ORCID Profile
0000-0003-3541-5727
Current Organisations
Southern Cross University
,
National Marine Science Centre
,
NSW Department of Primary Industries
Does something not look right? The information on this page has been harvested from data sources that may not be up to date. We continue to work with information providers to improve coverage and quality. To report an issue, use the Feedback Form.
Publisher: Royal Zoological Society of New South Wales
Date: 2017
DOI: 10.7882/AZ.2017.004
Publisher: MDPI AG
Date: 27-03-2022
DOI: 10.3390/D14040244
Abstract: The Sea Slug Census program in Australia engages with citizen scientists to record the ersity and distribution of sea slugs across multiple locations. The program has consistently recorded shifts in distribution patterns but a recent, nine-day census in subtropical eastern Australia recorded unprecedented range extensions of tropical species. Seven species (six chromodorids and one polycerid) were found further south of their previously known distribution with Hypselodoris bertschi being recorded for the first time in Australia. These observations suggested the recent transport of larvae via the East Australian Current with recruitment to coastal sites possibly promoted by a protracted period of strong onshore winds associated with the 2021/22 La Niña in the western Pacific. With the increasing frequency of poleward range extensions of marine taxa, citizen science programs such as the Sea Slug Census provide the opportunity to substantially increase monitoring efforts. Linking with iNaturalist strengthens the value of the observations through online peer review to confirm species identities as well as the incorporation of substantiated (Research Grade) records into international bio ersity databases such as GBIF.
Publisher: CSIRO Publishing
Date: 2017
DOI: 10.1071/RS17003
Abstract: The southwest coast of Western Australia is heavily influenced by the south-flowing Leeuwin Current. In summer, the current shifts and the north-flowing Capes Current delivers water from the south to nearshore environments and with it a supply of larvae from cooler waters. The nudibranch Tenellia catachroma (Burn, 1963) was considered restricted to Victorian waters however, its discovery in eastern South Australia in 2013 revealed its capacity to expand its range west. In March 2017 a single in idual was observed in shallow subtidal waters at Cape Peron, Western Australia, some 2000 km to the west of its previous range limit. Moreover, its distribution has extended northwards, possibly aided by the Capes Current, into a location of warming. This observation significantly increases the range for this Victorian emigrant to encompass most of the southern Australian coast, and also represents an equatorward shift at a time when the reverse is expected.
Publisher: Informa UK Limited
Date: 16-08-2016
Publisher: MDPI AG
Date: 04-11-2022
Abstract: There is a need for improved understanding of how climate-change driven rises in sea level and increased ocean temperatures will affect fish assemblages in rocky shore tidal pools. Rising sea levels are predicted to alter habitat availability and increasing ocean temperatures will drive tropicalisation, both of which are likely to alter tidal pool fish assemblages. Consequently, we examined changes in fish assemblages in tidal pools at four sites in Coffs Harbour, Australia, using baited video s ling. Data were collected seasonally at each site, in pools at differing tidal elevations. We identified significant differences in tidal pool fish assemblages among elevations and found that assemblages exhibited cyclic seasonal patterns. Modelling identified that ocean temperature was the most powerful factor for explaining variations in assemblages, followed by pool area and pool elevation. Results highlight that distinct fish assemblages occur in tidal pools at different elevations and indicate that assemblages at higher elevations could be squeezed out by rising sea levels and by increased competition from tropical fish species. Future conservation assessments are needed to determine whether latitudinal and vertical range shifts for tidal pool fishes are possible, with facilitation of these range shifts needed to address displacement of tidal pool fishes by rising sea levels and ocean temperatures.
Publisher: MDPI AG
Date: 04-09-2018
DOI: 10.3390/D10030099
Abstract: There is increasing evidence of poleward migration of a broad range of taxa under the influence of a warming ocean. However, patchy research effort, the lack of pre-existing baseline data, and taxonomic uncertainty for some taxa means that unambiguous interpretation of observations is often difficult. Here, we propose that heterobranch sea slugs provide a useful target group for monitoring shifts in distribution. As many sea slugs are highly colourful, popular with underwater photographers and rock-pool ramblers, and found in accessible habitats, they provide an ideal target for citizen scientist programs, such as the Sea Slug Census. This maximises our ability to rapidly gain usable ersity and distributional data. Here, we review records of recent range extensions by tropical species into the subtropical and temperate waters of eastern Australia and document, for the first time in Australian waters, observations of three tropical species of sea slug as well as range extensions for a further six to various locations in the Tasman Sea.
Publisher: CSIRO Publishing
Date: 2016
DOI: 10.1071/RS16011
Abstract: Although the Indo-Pacific is the global centre of ersity for the heterobranch sea slugs, their distribution remains, in many places, largely unknown. On the Australian east coast, their ersity decreases from approximately 1000 species in the northern Great Barrier Reef to fewer than 400 in Bass Strait. While occurrence records for some of the more populated sections of the coast are well known, data are patchy for more remote areas. Many species have very short lifecycles, so they can respond rapidly to changes in environmental conditions. The New South Wales coast is a recognised climate change hot-spot and southward shifts in distribution have already been documented for several species. However, thorough documentation of present distributions is an essential prerequisite for identifying further range extensions. While distribution data are available in the public realm, much is also held privately as photographic collections, diaries and logs. This paper consolidates the current occurrence data from both private and public sources as part of a broader study of sea slug distribution in south-eastern Australia and provides an inventory by region. A total of 382 species, 155 genera and 54 families is reported from the mainland coast of New South Wales.
Publisher: Royal Zoological Society of New South Wales
Date: 2017
DOI: 10.7882/AZ.2017.019
Publisher: Elsevier BV
Date: 11-2016
Publisher: Informa UK Limited
Date: 10-2020
Publisher: Cambridge University Press (CUP)
Date: 2015
Publisher: Cambridge University Press (CUP)
Date: 2015
DOI: 10.1017/S1755267215000524
Abstract: Southern range extensions of the tropical Australian heterobranch sea slug fauna may be symptomatic of climate change, particularly in south-eastern Australia, a recognized climate change hot-spot. In the Solitary Islands Marine Park, northern New South Wales, the presence of biogeographic mixing means that the southern coastal distribution limit of several tropical marine species and the northern limit of some temperate species overlap. During a year-long series of monthly surveys of sea slug communities on intertidal rocky shores, we observed four species beyond their previously recorded range – Colpodaspis thompsoni, Elysia pusilla, Phidiana bourailli and Herviella claror . The southern migration of species is an anticipated response to warming seas and we note an apparent extension of the southern limit for these taxa.
Publisher: Springer Science and Business Media LLC
Date: 07-2016
Publisher: Institute of Malacology
Date: 10-09-2020
DOI: 10.4002/040.063.0102
Publisher: Informa UK Limited
Date: 04-05-2017
Publisher: Informa UK Limited
Date: 06-02-2017
Publisher: MDPI AG
Date: 09-04-2021
Abstract: A recent taxonomic revision split the circumglobal sea hare Aplysia parvula into 10 constituent taxa, of which only three are likely to be found in the Southern Pacific. This prompted an investigation of animals previously identified as A. parvula from Australia. Specimens collected from Eastern Australia and Hunter Island, east of New Caledonia, could not be satisfactorily identified with any of the currently accepted taxa based on morphological diagnostic features listed in the revision however, the presence of a highly concave shell is diagnostic. Quantification of genetic ergence using Cytochrome Oxidase I (COI) supports the delineation of this species as a distinct taxon, and a phylogenetic reconstruction based on concatenated COI, 16S and H3 markers reveals a sister relationship with the newly described Aplysia ghanimii from the Atlantic and Western Indian Oceans and an undescribed species from Japan. As a result, the name Aplysia concava G. B. Sowerby, I, 1833 is resurrected for this species. As the original description was based solely on a shell, a redescription is provided here with photographs of living animals and microscope images of internal anatomical structures.
Publisher: MDPI AG
Date: 16-06-2021
Abstract: Conspecificity of the morphologically-similar, sympatric nudibranch species Dendrodoris gunnamatta (Allen, 1932) and Dendrodoris krusensternii (Gray, 1850) was tested using sequences of the mitochondrial COI gene. Data analysis supports the presence of phenotypic polymorphy in D. krusensternii where specimens from large estuaries and embayments in central New South Wales, Australia either lack or have highly reduced sky-blue ocellae.
Publisher: Australian Museum
Date: 24-11-2021
Publisher: CSIRO Publishing
Date: 2020
DOI: 10.1071/RS20002
Abstract: The distribution of heterobranch sea slugs is generally poorly documented at a regional scale. Thus, it is currently difficult to quantify bio ersity, identify endemic and invasive species, and track range shifts at scales relevant to conservation management. For Lord Howe Island, which lies ~600 km east of the New South Wales (NSW) mid-north coast, data from a range of taxa indicate high bio ersity and endemism, but this has not been examined for heterobranch sea slugs. To address this deficit, we collated occurrence data on sea slugs from both private and public sources, including museum records, scientific literature, field guides and citizen science activities. A total of 186 nominal (formally described) species in 82 genera and 31 families were identified from intertidal and subtidal habitats. Of these, two species are endemic to Lord Howe Island, two have not been recorded elsewhere in Australia, and 28 have not been recorded on the mainland coast of NSW. These results support studies of other taxa suggesting that the relative isolation of the island has facilitated the development of erse and unique assemblages. However, this isolation is moderated by larval transport from surrounding regions, resulting in considerable overlap of the species pool with the mainland coast of NSW and tropical areas to the north.
Publisher: MDPI AG
Date: 09-01-2023
DOI: 10.3390/D15010086
Abstract: The genus Smeagol consists of five named species of air-breathing marine slugs (restricted to southern Australia and New Zealand) and three undescribed taxa from southern Japan. Only one species, S. hilaris, is known to be from New South Wales (NSW), and it previously had a known distribution limited to one site, Merry Beach on the south coast. This diminutive invertebrate is classified as critically endangered in NSW due to its extremely restricted distribution and concern about its historically declining numbers. Accordingly, the aims of this study were to survey the known population of S. hilaris at Merry Beach and to explore other potentially suitable sites, using a visual census method, to determine if further populations or species exist in NSW. The resulting quantitative surveys of the known population and a new population at Storm Bay, Kiama, NSW, are reported here. DNA barcoding of a ~650 bp segment of the mitochondrial cytochrome c oxidase I (COI) gene for several in iduals from each population confirmed the conspecificity among the two populations. The population at Merry Beach was found to remain viable, while the discovery of the new population of S. hilaris represents a doubling of the known global populations of this species. Details of the highly-specialised niche habitat occupied by Smeagol in New South Wales and recommendations for ongoing management are documented.
Location: Australia
Start Date: 2017
End Date: 2020
Funder: Australian Biological Resources Study
View Funded Activity