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.

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DESCRIPTION OF ECOLOGICAL HABITAT/COMMUNITY FOR EXPERT ASSESSMENT
Corals 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)
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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 ASSESSMENT
This 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)

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2016 SOE ASSESSMENT SUMMARY [see attached Expert Assessment for full details]

• 2016 •
Assessment grade: Good
Assessment trend: Improving
Confidence grade: Limited evidence or limited consensus
Confidence trend: Limited evidence or limited consensus
Comparability: Grade and trend are somewhat comparable to the 2011 assessment
• 2011 •
Assessment grade: Good
Assessment trend: Stable
Confidence grade: Limited evidence or limited consensus
Confidence trend: Limited evidence or limited consensus

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CHANGES SINCE 2011 SOE ASSESSMENT
Evidence 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）海洋章节纳入了多份基于海洋数据流构建的专家模板。本元数据记录针对专家评估报告《生境与群落质量状况及趋势——深水珊瑚与海绵（30米-250米）》进行说明。完整的专家评估报告（含附图与附表，如已提供）已附于本记录中。若可获取，用于生成本专家评估的数据流可通过本记录的“在线资源”板块访问。

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专家评估用生态生境/群落说明
珊瑚与海绵为构建生境的生物类群，常通过为不同分类群的众多物种提供复杂的结构性栖息空间，提升深陆架水域的底栖生物多样性（Pitcher等，2007a；Buhl-Mortensen等，2010；Fromont等，2012）。多数珊瑚与海绵物种需要稳定的基底以供幼体附着及成体群落固着，因此通常与移动底质或软沉积生境无关联。尽管人们常将珊瑚与热带水域挂钩，但珊瑚物种广泛分布于澳大利亚陆架水域，可成为冷水生物群落的重要组成部分。冷水珊瑚包括石珊瑚（Scleractinia）、黑珊瑚（Antipatharia）以及八放珊瑚（Alcyonacea）。

我们对澳大利亚水域内超出常规潜水深度的此类类群的认知，主要来自数项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）、东南部、西北部及西南西部海域，以及洛德豪/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”物种（sensu Hooper等，2013）（McEnnulty等，2011；Fromont等，2012；Alderslade等，2014）。例如，大堡礁的海绵类群是多样性最高且稀有程度最高的类群（Pitcher等，2007a），部分已发现的丰度最高的海绵为新物种（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）。为增进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进行了综述（Davis等，2010）。

近期（2008年起），集成海洋观测系统（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个节点处，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，将可对固定监测点位的深陆架礁体海绵与珊瑚的状况及趋势开展长期监测，并为未来的《环境状况报告》评估提供支撑。尽管通过此类影像未必总能完成物种鉴定，但目前已建立全国统一的鉴定框架，可尽可能精细地对影像进行标注（CATAMI 参考文献）。初步分析（如Perkins等，2015）显示其多样性模式与前述生物多样性调查相似，即点位间多样性高且物种更替率高（如Monk等，待刊）。

珊瑚与海绵常被用作底栖“脆弱海洋生态系统”（Vulnerable Marine Ecosystems, VME）的指示物种，用于保护规划（联合国粮食及农业组织（FAO），2008；Tracey等，2008；Williams等，2015）。

海绵滤食大量水体的能力使其成为底栖生境与上覆水柱之间的关键纽带（WAMSI，2016）。近期对浅珊瑚礁生产力的研究表明，海绵的滤食作用可贡献浮游与底栖生态系统间90%的营养耦合（参考文献）。这种营养耦合在深水礁体及温带纬度区域同样普遍。截至目前，澳大利亚各馆藏中深水海绵的物种级鉴定尚未实现标准化，但未来可通过SpongeMaps——一款面向海绵分类学家的在线协作工具（Hooper等，2013；Hall & Hooper，2014）——达成这一目标。

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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（CSIRO）数据拖网系统http://www.cmar.csiro.au/data/trawler/获取）。具体数据集的链接已在本记录的“在线资源”板块提供。
• 西北勘探航次（SS05/2007）
• 西南勘探航次（SS07/2005 与 SS10/2005）
• 塔斯马尼亚海山调查（SS01/1999、SS02/2006 与 SS02/2007、SS01/2008 与 TT01/2008）
• 巨型蟹生境与种群评估（2003-2005）
• 卡奔塔利亚湾调查：桁拖网大型底栖生物（SS03/1990）
• 托雷斯海峡生物与物理属性制图与表征（底栖拖橇（Epibenthic Sled））
• 大堡礁海底生物多样性项目（采用底栖拖橇（Epibenthic Sled）采样）

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2016年《环境状况报告》评估摘要（完整详情请参阅附件中的专家评估报告）
• 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：本次评估的等级与趋势与2011年评估具有一定可比性
• 2011年
评估等级：良好
评估趋势：稳定
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

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2011年《环境状况报告》评估以来的变更
温带东区域2011年获得的良好等级的依据尚不明确，基于5个海洋区域的拖网足迹新信息，此前对东区域的该等级评定被认为存在错误。