Long-term Monitoring of Benthic Communities at Ashmore Reef 2016-2017

The Ashmore reef system, near the edge of north-western Australia's continental shelf, is isolated from the mainland and other reef systems by hundreds of kilometres of ocean. Existing studies show that the reef's communities and their distubance regimes differ from those at the Scott Reef and Rowley Shoals systems to the south. Ashmore Reef has vast areas of reef flat and shallow lagoon dominated by hard substrate, rubble, sand, and a low cover of other benthic organisms (e.g. sponges, soft corals, algae). The primary coral habitat is at the outer reef crest and reef slope.