Karen Susan Edyvane

• PhD
• Professor at Charles Darwin University

It has long been hypothesized that Western Australian coral reefs are genetically connected to those in Indonesia via long-distance dispersal, and that this connection may influence the timing of annual mass coral spawning on Western Australian coral reefs. This genetic connection has not been tested, and it requires re-evaluation because spawning...

Fishing is the major human activity within the ‘semi-enclosed’ Arafura and Timor Seas (ATS). Since the early 2000’s, Australia’s sparsely populated, remote northern shores have reported very high levels of foreign, fishing-related marine debris. Limited information is available about the temporal and spatial variation of this fishing debris or its...

Drawing on the experience and lessons of wetland researchers and managers in Australia and New Zealand, we examined the implications of climate change for wetland policy and management, and identified potential adaptation responses and the information needed to support these. First, we considered wetland vulnerability to climate change, focusing on...

Saltwater crocodiles (Crocodylus porosus) are potentially dangerous to humans, yet they have major cultural value to many people in Timor-Leste. Recent increases in attack risk are influencing traditional attitudes, threatening culls of remaining wild crocodile populations. To understand patterns that may assist mitigation, we compiled attack recor...

This paper briefly identifies areas of particular MPA relevance for definition of objectives and management strategies and for performance evaluation and monitoring of management strategies and biodiversity outcomes against objectives. On the expectation that there are substantial overlaps of MPA marine science research needs and those addressed in...

Ecosystem services (the benefits people derive from functioning ecosystems) are increasingly being recognized as essential to sustainable human well-being. Oceans and coasts provide a significant portion of ecosystem services. We need to significantly improve our understanding and modelling of the complex interconnections between ecosystems and sus...

This project aimed to measure biochemical and cytogenetic biomarkers in marine fish (Aldrichetta forsteri and Sillago schomburgkii) associated with industrial and urban centres in South Australia. These sites were Port Pirie (affected by metal-contaminated outflows), Barker Inlet (adjacent to Metropolitan Adelaide), and Wills Creek (reference site)...

Studies of benthic macroalgae have been undertaken in the Investigator Group and at St Francis Isles for over three decades, and methods of study have changed from quadrat-based biomass data and general collections, to nondestructive, line-intercept transects (LIT), in which cover of species is recorded. We review the utility of classifying data in...

Provincial Bioregions of the Australian Marine Territories

Meso-scale Bioregions of Inshore & Coastal Australia

Australia’s marine environment extends from the coast to the boundary of it’s 200 nautical mile exclusive economic zone and covers million square kilometers of seas (an area 16% larger than the land). As the world’s largest island, Australia has wide range of coastal and marine environments, which stretch approximately 61,700 km, from the tropical...

World-wide, kelp ecosystems face the threat of large-scale deforestation from herbivory (usually from sea urchins) and climate change. Following anecdotal reports of kelp loss, a temporal analysis was undertaken of the distribution of Macrocystis pyrifera forests off the east and south coast of Tasmania, focussing on 9 specific regions. Results fro...

The Anxious Bay beach litter clearance is the longest running annual survey of ocean-based litter in Australia. It's remoteness from centres of human population and location (with respect to prevailing winds and currents) make it an ideal place for monitoring ocean or ship-based litter in Australia's southern oceans and particularly, the Great Aust...

Edyvane claims that commercial and political interests are dominating the planning of Australia's offshore marine parks. She further asserts that the exclusion of science, independence and transparency pose a major threat to the conservation of Australia's southern oceans.

In a survey of the inshore benthic macroflora of St Francis Isles in June 1992, the spatial patterns in composition and biomass of canopy and understorey algae, and seagrasses, were examined, and compared with two other surveys in 1971 and 2002 of the Isles. The macroalgal zonation at St Francis I. in 1992 closely followed the patterns described in...

EXECUTIVE SUMMARY REVIEW • Giant Kelp is a short-lived, perennial temperate macroalgae, which shows pronounced inter-annual population fluctuations. • Unlike many perennial temperate macroalgae, reproduction in Giant Kelp is aseasonal and closely linked with resource availability and environmental conditions. • Reproductive allocation is negativel...

Port Pirie is the site of the largest lead smelter in the world, depositing 250 t of zinc, and 100 t of lead annually into Spencer Gulf. Barker Inlet is adjacent to metropolitan Adelaide, and receives unknown quantities of urban and industrial discharges. Both areas are sites of major commercial and recreational fisheries, contained within delicate...

Seagrass plays a major role in supporting the processes and function of the marine environment and is a key fisheries habitat, which provides nursery, feeding and breeding areas for fish and crustaceans. Seagrass beds also stabilise the seabed, trap sediments, reduce coastal erosion and provide the basis for the food chain through photosynthesis. T...

A major dieback of seagrass occurred in South Australia where 12,717 ha of intertidal and shallow subtidal seagrasses were lost along the north eastern coast of Spencer Gulf. This was a rapid decline, occurring toward the end of summer in January or early February of 1993. The extent and location of the dieback was mapped from aerial photographs ta...

Allozyme variation was examined in 175 individuals representing 13 putative species of Sargassum from the Great Barrier Reef (GBR), Australia. Allozyme variability was low (five polymorphic loci, 12 alleles total), but differences between most morphological species were observed, and were generally greater than those between different geographical...

The Great Australian Bight is an area of international conservation significance, containing globally significant breeding populations of rare and endangered marine mammals, and also, some of the highest levels of endemism and marine biodiversity in Australia (and the world). Much of this unique biota has resulted from the relatively long period of...

Despite the vastness of South Australia's coastline, approximately 95% of the state's population of 1.4 million is on the Adelaide metropolitan coast of Gulf St. Vincent. The concentration of human activity around this shallow, sheltered gulf ecosystem has led to conflict and competition over the use of marine and coastal resources. The gulf suppor...

Allozyme variation was examined in 175 individuals representing 13 putative species of Sargassum from the Great Barrier Reef (GBR), Australia. Allozyme variability was low (five polymorphic loci, 12 alleles total), but differences between most morphological species were observed, and were generally greater than those between different geographical...

Seagrass plays a major role in supporting the processes and function of the marine environment and is a key ®sheries habitat, which provides nursery, feeding and breeding areas for ®sh and crustaceans. Seagrass beds also stabilise the seabed, trap sediments, reduce coastal erosion and provide the basis for the food chain through photosynthesis. The...

This report documents the development of IMCRA and discusses how it may be used as a regional planning framework for conservation and sustainable resource use in coastal and marine environments. Several caveats and conditions are presented to assist users identify appropriate uses. IMCRA has been developed through the collaborative efforts of State...

Following ongoing seagrass loss in Nepean Bay (Kangaroo Island), the South Australian Research and Development Institute (SARDI) Aquatic Sciences, were hired as technical consultants to assist Primary Industries Kangaroo Island to investigate and review existing marine environmental monitoring programs within Nepean Bay, and importantly, to identif...

The nearshore fish community of the Port River-Barker Inlet Estuary was sampled between January 1986 and May 1987 using a beach seine to determine the effect of thermal effluent on the community structure and nursery function of the estuary. A total of 41 species was found in the estuary, with decreasing numbers of species with decreasing distance...

The deformity ‘imposex’, which is the growth of a penis and/or vas deferens in females of dioecious gastropods, has been associated with the use of tributyltin based marine antifouling paints. We report on a survey of Lepsiella vinosa in Southern Australia which detected imposex at 14 of 20 sites sampled. Laboratory experiments suggested that altho...

The Australasian marine red algal genus Rhodoglossum J. Agardh (Gigartinaceae, Rhodophyta) is distinct from species of Gigartina Stackhouse in the development of the tetrasporangial sorus and in the presence of immersed cystocarps in a foliose thallus. A proposal to reduce Rhodoglossum (and Iridaea Bory) to synonyms of Gigartina is not supported. I...

Large-scale, multiple-use management is an ideal vehicle to implement and develop a holis-tic, integrated, ecosystem-based approach to fisheries management. It is now widely recog-nised that fisheries management must comprise a subset or component of a broader manage-ment of the whole ecosystem. Because of the "connected" nature of the marine envir...

High levels of polyphloroglucinol phenolics in marine brown algae are usually interpreted as a defensive response to herbivory. However, tropical brown algae generally contain very low levels of phenolics, even though herbivory in many tropical systems (e.g. coral reefs) is intense. This apparent paradox would be explained if polyphenolics did not...