Corals of the north west of Western Australia: biogeography and considerations for dredging-related research.

To guide the choice of coral species for the laboratory experiments on the effects of dredging activities on adult and juvenile corals, the biogeographic distribution of hard corals in Western Australia (WA) was examined over a ~2,500 km latitudinal gradient from Ashmore Reef (12°S) in the Timor Sea to the Recherche Archipelago near Esperance (34°S).
Since the laboratory studies are based in Townsville (central Great Barrier Reef (GBR)) using locally collectedcorals, the WA coral distributions were also compared with the species list from the inner and mid-shelf reefs of the central GBR.
Using data from multiple sources, but principally studies conducted in association with the Western Australia Museum (WAM), all available data was manually transcribed from the printed, hard copy reports into a spreadsheet database together with digital records from the east coast held by the Museum of Tropical Queensland (MTQ).
The resulting list of ~3,500 records was grouped to 19 locations and then sorted according to family, genus and species. Each entry was validated against the World Register of Marine Species (WORMS) database to account for synonymized species, and also for several recent major taxonomic changes which would otherwise confound attempts to relate the results from older to the newer studies.
Of the WA records, the total hard coral species count was 361 species from 17 Families and 83 genera. The highest species count (253 species) was recorded at Scott Reef (North and South Scott Reef and Seringapatam).
The Family Acroporidae was the most speciose, followed by the Merulindae, Fungiidae and Poritidae. The genus Acropora was the most speciose. Species number decreased with increasing latitude to <10 species on the south west coast, and this attenuation of species, as opposed to species replacement, is a feature of scleractinian biogeography.
Cluster analysis of a matrix based on the Sørensen similarity index for all sites shows a distinct division between the more tropical, reefal areas and more sub-tropical and temperate non-reef areas. This clustering pattern is well known (see Veron and Marsh (1988) and Veron (1995)).
The central GBR corals clustered closely with the tropical groups from WA and of the ~240 species of hard corals found in the inshore/offshore Pilbara region, ~65% are found in the central GBR giving a large pool (154 coral species) to select for the laboratory studies.
Multiple different criteria were used to select the test species, including that they (1) are present on both the east and west coasts, (2) have a wide distribution, (3) are from different families, (4) have different morphologies (including branching, foliose and massive macroskeletal growth form), (4) can be easily identified and collected, (5) are amenable to laboratory culture, and (6) that they have different reproductive strategies (including broadcast spawning and brooding modes of reproduction). Nine coral species were selected for laboratory study:
two species from each of the family Acroporiidae (Acropora millepora, A. tenuis and Montipora aequituberculata, M. capricornis), Poritidae (Porites lutea and P. lobata) and Dendrophylliidae (Turbinaria mesenterina and T. reniformis) and one each from the Family Pocilloporidae (Pocillopora damicornis) and Merulinidae (Goniastrea
retiformis).

This dataset record is provided by Parks Australia to highlight research conducted within or relevant to Australian Marine Parks. The original publication and associated intellectual property remain with the source organisation.
This publication was previously made available via the Australian Marine Parks Science Atlas and is provided here to maintain access following the decommissioning of that platform


Tags: Australian marine parks, Kimberley, biogeographic distribution, hard coral species diversity, western australia
Organization: Parks Australia