Mat Vanderklift

CSIRO Oceans & Atmosphere Flagship

Coastal wetlands, including saltmarshes, mangrove forests, and seagrass meadows, can support fisheries by providing habitat and exporting food and nutrients to adjacent or distant ecosystems. However, there is insufficient understanding about the extent to which wetland restoration can benefit fishery species. Here, we report qualitative and quanti...

At a time of global interest on mangrove restoration, determining the soil characters in restoration sites are vital for two reasons i.e. to record the baselines and for establishing the changes with restored mangroves. This research focused on assessing soil characteristics: pH, salinity, electrical conductivity (EC), wet soil color, and dry bulk...

The growth of mangroves is profoundly influenced by the physio-chemical properties of their pedosphere. For the successful management and restoration of mangrove ecosystems, information on these properties is crucial. In this study, vertical profiles of soil characteristics, including pH, salinity, electrical conductivity (EC), wet soil colour, and...

Marine foundation species are the biotic basis for many of the world's coastal ecosystems, providing structural habitat, food, and protection for myriad plants and animals as well as many ecosystem services. However, climate change poses a significant threat to foundation species and the ecosystems they support. We review the impacts of climate cha...

Coastal blue carbon ecosystems can be an important nature-based solution for mitigating climate change, when emphasis is given to their protection, management, and restoration. Globally, there has been a rapid increase in blue carbon research in the last few decades, with substantial investments on national scales by the European Union, the USA, Au...

Ontogenetic changes in habitat and diet are widespread among marine species. Most species of sea turtles are characterized by extreme ontogenetic changes in habitat use and diet, with large changes occurring in early developmental stages (e.g., neonates to juveniles). Changes can continue even after recruitment to shallow coastal habitats. In place...

Coastal blue carbon ecosystems can be an important nature-based solution for mitigating climate change, when emphasis is given to their protection, management, and restoration. Globally, there has been a rapid increase in blue carbon research in the last few decades, with substantial investments on national scales by the European Union, the USA, Au...

The conservation, restoration, and improved management of terrestrial forests significantly contributes to mitigate climate change and its impacts, as well as providing numerous co-benefits. The pressing need to reduce emissions and increase carbon removal from the atmosphere is now also leading to the development of natural climate solutions in th...

In marine turtles, the sex of hatchlings is determined by their egg incubation temperature. Global warming may increase the extinction risk by skewing hatchling sex ratios. Assessment of this risk at the population level requires the identification of sex in hatchlings and juveniles. However, available methods are typically lethal, highly invasive,...

The seaweed industry is booming, opening new opportunities for many countries outside traditional producers in Asia to participate in the global market. In the South Pacific, Australia is setting an example. Over the past four years, the country has developed significant expertise, raised substantial funds and launched a national alliance to stimul...

Mangroves, salt marshes and seagrasses are conspicuous and important features of the Sri Lankan coastline, playing an important role in delivering multiple ecosystem services including carbon sequestration (the so-called blue carbon ecosystems). Together, they support coastal biodiversity, provide habitat and nutrition for numerous plant and animal...

1. The residence, home range, and habitat use of juvenile (42.0–63.5 cm midline curved carapace length, CCL), subadult (68.6–84.6 cm CCL), and adult (81.9–104.2 cm CCL) green turtles (Chelonia mydas) was investigated using passive acoustic telemetry in Ningaloo Marine Park, north-western Australia. Eighty-one turtles ranging in size from 42 to 104...

The protection, management and restoration of vegetated ecosystems on land and in the ocean (‘natural climate solutions’) can be a useful strategy for reducing net greenhouse gas emissions to help limit global warming. Their potential contribution to reducing net emissions has led to the development of policies and financial incentives for their pr...

Diet is fundamental to an individual’s biology because energy acquired from food constrains growth and reproduction, which subsequently influences survival. It is, therefore, important to have a strong understanding of a population’s diet for species of conservation concern, such as the green turtle (Chelonia mydas). While the diet of adult green t...

Blue Carbon Ecosystems (BCEs) help mitigate and adapt to climate change but their integration into policy, such as Nationally Determined Contributions (NDCs), remains underdeveloped. Most BCE conservation requires community engagement, hence community-scale projects must be nested within the implementation of NDCs without compromising livelihoods o...

Age is a fundamental life history attribute that is used to understand the dynamics of wild animal populations. Unfortunately, most animals do not have a practical or non‐lethal method to determine age. This makes it difficult for wildlife managers to carry out population assessments, particularly for elusive and long‐lived fauna such as marine tur...

Mangrove planting has been employed for decades to achieve aims associated with restoration and afforestation. Often, survival of planted mangroves is low. Improving survival might be aided by augmenting the understanding of which planting methods and environmental variables most influence plant survival across a range of contexts. The aim of this...

Seagrasses are marine angiosperms that can live completely or partially submerged in water and perform a variety of significant ecosystem services. Like terrestrial angiosperms, seagrasses can reproduce sexually and, the pollinated female flower develop into fruits and seeds, which represent a critical stage in the life of plants. Seed microbiomes...

Rationale: Around the world, biosecurity measures are being strengthened to prevent the spread of pests and diseases across national and international borders. Quarantine protocols that involve sample sterilisation have potential effects on sample integrity. The consequences of sterilisation methods such as gamma (γ) irradiation on the elemental a...

Coastal wetlands are vulnerable to sea-level rise (SLR) but are also valued for their potential to provide effective nature-based solutions to climate change mitigation and adaptation. Ecological benefits from these ecosystems can be constrained under urban settings by anthropogenic disturbances and pressures, so restoration activities are promoted...

Herbivory is a key ecological process that often determines the composition and abundance of plants. Estimates of herbivory in seagrass meadows are typically lower than those in other vegetated coastal ecosystems, but herbivory can be intense when large herbivorous vertebrates are abundant. We surveyed rates of herbivory on 2 species of tropical se...

Global warming is facilitating the range expansion of tropical herbivores, causing a tropicalization of temperate marine ecosystems, where tropical herbivores can suppress habitat‐forming macrophytes, supporting the resilience of canopy‐free ecosystem states. However, currently we lack a thorough understanding of the mechanisms that, on one hand, s...

Knowledge of the movement patterns of the lemon shark Negaprion acutidens is poor in contrast to the allopatric N. brevirostis. Using acoustic telemetry, we investigated daily (diel and tidal) and seasonal patterns in residency, fidelity, home range, habitat preference, and migratory patterns along the Ningaloo coast, Australia. Thirty eight adult...

The United Nations General Assembly calls for ecosystem restoration to be a primary intervention strategy used to counter the continued loss of natural habitats worldwide, while supporting human health and wellbeing globally. Restoration of coastal marine ecosystems is perceived by many to be expensive and prone to failure, in part explaining its l...

The Ningaloo coast of north-western Australia (eastern Indian Ocean) hosts one of the world’s longest and most extensive fringing coral reef systems, along with globally significant abundances of large marine fauna such as whale sharks. These characteristics – which have contributed to its inscription on the World Heritage list – exist because of t...

Reversing the decline of coastal marine ecosystems will rely extensively on ecological restoration. This will in turn rely on ensuring adequate supply and survival of propagules — for the main habitat-forming taxa of coastal marine ecosystems these are mainly fruits, seeds, viviparous seedlings, zoospores or larvae. The likelihood of propagule surv...

Environmental conditions experienced by animals constrain their energy acquisition and its subsequent allocation to growth and reproduction, which ultimately contributes to population dynamics. Understanding how environmental conditions affect these physiological processes is therefore important for predicting how threatened species will respond to...

Climate change is modifying species distributions around the world, forcing some species poleward, where they can alter trophic interactions. Many tropical herbivorous fishes have successfully expanded their ranges into temperate ecosystems, and while it is clear they drive increases in herbivory rates in specific localities, little is known about...

We introduce five measures describing the system-wide behaviour of complex ecological systems. Within an information-theoretic framework, these measures account for changes in both species diversity and total biomass to describe (i) overall system change, (ii) sustainability to external pressure, (iii) shift from a baseline state and two types of r...

Benthic suspension feeders, such as bivalves, potentially have several different food sources, including plankton and resuspended detritus of benthic origin. We hypothesised that suspension feeders are likely to feed on detritus if it is present. This inference would be further strengthened if there was a correlation between δ13C of suspension feed...

Ecologists often need to make choices about what body parts (tissues or organs) of an animal to sample. The decision is typically guided by the need to treat animals as humanely as possible, as well as the information that different body parts can provide. When using stable isotopes, decisions are also influenced by whether specimens would require...

On coral reefs, changes in the cover and relative abundance of hard coral taxa often follow disturbance. Although the ecological responses of common coral taxa have been well documented, little is known about the ecological responses of uncommon coral taxa or of coral morphological groups across multiple adjacent reef zones. We used Multivariate Au...

Benthic suspension feeders, such as bivalves, potentially have several different food sources, including plankton and resuspended detritus of benthic origin. We hypothesised that suspension feeders are likely to feed on detritus if it is present. This inference would be further strengthened if there was a correlation between δ13C of suspension feed...

Seagrasses provide multiple ecosystem services including nursery habitat, improved water quality, coastal protection, and carbon sequestration. However, seagrasses are in crisis as global coverage is declining at an accelerating rate. With increased focus on ecological restoration as a conservation strategy, methods that enhance restoration success...

Coral reefs have been heavily affected by elevated sea-surface temperature (SST) and coral bleaching since the late 1980s; however, until recently coastal reefs of north-western Australia have been relatively unaffected compared to Timor Sea and eastern Australian reefs. We compare SST time series with changes in coral cover spanning a period of up...

We introduce five measures describing the system-wide behaviour of complex ecological systems. Within an information-theoretic framework, these measures account for changes in both species diversity and total biomass to describe i) overall system change, ii) sustainability to external pressure, iii) shift from a baseline state and two types of resi...

The tropicalization of temperate marine ecosystems can lead to increased herbivory rates, reducing the standing stock of seaweeds and potentially causing increases in detritus production. However, long-term studies analysing these processes associated with the persistence of tropical herbivores in temperate reefs are lacking. We assessed the season...

Climate change poses a severe threat to the global ecosystem which will impact all nations around the world including ASEAN member countries. Urgent and integrated effort is critical to reduce the amount of carbon dioxide which traps heat in the atmosphere and causes climate change. Plants have the capacity to absorb and store a large amount of ca...

Population persistence in the marine environment is driven by patterns of ocean circulation, larval dispersal, ecological interactions, and demographic rates. For habitat‐forming organisms in particular, understanding the relationship between larval connectivity and meta‐population dynamics aids in planning for marine spatial management. Here, we e...

One of the most robust metrics for assessing the effectiveness of protected areas is the temporal trend in the abundance of the species they are designed to protect. We surveyed coral-reef fish and living hard coral in and adjacent to a sanctuary zone (SZ: where all forms of fishing are prohibited) in the World Heritage-listed Ningaloo Marine Park...

Ecklonia radiata is one of the most widespread kelps globally, dominating temperate reefs throughout much of Australasia and southeastern Africa. Throughout much of its range, it is the only laminarian kelp and hence plays a key role in facilitating biodiversity and driving food webs, and it underpins immense ecological and socioeconomic values. Th...

Recent increases in the frequency of extreme climate events (ECEs) such as heatwaves and floods have been attributed to climate change, and could have pronounced ecosystem and evolutionary impacts because they provide little opportunity for organisms to acclimate or adapt. Here we synthesize information on a series of ECEs in Australia from 2011 to...

The Indian Ocean is home to some of the most extensive coastal blue carbon ecosystems on the planet. Together, the nations within and surrounding this ocean basin contain approximately 50% (an estimated 76,275 km²) of the world’s mangrove forests and a large, but unknown, proportion of its seagrass meadows. The nations of the Indian Ocean have an o...

The restoration and protection of “blue carbon” ecosystems – mangroves, seagrasses, and tidal marshes – has potential to offset greenhouse gas emissions and improve coastal livelihoods. However, realisation of this potential relies on global investment in restoration and protection, which in turn relies on appropriate funding mechanisms that are cu...

Indian Ocean Turtle Newsletter 29:23-37

Several stakeholders within the Australian seafood industry have demonstrated strong leadership by developing carbon neutral business practices. In 2017, participants in the National Seafood Industry Leadership Program challenged the industry to become carbon neutral by 2030. In response, the Fisheries Research and Development Corporation (FRDC) an...

The complex life history of sea turtles presents challenges for researchers. These slow-growing, longlived reptiles occupy several habitats throughout their life cycle, including oceanic environments where they are difficult to study. Consequently, much research on sea turtle biology has focussed on the nesting environment. Yet, to effectively mana...

Reliable abundance estimates for species are fundamental in ecology, fisheries, and conservation. Consequently, predictive models able to provide reliable estimates for un- or poorly-surveyed locations would prove a valuable tool for management. Based on commonly used environmental and physical predictors, we developed predictive models of total fi...

Ocean warming is driving species poleward, causing a ‘tropicalization’ of temperate ecosystems around the world. Increasing abundances of tropical herbivores on temperate reefs could accelerate declines in habitat-forming seaweeds with devastating consequences for these important marine ecosystems. Here we document an expansion of rabbitfish (Sigan...

In late April 2014 Ningaloo Reef was exposed to significant freshwater and sediment outflow following an extreme rainfall event (>200 mm in 48 h). It produced a plume of brown water of 9.63 km² that was present two days after the rainfall event. The extent of the plume decreased by 55.9% within ten days. Benthic surveys were conducted at eight site...

Extreme climatic events are predicted to increase in severity as a consequence of anthropogenic climate change. In marine ecosystems, the importance of marine heatwaves (MHWs)-discrete periods of anomalously high sea temperatures-is gaining recognition. In 2011, the highest-magnitude MHW ever recorded impacted the west coast of Australia (southeast...

The marine environment of the Kimberley is a unique area characterised by a combination of extreme physical conditions and limited anthropogenic stressors. The Kimberley is part of only 4% of the world’s oceans that are classed as “pristine”(Halpern et al. 2008) due to very low population density (1 person per 12.5 km2). However, organisms growing...

Large mobile herbivorous fish that specialise in browsing large brown algae are particularly important on coral reefs because their activities mediate algal-coral competition. Despite this important ecological role, we have a poor understanding of the movement patterns of such large herbivorous fish, including Kyphosus bigibbus. Nineteen K. bigibbu...

Relatively little is known of the spatial and temporal dynamics of seagrass meadows in north-western Australia, but such knowledge is needed when designing and evaluating studies that aim to detect potential dredging-related impacts on seagrass, and when making predictions about the likelihood of, and speed of recovery from, such impacts. This stud...

Although seagrasses are sensitive to natural and anthropogenic disturbances, many species have the capacity to recover from disturbance within relatively short time frames. In tropical regions, such as north-western Australia, small-leaved species of seagrasses are often characterised by natural patterns of loss and recovery over time periods spann...

Climate-driven changes are altering production and functioning of biotic assemblages in terrestrial and aquatic environments. In temperate coastal waters, rising sea temperatures, warm water anomalies and poleward shifts in the distribution of tropical herbivores have had a detrimental effect on algal forests. We develop generalized scenarios of th...

No turning back? Ecosystems over time have endured much disturbance, yet they tend to remain intact, a characteristic we call resilience. Though many systems have been lost and destroyed, for systems that remain physically intact, there is debate as to whether changing temperatures will result in shifts or collapses. Wernburg et al. show that extre...

Human activities facilitate coastal habitat transformation and homogenization. The spread of marine invasive species is one example. This in turn may influence fish recruitment and the subsequent replenishment of adult assemblages. We tested habitat complexity effect on fish (Teleostei) recruitment by experimentally manipulating meadows of the habi...

Ecosystem reconfigurations arising from climate-driven changes in species distributions are expected to have profound ecological, social, and economic implications. Here we reveal a rapid climate-driven regime shift of Australian temperate reef communities, which lost their defining kelp forests and became dominated by persistent seaweed turfs. Aft...

Understanding biodiversity patterns depends on data collection, which in marine environments can be prohibitively expensive. Transferable predictive models could therefore provide time‐ and cost‐effective tools for understanding biodiversity–environment relationships. We used fish species counts and spatial and environmental predictors to develop p...

Understanding animal movement provides information that helps design effective conservation initiatives. We intuitively understand that the way animals move at large scales determines the extent of their home range and their migratory patterns - and we know that these features are relevant to decisions about the location, size and distribution of p...

There is incongruity between much of the research that is ostensibly directed at improving marine conservation outcomes, and the effort that is actually needed to generate better outcomes. I argue that this is partly due to inadequate critique of basic assumptions by marine researchers. One assumption that is frequently made (explicitly or implicit...