2016 SoE Marine Chapter - State and Trends - Deepwater corals and sponges (30 m – 250 m)

The Marine chapter of the 2016 State of the Environment (SoE) report incorporates multiple expert templates developed from streams of marine data. This metadata record describes the Expert Assessment "The state and trends of quality of habitats and communities – Deepwater corals and sponges (30 m – 250 m)". The full Expert Assessment, including figures and tables (where provided), is attached to this record. Where available, the Data Stream(s) used to generate this Expert Assessment are accessible through the "On-line Resources" section of this record.----------------------------------------DESCRIPTION OF ECOLOGICAL HABITAT/COMMUNITY FOR EXPERT ASSESSMENTCorals and sponges are habitat-forming biota that often enhance benthic biodiversity in deep shelf waters by providing complex structural living spaces for a large number of other species from a variety of taxa (Pitcher et al. 2007a, Buhl-Mortensen et al. 2010, Fromont et al. 2012). Most species of corals and sponges need stable substrata for larva to settle and attachment of adult colonies, thus they are usually not associated with mobile or soft-sediment habitats. While corals are often thought of as being associated with tropical waters, coral species are found throughout Australia’s shelf waters and can make up a significant component of the cold-water assemblage. Coldwater corals include stony corals (Scleractinia), black corals (Antipatharia), and octocorals (Alcyonacea). Our knowledge of these taxa in Australian waters below typical diving depths stems mainly from a few broad-scale biodiversity surveys covering the Gulf of Carpentaria (Long et al. 1995; Harris et al. 2007; Bustamante et al. 2011), Great Barrier Reef shelf (Pitcher et al. 2007a), Torres Strait (Pitcher et al. 2007b), Pilbara (Pitcher et al. 2016b), southern south-east, north-west, and western south –west regions, and the Lord Howe/ Norfolk ridge area (McEnnulty et al. 2011, Williams et al. 2011, Dunstan et al. 2012). Both corals and sponges were found to be highly diverse with many undescribed species, as well as many ‘unknown’ (sensuHooper et al. 2013) species (McEnnulty et al. 2011, Fromont et al. 2012, Alderslade et al. 2014). For example, sponges in the GBR were the most diverse group with the highest levels of rarity (Pitcher et al. 2007a) and some of the most abundant sponges discovered were new species (Sutcliffe et al. 2010). In addition, species turn-over between samples was extremely high for both taxa (Schlacher et al. 2007, Fromont et al. 2012, Alderslade et al. 2014). The sponge fauna of NSW shelf waters was reviewed in order to improve our understanding in east coast subtropical and temperate waters (Davis et al. 2010).Recently (2008 onwards), IMOS has funded an AUV program that allows repeat photographic surveys to document the cross-shelf distribution of reef associated benthic invertebrate assemblages at a broad set of latitudinally spaced nodes along Australia’s eastern and western coastlines. This program, if continued, will allow long-term monitoring of the state and trend of deep shelf reef sponges and corals at a fixed set of sites and feed into future SoE assessments. While species identifications are not always possible from such imagery, a national identification framework has been established for consistently annotating this imagery to the finest scale possible (CATAMI refs), and initial analysis (e.g. Perkins et al. 2015) demonstrates patterns similar to the biodiversity surveys above, with high diversity and high species turnover between locations samples (e.g. Monk et al., in press). Both sponges and corals are frequently used as indicators of benthic ‘vulnerable marine ecosystems’ (VME) in conservation planning (FAO 2008, Tracey et al. 2008, Williams et al. 2015). The ability of sponges to filter large volumes of water makes them a critical link between the benthos and the overlaying water column (WAMSI 2016), and recent studies of productivity on shallow coral reefs suggest that filter feeding by sponges may account for up to 90% of the trophic coupling between pelagic and benthic ecosystems (ref). Such coupling is equally likely on deeper reefs and temperate latitudes as well. The species-level identification of deepwater sponges has not been standardised across Australian collections at this stage; however, this may be possible in the future through SpongeMaps, an online collaboration tool for sponge taxonomists (Hooper et al. 2013; Hall & Hooper 2014). DATA STREAM(S) USED IN EXPERT ASSESSMENTThis assessment is based on data from several Marine National Facility Surveys (available via CSIRO Data Trawler http://www.cmar.csiro.au/data/trawler/). Links to specific data sets are provided in the "On-line resources" section of this record.• Voyage of Discovery north-west (SS05/2007)• Voyage of Discovery south-west (SS07/2005 & SS10/2005)• Tasmanian seamounts surveys (SS01/1999, SS02/2006 & SS02/2007, SS01/2008 & TT01/2008)• Habitat and population assessment of giant crabs (2003 - 2005) • Gulf of Carpentaria survey : beam trawl megabenthos (SS03/1990)• Mapping & Characterisation of Biotic & Physical Attributes of the Torres Strait (Epibenthic Sled)• Great Barrier Reef Seabed Biodiversity Project (Epibenthic Sled)----------------------------------------2016 SOE ASSESSMENT SUMMARY [see attached Expert Assessment for full details]• 2016 •Assessment grade: GoodAssessment trend: ImprovingConfidence grade: Limited evidence or limited consensusConfidence trend: Limited evidence or limited consensusComparability: Grade and trend are somewhat comparable to the 2011 assessment• 2011 •Assessment grade: GoodAssessment trend: StableConfidence grade: Limited evidence or limited consensusConfidence trend: Limited evidence or limited consensus----------------------------------------CHANGES SINCE 2011 SOE ASSESSMENTEvidence for the good 2011 grade for the Temperate East Region is unclear and it is suggested that this previous grade for the East Region was incorrect based on new information on trawl footprints in the 5 marine regions.2016年环境状况报告（State of the Environment, SoE）的海洋章节整合了多份基于多股海洋数据流生成的专家模板。本元数据记录对应专家评估报告《栖息地与群落质量现状及趋势——深度30米至250米的深水珊瑚与海绵》。本记录附带完整的专家评估报告，含附图及附表（如已提供）。本评估所依托的数据流（如可获取）可通过本记录的“在线资源”板块查阅。 ---------------------------------------- 专家评估用生态栖息地/群落描述 珊瑚与海绵均为造栖生物类群，它们通过为多分类群的大量物种提供复杂的结构性栖息空间，常提升深水陆架水域的底栖生物多样性（Pitcher等，2007a；Buhl-Mortensen等，2010；Fromont等，2012）。绝大多数珊瑚与海绵物种需要稳定的底质以完成幼虫附着及成体群落固着，因此通常不会与活动性强的底质或软沉积型生境相关联。尽管人们常将珊瑚与热带水域绑定，但澳大利亚陆架水域全域均有珊瑚物种分布，且可在冷水群落中占据重要组成份额。冷水珊瑚包括石珊瑚目（Scleractinia）、黑珊瑚目（Antipatharia）及八放珊瑚亚纲（Alcyonacea）类群。 我们对澳大利亚水域中超出常规潜水深度的上述类群的认知，主要源自少数大范围生物多样性调查：涵盖卡奔塔利亚湾（Long等，1995；Harris等，2007；Bustamante等，2011）、大堡礁陆架（Pitcher等，2007a）、托雷斯海峡（Pitcher等，2007b）、皮尔巴拉地区（Pitcher等，2016b）、东南南部、西北及西南西部海域，以及豪勋爵岛/诺福克海脊区域（McEnnulty等，2011；Williams等，2011；Dunstan等，2012）。研究发现珊瑚与海绵类群多样性极高，包含大量未描述物种，以及诸多“未知类群（sensu Hooper等，2013）”（McEnnulty等，2011；Fromont等，2012；Alderslade等，2014）。例如，大堡礁海域的海绵类群是多样性最高且稀有程度最高的类群（Pitcher等，2007a），部分发现的丰度最高的海绵均为新物种（Sutcliffe等，2010）。此外，两类群的样本间物种更替率极高（Schlacher等，2007；Fromont等，2012；Alderslade等，2014）。为加深对东海岸亚热带及温带水域的认知，研究人员对新南威尔士州陆架水域的海绵动物群开展了综述（Davis等，2010）。 近期（2008年起），澳大利亚综合海洋观测系统（Integrated Marine Observing System, IMOS）资助了一项自主水下航行器（Autonomous Underwater Vehicle, AUV）项目，该项目可开展重复摄影调查，以记录澳大利亚东西海岸沿纬度分布的多组节点处与礁体相关的底栖无脊椎动物群落的跨陆架分布格局。若该项目持续推进，将可对固定站点的深水陆架礁体海绵与珊瑚的现状及趋势开展长期监测，并为后续的环境状况报告评估提供支撑。尽管通过此类影像无法始终完成物种鉴定，但目前已建立国家级物种鉴定框架，可尽可能精细地对该类影像进行统一标注（CATAMI相关参考文献），初步分析（如Perkins等，2015）显示其分布格局与前述生物多样性调查结果一致，即各采样点位间多样性高且物种更替率高（如Monk等，即刊）。 珊瑚与海绵常被用作保护规划中底栖“脆弱海洋生态系统（Vulnerable Marine Ecosystems, VME）”的指示类群（FAO，2008；Tracey等，2008；Williams等，2015）。海绵过滤大量水体的特性使其成为底栖群落与上层水柱之间的关键纽带（西澳大利亚海洋科学研究所，Western Australian Marine Science Institution, WAMSI，2016），近期对浅海珊瑚礁生产力的研究表明，海绵的滤食作用可贡献浮游生态系统与底栖生态系统之间高达90%的营养耦合（参考文献）。此类营养耦合在深水礁体及温带海域同样普遍存在。截至目前，澳大利亚各馆藏机构尚未统一深水海绵的物种级鉴定标准，但未来可通过《海绵地图集》（SpongeMaps）实现这一目标，该平台是海绵分类学家的在线协作工具（Hooper等，2013；Hall & Hooper，2014）。 ---------------------------------------- 专家评估所用数据流 本评估基于多项海洋国家设施调查数据（可通过澳大利亚联邦科学与工业研究组织（Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation, CSIRO）数据拖网平台http://www.cmar.csiro.au/data/trawler/ 获取）。本记录的“在线资源”板块提供了各具体数据集的链接： • 西北海域发现之旅航次（SS05/2007） • 西南海域发现之旅航次（SS07/2005及SS10/2005） • 塔斯马尼亚海山调查（SS01/1999、SS02/2006及SS02/2007、SS01/2008及TT01/2008） • 巨型蟹栖息地与种群评估（2003-2005） • 卡奔塔利亚湾调查：桁拖网大型底栖生物采样（SS03/1990） • 托雷斯海峡生物与物理属性测绘与表征（底栖生物雪橇采样） • 大堡礁海底生物多样性项目（底栖生物雪橇采样） ---------------------------------------- 2016年环境状况报告评估总结【完整细节请参阅附带的专家评估报告】 • 2016年 评估等级：良好 评估趋势：向好 置信等级：证据有限或共识不足 置信趋势：证据有限或共识不足 可比性：本次评估等级与趋势与2011年评估具有一定可比性 • 2011年 评估等级：良好 评估趋势：平稳 置信等级：证据有限或共识不足 置信趋势：证据有限或共识不足 ---------------------------------------- 2011年环境状况报告评估以来的变化 有证据表明，2011年对温带东海岸区域给出的良好评级依据不足；基于5个海洋区域的拖网足迹新信息，该区域此前的评级被认为不准确。