INTERNAL  USE   Page  1  

 The  UTS  Fish  Ecology  lab  has  had  an  eventful  and  successful  year  in  2014!    While  we  sadly  farewelled  Kerryn  after  a  decade  at  UTS,  Sam  Philp  has  ably  stepped  up  to  the  plate  as  lab  tech  officer.    The  departure  of  David  Feary  (Univ  Nottingham)  and  Fowler  (NSW  DPI  Fisheries)  has  also  left  quite  a  gap,  but  both  are  gainfully  employed  and  great  contacts  for  the  future!    Grant  success  in  the  form  of  an  Ian  Potter  award  and  several  Industry  research  grants,  plus  an  impressive  swag  of  lab  publications  have  added  to  the  good  progress  we  are  making  in  research.    We  have  been  assisted  by  a  number  of  lab  and  field  volunteers.    I  also  want  to  particularly  thank  all  lab  members  for  support  given  to  me  during  my  bereavement  this  year,  it  really  helped!    And  especially  to  Selma  for  her  help  in  eroding  the  mountain  of  marking  that  arrived  at  the  wrong  time!    I  hope  this  short  newsletter  is  the  first  of  many  (to  summarise  events  in  the  previous  quarter),  it's  a  great  way  to  summarise  what  we  are  doing,  for  ourselves  and  also  to  others.  If  you  didn’t  contribute  to  it  please  stand  by  for  the  next  call  for  info,  probably  around  February  or  so.    Hope  everyone  has  a  break  over  the  Xmas  period,  and  has  a  great  2015.    Cheers    Dave    

   

Recent  Work    David  Booth  &  Sam  Philp    Habitat  enhancement  of  boating  infrastructure  to  promote  fish  recruitment  (project  funded  by  Transport  for  NSW)  Public  floating  pontoons  throughout  Sydney  Harbour,  Pittwater,  Botany  Bay  and  Port  Hacking  used  to  attach  simple  habitat  structures  (milk  crates)  underneath  in  an  attempt  to  provide  shelter  and  promote  larval  fish  recruitment  in  an  attempt  to  make  pontoons  more  ‘fish  friendly’  at  minimal  cost.  Crates  have  been  rolled  out  throughout  Sydney  Harbour,  Pittwater  and  Botany  Bay  with  a  second  stage  looking  at  Port  Hacking  and  a  reef-­‐plate  unit  comparison  (Reef  Design  Lab  ©)  (Figure  2)  

                                                       

   

 

Figure  1:  Dave  with  crate  habitat  structure  at  Andrew  (boy)  Charlton  Pool.  

 

Figure  2:  Reef  plates  to  be  trialled  

 

Figure  3:  Fish  already  curious  re  milk  crate  reefs  in  situ  

 

December

2014

   

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Recent  Papers  and  Grants  (Received  June-­‐Dec  2014)    Transport  for  NSW  ($30,000):  Habitat  enhancement  of  boating  infrastructure  to  promote  fish  recruitment    

SHELL-­‐TODD  ($40,000)  “Assessment  of  the  fish  and  invertebrate  communities  associated  with  gas  platforms  off  the  northwest  coast  of  New  Zealand    Paloma  Matis    APA  Award  

   

Papers  since  Sept  2014  1. Fowler A, Macreadie P, Booth D (in press) "Should we 'reef' obsolete oil platforms?" Proc National Academy of Sciences

 2. McGowan, N., Fowler, A. M., Parkinson, K., Bishop, D. P., Ganio, K., Doble, P. A., Booth DJ (2014). Beyond the transect: An alternative microchemical imaging method for fine scale analysis of trace elements in fish otoliths during early life. The Science of the Total Environment, 494-495, 177–186. doi:10.1016/j.scitotenv.2014.05.1

 3. Thomson ACG, York PH, Smith TM, Sherman C, Booth DJ, Keough MJ, Ross DJ, Macreadie PI (2014) Seagrass Viviparous Propagules as a Potential Long-Distance Dispersal Mechanism. Estuaries and Coasts DOI 10.1007/s12237-014-9850-1

 4. Adriana Vergés1,2,5⇑, Peter D. Steinberg1,5,6, Mark E. Hay7, Alistair G. B. Poore2,5, Alexandra H. Campbell1,2,5, Enric Ballesteros8, Kenneth L. Heck Jr9, David J. Booth5,10, Melinda A. Coleman11, David A. Feary5,10, Will Figueira5,12, Tim Langlois13, Ezequiel M. Marzinelli1,5, Toni Mizerek5,14, Peter J. Mumby15, Yohei Nakamura16, Moninya Roughan3,5, Erik van Sebille4, Alex Sen Gupta4, Dan A. Smale13,17, Fiona Tomas18,19, Thomas Wernberg13 and Shaun K. Wilson13,20 (2014) The tropicalization of temperate marine ecosystems: climate-mediated changes in herbivory and community

phase shifts. Proc. R. Soc. B 20140846. http://dx.doi.org/10.1098/rspb.2014.0846

 5. Donelson JM, McCormick MI, Booth DJ, Munday PL (2014) Reproductive Acclimation to Increased Water Temperature in a Tropical Reef Fish. PLoS ONE 9(5): e97223. doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0097223

   

Conference  and  grant  update      ACRS  2014:    Big  UTS  presence,  Fish  Ecology  Lab  5  contributed  papers,  and  3  members  on  ACRS  Council.        ASFB/ISSESR  Conference  2015,  August  UTS    

                                 

 Grants      

http://www.australiancoralreefsociety.org/student-­‐awards    http://www.amsa.asn.au/students/international.php    http://www.ecolsoc.org.au/students/awards-­‐and-­‐grants/jill-­‐landsberg    http://www.gbrmpa.gov.au/managing-­‐the-­‐reef/how-­‐the-­‐reefs-­‐managed/science-­‐and-­‐research/science-­‐for-­‐management-­‐awards  

       

   

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Thesis  completions    PhD  submitted    (Dr!) Hayden Beck “Tropical fish recruitment success varies among temperate reef habitats, potentially impacting their range expansion” Hayden  says:    “Following  submitting  my  thesis  for  examination  in  November,  I  have  been  working  as  an  environmental  advisor  for  a  dredging  project  in  WA.  I  will  be  giving  an  oral  presentation  of  my  thesis  on  17th  Dec  at  UTS.”      Honours  Students    Alyssa  Kanyasi:  Age,  growth  and  movement  of  the  shortfin  mako  shark,  Isurus  oxyrinchus,  in  Australia  waters  STOP  PRESS-­‐  1ST  CLASS  HONOURS!!  CONGRATS!!    Graeme  Poleweski:  The  potential  of  tropical  fish  to  persist  in  current  and  future  winter  sea  temperatures  in  south-­‐eastern  Australia  STOP  PRESS-­‐  1ST  CLASS  HONOURS!!  CONGRATS!!        

 Undergraduate  Research  Project  Students    Alice  Pidd:  Independent  and  combined  effects  of  temperature  and  salinity  on  estuarine  species,  Enoplosus  armatus,  endemic  to  Australia:  Implications  of  a  changing  climate    Jonathan  Lee:  Climate  Change  Temperature  and  Salinity  Implications  on  Enoplosus  Armatus  Fish  in  Botany  Bay  New  South  Wales      Justin  Tierney:  Influence  of  developmental  water  temperature  on  growth,  body  condition  and  energy  allocation  of  tropical  vagrant  reef  fish  with  focus  on  Abedefduf  vaigiensis    Shannen  Smith:  Determining  coastal  migratory  behaviour  of  Mugil  cephalus  on  the  NSW  coast  using  otolith  microchemistry    Seminars  given    • ACRS- 5 Fish Ecology Lab Researhcrs (Donelson, Klanten, Booth, Matis, O’Connor)

 • David Booth: Northside forum Great Barrier Reef: http://northsideforum.org.au/forum-31-great-barrier-reef-nov-1/

 • David Booth: Central coast discovery centre Public lecture series

   

                     

• David Booth: Keynote Address, DECOMM world workshop Kuala Lumpur November 2014: Environmental aspects of oil rig decommissioning

 Media  (incomplete)      

• BBC Scotland http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b04d51qd • BBC world http://www.bbc.com/news/world-australia-29705818 • Guardian http://www.theguardian.com/environment/blog/2014/nov/05/small-fish-in-a-big-pond-the-plight-of-the-lemon-damsel-fish • ABC overnight on sustainable seafood http://www.abc.net.au/overnights/stories/s4129626.htm • Other press: SMH, Merimbula Monitor, Daily Telegraph

   

Project  updates    Booth  • Vagrant fish: annual field surveys start soon, year 15!! • Deep sea: new work on video archive footage with Shell-Todd, possibly more with BHP. • Biotic connectivity ARC Linkage grant

   

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 Donelson  

“I am currently 2 years into my research fellowship at UTS. The past year has been spent running a large scale experiment on fish collected from the Northern GBR. It included adults and recent recruits of up to 15 species of coral reef fish. Currently I am beginning to analyse the data collected from this experiment. In early 2014 Dave and I had the following publication published at PLoS One on the ability for a reef damselfish to improve reproductive performance when reared at elevated temperature for its entire life (Donelson et al 2014-see below). In late 2014 a team that I am a part of was successful in a large grant from the King Abdullah University of Science and Technology to investigate the transcription program and the epigenome of transgenerational acclimation to climate change in reef fishes.”

Klanten  “I  recently  finished  some  outstanding  lab  work  at  the  PC2  Molecular  Laboratories  at  SIMS  in  Chowder  Bay,  Mossman.  This  involved  amplifying  3  mitochondrial  loci  (cytochrome  b,  control  region  and  cytochrome  oxidase  I)  for  two  vagrant  species:    

• Pomacentrus coelestis • Abudefduf vaigiensis

In  total  207  samples  were  sequenced  and  are  currently  edited  for  analyses  and  publication.  Preliminary  results  of  one  vagrant’s  movement,  Chaetodon  auriga  (butterflyfish),  along  the  East  Coast  of  Australia  via  the  EAC  (East  Australian  Current)  demonstrated  the  incredible  ability  of  recruits    (approx.  3-­‐8  cm  long,  very  young  fish)  to  ‘travel’  more  than  1356.40  nautical  miles  (~2500  km),  or  along  a  gradient  of  220  of  latitude  (from  Lizard  Island,  North  QLD  to  Merimbula,  southern  NSW).    This  preliminary  result  was  present  at  the  recent  ACRS  (Australian  Coral  Reef  Society)  conference  in  Brisbane  (28  Aug  2014).    Ongoing  genetics  analyses  for  tropical  vagrants,  seadragons  (inc  citizen  sample  collection  at  Eden).”    

Bramwell  "My  research  seeks  to  describe  trends  in  seagrass  fish  communities  with  distance  from  intertidal  rocky  reefs  or  platforms  in  Jervis  Bay.  To  do  this  transects  were  lain  in  the  seagrass  with  increasing  distance  away  from  the  reef  and  several  parameters  measured  along  these.  As  well  as  collecting  fish  using  a  seine  net  and  recording  fish  abundance  and  behaviour  with  Go-­‐Pro  cameras  attached  to  stakes,  zooplankton,  benthic  invertebrates,  fish  for  stomach  content  analysis,  and  

seagrass  shoots  for  morphological  and  epiphyte  load  comparisons  were  collected.  Much  of  this  past  year  was  spent  in  the  lab  sorting  and  processing  the  material  collected  over  the  January-­‐February  2014  sampling  period.  To  complete  the  project  an  aquarium  experiment  will  be  run  at  the  beginning  of  next  year  (2015)  to  observe  fish's  choice  of  habitat  when  offered  several  habitat  combinations  under  different  conditions  of  food  availability  and  predator  presence/absence."    

Gwenael  Cadiou  “I  am  currently  busy  analysing  data  and  writing  up.  At  the  end  of  June  I  have  finished  my  field  work  with  DPI  retrieving  the  acoustic  receivers  from  Newcastle  to  Moruya  (receivers  gating  the  main  estuaries  and  coastal  lagoons)  and  from  the  Georges,  Shoalhaven  and  Clyde  rivers.  I  presented  some  on  my  PhD  work  at  the  last  AMSA  conference  in  Canberra  in  July.”  

Multi-­‐scale  movement  patterns  and  field  metabolic  rates  in  luderick  Girella  tricuspidata  using  acoustic  accelerometer.  G.  Cadiou,  D.J.  Booth,  M.D.  Taylor  and  N.L.  Payne.  51st  Annual  conference,  Australian  Marine  Sciences  Association.  6-­‐10  July  2014,  Canberra.                                                

       

   

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 Photos  

 At  Labor  NSW  Marine  Parks  announcement    

   Northside  forum  with  Val  Taylor    

     

Northside  forum  GBR  talk  and  panel  discussion    

     

Tagging  shot  for  Guardian  story,  James  Woodford  

   Nikki  in  battle  regalia  at  Jervis  Bay    

   

 Gwen  Diving  in  the  Clyde  River