WAMSI Node 4.2.1b - Development and validation of an estuarine health index for the Swan Estuary

This project (WAMSI Node 4.2.1b) aimed to develop an index for assessing the health of the Swan Estuary, based on fish assemblage characteristics. The index incorporates a suite of metrics, each of which measures a different aspect of the fish community, e.g. species diversity and composition, use of the Estuary as a nursery habitat, and the trophic structure (the feeding relationships between species) of the estuarine fish community.The study incorporated and utilized historical data from 1977-2004, plus current sampling (2007-2009), to establish reference conditions for multiple fish community metrics, against which the recent, current and future status of the estuary is assessed.Data is available as two Excel spreadsheets:Establishing_reference_and_scoring_seine_Metrics.xlsEstablishing_reference_and_scoring_gill_Metrics.xlsThe gill net and seine net files contain, respectively, for each offshore and nearshore historical fish sample collected between 1976 and 2009:(i) the raw values calculated for each of the selected fish metrics comprising the offshore and nearshore health indices;(ii) the corresponding metric scores (i.e. scored in comparison to the appropriate reference conditions I derived for each metric); and(iii) the final health index scores for each historical sample.The historical studies used in the project are all detailed in the final report.

本项目（WAMSI Node 4.2.1b）旨在基于鱼类群落特征，开发用于评估天鹅河口（Swan Estuary）健康状况的指标体系。该指标体系包含一系列度量指标，可从不同维度表征鱼类群落状态，例如物种多样性与组成、河口作为育幼栖息地的利用情况，以及河口鱼类群落的营养结构（即物种间的摄食关系）。本研究整合利用1977-2004年的历史数据与2007-2009年的最新采样数据，以确立多项鱼类群落度量指标的参考基准，用于评估该河口近期、当前及未来的生态健康状态。数据集以两份Excel电子表格形式提供："Establishing_reference_and_scoring_seine_Metrics.xls"、"Establishing_reference_and_scoring_gill_Metrics.xls"。其中，刺网（gill net）与围网（seine net）对应的文件，分别收录了1976-2009年间采集的所有离岸与近岸历史鱼类样本的如下内容：(i) 为构建离岸与近岸健康指标所遴选的各项鱼类度量指标的原始计算值；(ii) 对应的度量指标评分（即基于我为每项指标确立的相应参考基准进行评分）；以及(iii) 每份历史样本的最终健康指数评分。本项目所使用的既往研究均已在最终报告中详细载明。