AIMS Photo Transects - Lizard Island Coral Communities 1981 to 2007

Starting in the early 1980s, thirty-two permanent photographed sites were established by AIMS to learn about the dynamic behavior of coral communities in the full variety of reef-zones from sheltered nearshore reefs in turbid waters through to the slopes and surf zones of outer reefs, each of which has its own distinctive assemblage of corals. With allied field studies, it was established that in the last two decades of the 20th Century, GBR coral communities exhibited substantial resilience (in terms of restoration of prior percent cover and composition) following disturbances such as floods, crown-of-thorns starfish and cyclone-generated waves. There is presently little basis for setting resilience targets for coral reefs, especially in relation to the great variety of environmental settings and reef-types within the Great Barrier Reef. This project will help scientists provide a much stronger evidence base for the setting of targets and evaluating contemporaneous changes compared to more benign years of late last century.5 sites at between 2 and 12m depth were established in 1981 at Lizard Island on the Great Barrier Reef, Australia, 30 km off the north Queensland coast. Images were taken at all sites on an annual basis, regularly from 1981 to 2007. Each site is represented by 30–36 1m2 images taken in a grid pattern, Specific years and image file names can be found in the Lizard File Index.xlsx attached below. The data from one of the 5 sites at Lizard Island was published by Wakeford et al. (2008), which included the application of a cellular automata model of CR Johns to investigate effects of inter-specific competition

20世纪80年代初，澳大利亚海洋科学研究所（AIMS）设立了32个永久性摄影监测站点，以全面探究珊瑚群落在各类礁区环境中的动态变化特征，研究覆盖范围从浑浊近岸的遮蔽礁体，一直延伸至外礁斜坡与激浪带——每个区域均拥有独特的珊瑚群落组成。结合配套野外研究，学界已明确：在20世纪最后20年间，大堡礁（Great Barrier Reef, GBR）的珊瑚群落在经历洪水、长棘海星（crown-of-thorns starfish）以及气旋引发的海浪扰动后，展现出显著的恢复能力，具体体现为原有珊瑚盖度与群落组成的有效修复。当前学界几乎缺乏可用于制定珊瑚礁恢复力目标的科学依据，尤其考虑到大堡礁内部存在极为丰富多样的环境背景与礁体类型。本项目将助力科研人员构建更为坚实的证据基础，以此制定珊瑚礁恢复力目标，并相较于20世纪末的温和年份，评估当前珊瑚群落的同期变化情况。1981年，在澳大利亚昆士兰州北部沿岸外30公里的大堡礁蜥蜴岛（Lizard Island）区域，研究人员设立了5处水深介于2至12米的监测站点。1981年至2007年期间，研究人员每年定期对所有站点进行影像采集：每个站点均采用网格布点法拍摄30至36张1平方米规格的影像。具体年份与影像文件名可查阅随附的《Lizard File Index.xlsx》文件。蜥蜴岛5处站点中的其中一处相关数据已由Wakeford等人（2008）发表，该研究应用了CR Johns提出的元胞自动机模型（cellular automata model），以探究物种间竞争的影响效应。