Mélanie A. Hamel

James Cook University | JCU · Centre for Tropical and Freshwater Research (TropWATER)

Marine reserve placement must account for the importance of places for resource use to minimize negative socioeconomic impacts and improve compliance. It is often assumed that placing marine reserves in locations that minimize lost fishing opportunities will reduce impacts on coastal communities, but the influence of the fishing data used on this o...

Wallis, Alofi and Futuna are three small islands in the central Pacific Ocean, characterized by different reef geomorphologies. Following a request from the local Environment Service, we developed an indicative conservation plan for each island with two objectives: 1) representing 20% of the extent of each coral reef habitat within no-take areas wh...

Coral reef fisheries are critical for food security and as a source of income in developing and developed countries, but they are collapsing in many areas. Following the emergence and routine availability of commercial very high spatial resolution (0.6-10 m) multispectral satellite images, we reviewed the use of these new high-quality remote sensin...

While olive ridley turtles (Lepidochelys olivacea) occur throughout tropical oceans their physiological ecology has been poorly documented. In May 2005, satellite-relayed data loggers (SRDLs) were attached during oviposition to four adult female olive ridley turtles on the Wessell Islands, northern Australia. Subsequent nesting haul-outs were deter...

Detecting dolphins, accurately identifying species, and estimating group size during manned aerial surveys can be challenging. We used images obtained during a manned aerial survey over 13 non-consecutive days and covering a total of 3732 km of transects, in a high-wing aircraft flown at 185 km/h and an altitude of 152 m, equipped with three Single...

The lack of accurate distribution maps and reliable abundance estimates for marine species can limit the ability of managers to design scale‐appropriate management measures for a stock or population. Here, we tested the utility of aerial photogrammetry for conducting large‐scale surveys of nesting marine turtles at remote locations, with a focus on...

Systematic conservation planning (SCP) has increasingly been used to prioritize conservation actions, including the design of new protected areas to achieve conservation objectives. Over the last 10 years, the number of marine SCP studies has increased exponentially, yet there is no structured or reliable way to find information on methods, trends,...

Systematic conservation planning (SCP) has increasingly been used to prioritize conservation actions, including the design of new protected areas to achieve conservation objectives. Over the last 10 years, the number of marine SCP studies has increased exponentially, yet there is no structured or reliable way to find information on methods, trends,...

A checklist of the marine and estuarine fishes of Madang District is presented, combining both previous and new records. After the recent PAPUA NIUGINI 2012 expedition, a total of 1337 species in 129 families have been recorded from the region. One species and one family is not native (Cichlidae: Oreochromis mossambicus), but has been introduced. T...

A gap analysis is the initial step towards the identification of areas where data are needed. However, often, data coverage cannot be assessed against a reference that objectively guides the identification of both gaps and priority areas for data acquisition. Here, we describe a quick, effective and reproducible spatial data gap analysis approach b...

The distribution of species in their environment is largely defined by habitat characteristics. Both species and habitat distributions can be used to define conservation areas, especially in highly diversified ecosystems like coral reefs where biodiversity inventories are lacking. The main objective of this study was to test the relationship betwee...

Species check-lists are helpful to establish Marine Protected Areas (MPAs) and protect local richness, endemicity, rarity, and biodiversity in general. However, such exhaustive taxonomic lists (i.e., true surrogate of biodiversity) require extensive and expensive censuses, and the use of estimator surrogates (e.g., habitats) is an appealing alterna...

A: Species accumulation curve obtained by iterative addition of random selection of stations (100 runs). B: Gleason (1992) linear relationship between species richness and the logarithm of area sampled. In this model we considered a 2000 m2 area sampled by each station (2 transects of 1000 m2). (TIF)

Number of fish sampling stations according to reef type and wind exposure. (DOC)

Detailed description of the fish sampling design. (DOCX)

Ecological concepts and data may justify the selection of biodiversity conservation plans among different options, but can also lead to poor conservation guidelines if not properly used. The use and meaning of the 'surrogate' concept in ecology and conservation planning contexts is a typical example. Surrogates are entities such as species, environ...

In order to propose spatially-explicit conservation strategies driven by biodiversity for Baa Atoll, habitat maps were created from LANDSAT and Quickbird satellite images. The LANDSAT derived habitat map described the atoll geomorphology following the Millennium Coral Reef Mapping Project typology, which is made of 5 different hierarchical levels....

The Republic of Maldives is an atoll country entirely composed of coral reefs and is vulnerable to the many threats that may impair the resilience of coral reefs. Ongoing projects aim to enhance scientific knowledge of Maldives ecosystems and promote conservation. As a contribution to the Atoll Ecosystem Conservation project (AEC) focused on Baa At...