Reef Life Survey

Reef Life Survey
Abbreviation RLS
Purpose Marine life monitoring programme
Location
  • Hobart
Region
Tasmania
Website reeflifesurvey.com

Reef Life Survey is a marine life monitoring programme[1] based in Hobart, Tasmania. It is international in scope, but predominantly Australian, as a large proportion of the volunteers are Australian. Most of the surveys are done by volunteer recreational divers, collecting biodiversity data for marine conservation. The database is available to marine ecology researchers, and is used by several marine protected area managements in Australia,[2][3] New Zealand, American Samoa and the eastern Pacific.

Function

Reef Life Survey provides data to improve biodiversity conservation and the sustainable management of marine resources. They collect and curate biodiversity information at spatial and temporal scales beyond those possible by most scientific dive teams which have to work with limited resources, by using volunteer recreational divers trained in the RLS survey procedures.[1][4] The University of Tasmania houses and manages the RLS database, and the data is freely available to the public for non-profit purposes through public outputs, including their website.

History

Reef Life Survey was started by researchers at the University of Tasmania and initially funded by the Commonwealth Environment Research Facilities (CERF) Program. This program is the core activity of the Reef Life Survey Foundation Incorporated – a not for profit Australian organisation.[1]

Personnel

Reef Life Survey includes a volunteer network of recreational scuba divers, trained in the relevant skills, and an Advisory Committee. The advisory committee is made up of managers and scientists who use the collected data, and representatives of the recreational diver network.[5]

Procedures

Diver swimming a transect for Reef Life Survey

Standard survey procedures are used matched to a variety of habitat topographies, and using simple equipment - waterproof clipboard with records sheet, underwater camera, and 50m surveyor's tape measure. The surveys are typically repeated at irregular intervals at listed sites, identified by GPS location, transect depth and direction, and are usually conducted as a pair of transects in opposite directions from the nominal position, at approximately constant depth. Data collected includes fish counts by visual census in a 5m x 5m corridor on both sides of the transect line (Method 1), mobile invertebrate counts in a 1m corridor on both sides of the line (Method 2), and photo-quadrats at 2.5m intervals along the 50m transect line. Manufactured debris may also be recorded. Off transect observations of interest are recorded separately (Method 0). Numbers and size class are recorded for fish, just numbers for most invertebrates.[6]

Data

Since 2006, divers have collected data for RLS from over 44 countries. As of September 2015, more than 4500 species have been recorded from over 7000 surveys.

Expeditions

A circumnavigation of Australia by volunteer citizen scientists aboard the sailing catamaran Reef Dragon left Port Davey, Tasmania, on February 16, 2013 on an counterclockwise journey around the continent of Australia and ended in February 2014 in Prince of Wales Bay, Hobart. During the voyage a marine baseline of reef biodiversity for the new Commonwealth Coral Sea Marine Reserve network was established.[7][8][9]

Publications

See also

References

  1. 1 2 3 Staff, RLS website home page http://reeflifesurvey.com/
  2. ↑ Staff, Parks Victoria: Reef Life Survey http://parkweb.vic.gov.au/park-management/environment/research-and-scientific-management/marine-monitoring/reef-life-survey
  3. ↑ Staff, Natural Resources Kangaroo Island: Reef life surveys http://www.naturalresources.sa.gov.au/kangarooisland/coast-and-marine/coast-marine-program/reefs
  4. ↑ Emily Gertz, Popular Science, 02-18-2014: Vast Underwater Survey Identifies Five Keys to Conserving Ocean Life http://www.popsci.com/article/science/vast-underwater-survey-identifies-five-keys-conserving-ocean-life
  5. ↑ Staff, RLS website: About RLS http://reeflifesurvey.com/about/about/
  6. ↑ RLS Staff (2913-04-15). "Standardised survey procedures for monitoring rocky & coral reef ecological communities" (PDF). Reef Life Survey. Retrieved 13 June 2014. Check date values in: |date= (help)
  7. ↑ Bruce Mounster, Mercury, February 20, 2014. Researchers map life under the sea http://www.themercury.com.au/news/tasmania/researchers-map-life-under-the-sea/story-fnj4f7k1-1226832033602
  8. ↑ Andrew Darby, Sydney Herald, February 21, 2014: Reef audit finds big fish lost http://www.smh.com.au/environment/conservation/reef-audit-finds-big-fish-lost-20140220-3342f.html
  9. ↑ Staff, University of Tasmania website: Twelve months at sea, 12,000 nautical miles: our citizen scientists get a real taste of Reef Life http://www.utas.edu.au/latest-news/utas-homepage-news/twelve-months-at-sea,-12,000-nautical-miles-our-citizen-scientists-get-a-real-taste-of-reef-life
  10. ↑ Edgar, Graham J.; Rick D. Stuart-Smith, Trevor J. Willis, Stuart Kininmonth, Susan C. Baker, Stuart Banks, Neville S. Barrett, Mikel A. Becerro, Anthony T. F. Bernard, Just Berkhout, Colin D. Buxton, Stuart J. Campbell, Antonia T. Cooper, Marlene Davey, Sophie C. Edgar, Günter Försterra, David E. Galván, Alejo J. Irigoyen, David J. Kushner, Rodrigo Moura, P. Ed Parnell, Nick T. Shears, German Soler, Elisabeth M. A. Strain & Russell J. Thomson (13 February 2014). "Global conservation outcomes depend on marine protected areas with five key features". Nature (506): 216–220. doi:10.1038/nature13022. Cite uses deprecated parameter |coauthors= (help)
  11. ↑ Edgar, Graham J; Rick D Stuart-Smith (2014). "Systematic global assessment of reef fish communities by the Reef Life Survey program". Scientific Data. doi:10.1038/sdata.2014.7.
  12. ↑ Edgar G.J., Barrett N.S. and Stuart-Smith R.D. (2009). Exploited reefs protected from fishing transform over decades into conservation features not otherwise present in the seascape. Ecological Applications, 19(8), 2009:1967–1974.
  13. ↑ Edgar, G.J. and Stuart-Smith, R.D. (2009). Ecological effects of marine protected areas on rocky reef communities: a continental-scale analysis. Marine Ecology Progress Series, 388:51-62 doi:10.3354/meps08149
  14. ↑ Stuart-Smith, Rick D.; Amanda E. Bates, Jonathan S. Lefcheck, J. Emmett Duffy, Susan C. Baker, Russell J. Thomson, Jemina F. Stuart-Smith, Nicole A. Hill, Stuart J. Kininmonth, Laura Airoldi, Mikel A. Becerro, Stuart J. Campbell, Terence P. Dawson, Sergio A. Navarrete, German A. Soler, Elisabeth M. A. Strain, Trevor J.Willis & Graham J. Edgar (26 September 2013). "Integrating abundance and functional traits reveals new global hotspots of fish diversity". Nature. Macmillan Publishers Limited. 501: 539–542. doi:10.1038/nature12529. Cite uses deprecated parameter |coauthors= (help)
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