largely focused on physical rather than biological systems Success of the research (how it rates internationally (ERA or like metrics) if these metrics are available) Biology supporting fisheries management of pelagic species reasonably mature Physical systems quite well known – complex climate models developed, spatial resolution improving and some models can now resolve mesoscale and submesoscale processes (note, however that current climate models have systematic biases particularly in the western Pacific which limit their ability to resolve processes in this region, and provide reliable projects of the physical systems of this region in the short-medium term in relation to ENSO and longer term in relation to climate change) Current funding (who funds this work currently) Fisheries research on pelagic systems largely funded through RFMOs, aid programs, small amounts of fisheries management support (e.g. assessment support to CCSBT) funded through DAFF Relevance (1 page max) Who are the end users who benefit/will benefit from this research (directly or indirectly). national and regional fisheries management agencies fishing industry national populations (via food security, development of regional sustainable management, sustainable development of on-shore industries associated with fisheries) Current uptake of research (Evidence indicating end-user engagement - if available). Fisheries related research taken up by RFMOs (e.g. management procedure for SBT developed by CSIRO and implemented by CCSBT, movement data collected by CSIRO led to new spatial structure incorporated into WCPFC stock assessment for swordfish) Science needs (2 pages) Key science gaps/needs/challenges 1. General features and characteristics and stressors on the pelagic zone (global) The oceanic pelagic ecosystem is by far the largest on Earth (Angel 1993) The oceans are under pressure from human activities. Following 250 years of industrial activity, effects are being seen at the cellular through to regional and global scales.(Rees 2012) In marine ecosystems, rising atmospheric CO2 and climate change are associated with concurrent shifts in temperature, circulation, stratification, nutrient input, oxygen content, and ocean acidification, with potentially wide-ranging biological effects (Doney et al. 2012) Current levels of overfishing, pollution and increases in greenhouse gases are causing comparably great changes to ocean environments and ecosystems. Some of these changes are potentially reversible on very short time scales, but warming and ocean acidification will intensify before they decline even with immediate reduction in emissions(Jackson 2010) The impacts of anthropogenic climate change so far include decreased ocean productivity, altered food web dynamics, reduced abundance of habitat-forming species, shifting species distributions, and a greater incidence of disease(Hoegh-Guldberg and Bruno 2010) Fewer protected areas exist in the pelagic ocean than any other ecosystem on Earth (Game et al. 2009) Aggregations of organisms, ranging from zooplankton to whales, are an extremely common phenomenon in the pelagic zone (Ritz et al. 2011) The latitudinal gradient of decreasing richness from tropical to extratropical areas is ecology's longest recognized pattern. Nonetheless, notable exceptions to the general pattern exist, and it is well recognized that patterns may be dependent on characteristics of spatial scale and taxonomic hierarchy (Willig et al. 2003) Poleward declines in species diversity [latitudinal diversity gradients (LDG)] remain among the oldest and most widespread of macroecological patterns. However, their contemporary dynamics remain largely unexplored even though changing ecological conditions, including global change, may modify LDG and their respective ecosystems.(Fisher et al. 2008) Vertical connectivity among fishes across classical depth zones is prevalent– suggesting that a whole-water column approach is warranted for deep ocean conservation and management (Sutton 2013) Primary Production Satellite remote sensing provides the only means of estimating NPP at basin and global scales. A variety of satellite-based models for estimation of net primary production exist spanning a wide range of complexity(Westberry and Behrenfeld 2014) Global marine primary production appears to have increased over the past several decades in association with multi-decadal variations (Chavez et al. 2011) Recent temporal patterns in regional and global net primary production, and projections for net marine primary production over the next century (Finkel 2014). The effect of ocean warming on marine plankton depends on the nutrient regime, and provide a mechanistic basis for understanding global change in marine ecosystems(Lewandowska et al. 2014) Phenological changes of oceanic phytoplankton in the 1980s and 2000s as revealed by remotely sensed ocean-color observations(D'Ortenzio et al. 2012) Higher trophic levels Changes in potential fish production are shown to most strongly mirror changes in phytoplankton production. Results suggest declines of 30–60% in potential fish production across some important areas of tropical shelf and upwelling seas(Blanchard et al. 2012) Microzooplankton grazing in the oceans: impacts, data variability, knowledge gaps and future directions (Schmoker et al. 2013) A major shift in size composition and indices of species abundance and community biomass accompanied the start of fishing. The largest and most abundant predators, such as sharks and large tunas, suffered the greatest declines in abundance (21% on average)(Ward and Myers 2005). Tropical pelagic ecosystems possess a complex structure whereby several waist groups and alternate trophic pathways from primary producers to apex predators can cause unpredictable effects when the biomasses of particular functional groups are altered(Griffiths et al. 2013) 2. Australia Little known of the pelagic ecosystems supporting many harvested pelagic species Little known of the connectivity of widely dispersed pelagic predators (tunas, billfish, sharks, cetaceans) that utilise Australian waters with adjacent waters and regional populations – this has implications for (and is currently hampering) development of harvest strategies for pelagic species, conservation management for species (populations) and development of protected areas that are relevant and robust for meeting MPA goals. Little known of the population parameters of a number of pelagic species protected under the EPBC Act (e.g. sharks, cetaceans) and several major data gaps that need addressing for current recovery plans (e.g. fin whales, sei whales) Robust projections of the influence of short to medium-term environmental variability and longer-term climate change on pelagic predators and the ecosystems that support them lacking Robust understanding of the coupling of water mass dynamics to the biogeochemistry of pelagic regions and higher trophic levels Establish key components of pelagic ecosystems and provide robust estimates of the abundance of key functional groups in the food webs of pelagic ecosystems Development of robust ecosystem models capable of investigating the responses of pelagic ecosystems to external drivers such as climate and fishing and for evaluating management and adaptation strategies that might be implemented (and their effectiveness). Australian Bioregions Phytoplankton dynamics in shelf waters around Australia (Blondeau-Patissier et al. 2011) A workshop on the Coral Sea to determine key research findings and identify the research gaps needed to support sustainable management of a proposed Coral Sea Marine Reserve(Young et al. 2012) Pelagic metabolism in the waters of the Great Barrier Reef (McKinnon et al. 2013) Tasman Sea primary production (Hassler et al. 2014) Contrasting local retention and cross-shore transports of the East Australian Current and the Leeuwin Current and their relative influences on the life histories of small pelagic fishes(Condie et al. 2011) Changes in the strength of the EAC (Suthers et al. 2011) Defining dynamic pelagic habitats in oceanic waters off eastern Australia(Hobday et al. 2011) Primary production and phytoplankton community structure off Western Australia(Lourey et al. 2013) Impacts of climate-change induced changes in primary productivity in Tasmanian waters(Watson et al. 2013) Impacts of CC on fisheries in SE Australian waters (Frusher et al. 2014) Great Australian Bight trophodynamics (Goldsworthy et al. 2013) Continental-Marine Interactions Atmospheric transport and deposition of mineral dust to the ocean: implications for research needs(Schulz et al. 2012; Bhattachan and D'Odorico 2014). The most important uncertainties in understanding the relative importance of different atmospheric nutrients are poorly understood speciation and solubility of Fe as well as the N:Fe ratio of diazotrophic organisms (Okin et al. 2011) Likelihood of dust stimulation of phytoplankton blooms around Australia (Cropp et al. 2013) Simulation of chlorophyll and iron supplies in the Sub Antarctic Zone South of Australia (Mongin et al. 2011) Subantarctic phytoplankton blooms are thus driven by both seasonal iron supply from southward advection of subtropical waters and by wind-blown dust deposition, resulting in a strong decoupling of iron and nutrient cycles(Bowie et al. 2009). Evidence for a large-scale natural dust fertilization event in the Australian sector of the Southern Ocean (Gabric et al. 2010) Coastal Pelagic Ecosystems (particularly in the tropics) Coastal pelagic ecosystems sit at the interface between land and ocean They are the places where terrestrial/freshwater nutrients are trapped as the pass to marine ecosystems (Wolanski et al. 1998, Wolanski & Spagnol 2003), and uploaded into marine foodwebs (Furnas et al. 2005) forming rich estuarine and nearshore coastal environments, that provide critical nursery grounds for many species. The vast majority terrestrial/freshwater productivity passes through pelagic food webs (Furnas et al. 2005) and these are critical to the response of coastal waters (e.g. GBR) to changes to anthropogenic nutrient input Pelagic food webs more important as nutrients from land increase (Gehrke 2007) The pelagic environment is a critical component of nursery ground value (Sheaves et al. 2014). It is the habitat of larval fish of most species. In it they spend their early life-history feeding off pelagic food sources and use the pelagic as the medium for migrating to juvenile habitats (many refs) Besides obvious components (e.g. Spanish mackerel) inshore pelagic exploited species (e.g. queenfish, trevally) have almost know biological or ecological knowledge (e.g. only juvenile Scomberoides lysan and S. tol ever recorded from tropical coastal waters) (Sheaves et al. 2013). Such species (e.g. queenfish, trevally, small coastal tuna) these are incredibly important targets for recreational fishers and many of these recreationally important species are a large, unrecorded bycatch of coastal gill net fisheries. This is important because impacts of fishing on pelagic ecosystems can propogate throughout coastal ecosystems (Cury et al. 2000, Duarte & Garcıa 2004). These are also key predators of juvenile fish recruiting to coastal nurseries (Baker & Sheaves 2005) so understanding their dynamics is important As with the larger species we have very poor knowledge of the biology and ecologic pelagic baitfish (e.g. herrings) even though they are key components in integrating nutrients into food webs and vital forage species for commercial and recreational species (Baker) that are overwhelmingly fish feeders Pelagic fishes and sharks Summary from A Marine Climate Change Impacts and Adaptation Report Card for Australia 2012 (Eds. E.S. Poloczanska, A.J. Hobday and A.J. Richardson) Retrieved from www.oceanclimatechange.org.au (Hobday et al. Pelagic fishes and sharks) Pelagic fishes and sharks occupy surface waters from the coast to the open ocean. There are ~260 pelagic species around Australia. While some of the most well known are the large offshore apex predators such as tunas, billfish and sharks, the mid-trophic level small pelagic species, such as sardines, anchovies, and squids, are critical to ecosystem function. In Australia, both small and large pelagic species have high ecological, economic and social value. Observed impacts of climate change are restricted to changes in local abundance and distribution, particularly southward range extensions. Little is known regarding changes in phenology, physiology or community structure. In future, general ocean warming around Australia and in particular on the east coast, in combination with predicted strengthening of the East Australian Current, is likely to see the distribution of a range of pelagic species extend southwards from present limits. Recent years have seen a number of reports of fish detected south of their typical range limits on the east coast. On the west coast, changes in the strength of the Leeuwin Current are likely to have major implications for the distribution and abundance of some species, including western Australian salmon and Australian herring in waters off South Australia. Recent extreme events on the west coast have also seen pelagic species reported far to the south of their normal distribution. Changes in productivity, for example due to increased coastal upwelling, may lead to increases in abundance of some species, particularly of small coastal pelagic fishes, such as sardines and anchovy, in the upwelling system between Cape Otway and the central Great Australian Bight. Confidence in observed impacts is generally low to medium as observed changes are limited. Similarly, confidence in future impacts is also generally low to medium, as lack of data on observed impacts makes prediction difficult. Impacts on sharks are poorly known compared to teleost fishes. Overall, impacts in southern Australia are more commonly reported than in northern Australia. Knowledge gaps include an absence of information on species habitat tolerances and methods to detect changes. Recent efforts to develop empirical models for future prediction of species ranges and potential abundance changes are in agreement with earlier projections (Report Card 2009). The adaptation potential is high for many species because of significant opportunity for large-scale movements of most pelagic species, and thus the main impacts are likely to be localized changes in the composition of pelagic fish community. The impact of such changes in community composition is unknown. To address knowledge gaps, focused regional studies on the relationship between climate variables and the distribution and abundance of species of high interest are one way to improve understanding of the potential impacts of climate change. Predictive modelling at appropriate scales is also reliant on downscaled climate models, which can generate a range of environmental variables at the scale of individual fish movements. There are 323 species of chondrichthyan (sharks, rays, chimaeras) in Australia which is a global centre of chondrichthyan biodiversity. Despite concerns about the status of populations and ongoing exploitation, no complete national assessments or data repositories exist for shark species within Australia. In a recent analysis of IUCN Red List of Threatened Species data, 15.6% of Australian chondrichthyans fall within a threatened category (White & Kyne 2010). Sixty-four Australian species are currently Data Deficient under IUCN criteria. The status of many of these species is unlikely to change due to limited data and lack of research. Although IUCN listing and some status assessments are underway (e.g. Australian Shark Information System http://www.sharkreportcard.org/#!facts/c1a4e), research and monitoring of these populations is required. Sharks and rays have important social, cultural and economic values across Australia’s marine environments, and perform important ecosystem functions that help to maintain marine ecosystem health and resilience. Lack of basic life history, population status and ecological data for chondrichthyans hampers our ability to effectively manage the activities and industries that effect and/or rely upon this resource. Pelagic and deep water sharks comprise a major component of Data Deficient species, as do rays in all environments. Given increasing use of ocean resources and inevitable effects on chondrichthyan populations, data are needed to ensure effective management of these species. Managing for sustainability is also critical to supporting the fisheries and tourism industries that interact with these species. White WT, Kyne PM (2010) The status of chondrichthyan conservation in the Indo– Australasian region. Journal of Fish Biology 76:2090–2117. Key gaps: Almost everything. For instance, for tropical species we don’t know about the life-histories (e.g. spawning, nursery grounds) or life-history specific habitat or food resource needs of most. The lack of this most basic of knowledge hampers decisions on development, offsets, protection etc. References Baker R, Sheaves M (2005) Redefining the piscivore assemblage of shallow estuarine nursery habitats. Marine Ecology-Progress Series 291:197-213 Cury P, Bakun A, Crawford RJ, Jarre A, Quiñones RA, Shannon LJ, Verheye HM (2000) Small pelagics in upwelling systems: patterns of interaction and structural changes in “wasp-waist” ecosystems. ICES Journal of Marine Science: Journal du Conseil 57:603-618 Duarte LO, Garcıa CB (2004) Trophic role of small pelagic fishes in a tropical upwelling ecosystem. Ecological Modelling 172:323-338 Furnas M, Mitchell A, Skuza M, Brodie J (2005) In the other 90%: phytoplankton responses to enhanced nutrient availability in the Great Barrier Reef Lagoon. Marine Pollution Bulletin 51:253-265 Gehrke PC (2007) A comparative analysis of coastal fishery food webs in the Great Barrier Reef region. CSIRO, Water for a Healthy Country National Research Flagship Sheaves M, Baker R, Nagelkerken I, Connolly RM (2014) True Value of Estuarine and Coastal Nurseries for Fish: Incorporating Complexity and Dynamics. Estuaries and Coasts:1-14 Sheaves M, Johnston R, Johnson A, Baker R, Connolly R (2013) Nursery function drives temporal patterns in fish assemblage structure in four tropical estuaries. Estuaries and Coasts Wolanski E, Spagnol S (2003) Dynamics of the turbidity maximum in King Sound, tropical Western Australia. Estuarine, Coastal and Shelf Science 56:877-890 Wolanski E, Spagnol S, Ayukai T (1998) Field and model studies of the fate of particulate carbon in mangrove‐ fringed Hinchinbrook Channel, Australia. Mangroves and Salt Marshes 2:205-221 Key outcomes/ national benefit that would flow from investment in this area by 2020 by 2025 by 2035 Perspective (3 pages) Specific science priorities (including linkages to international efforts, and why Australia needs to do this work, particularly if we are not already world class) Priorities to 2020 Participation in the second International Indian Ocean Expedition which is to be undertaken from 2015-2020. Australia was an enthusiastic contributor to the first expedition in the 1960s and it yielded considerable information on the pelagic ecosystem in the SE Indian Ocean. The second one is expected to be a worthwhile vehicle for pelagic ecosystem research (to date, efforts to get the RV Investigator for 2016 have not been successful). The IIOE-2 would probably be worth mentioning in any white paper on pelagic ecosystem research. There are details on the IOC Perth office website www.iocperth.org. Great Barrier Reef and Coral Sea : Response of pelagic fishes and sharks to CMR establishment in relation to PP, physical features, level of fishing activity. Develop baselines through acoustics, mid-water stereo systems, and tagging. Priorities to 2025 Priorities to 2035 Realisation (3 pages) Key infrastructure and capability requirements/impediments Funding and coordination requirements/impediments General Additional comments (1 page max). List of contributing authors and affiliations References Angel, M. V. (1993). "Biodiversity of the Pelagic Ocean." Conservation Biology 7(4): 760-772. Bhattachan, A. and P. D'Odorico (2014). 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