Metadata record for data expected from ASAC project 131 (ASAC_131). Taken from the referenced publication: The diet of Heard Island cormorants was investigated by examination of casts over three summer seasons. The diet was composed of mainly benthic organisms, with polychaetes being the most common prey for the greater part of the population. Fish were taken commonly only by the small breeding population at the western end of the island, whereas elsewhere only 22% of casts contained any fish remains at all. The diet is therefore different from that reported for Phalacrocorax atriceps at other localities.

Fish larvae were sampled along a five-station transect extending from inshore (18m depth) to offshore waters (1000m depth) of the coast of South-Western Australia (see thumbnail). 148 taxa from 93 teleost families were identified. The temporal and spatial structure of the fish assemblages were analysed in relation to the environmental variables. Assemblages were closely correlated to water masses (Capes and Leeuwin Current)

Abundances of reef fish larvae, conspecific adults and habitat type were measured at 5 sites in the Lord Howe Island lagoon. Light traps were deployed daily over a 28 day period in November and December 2004 to estimated larvae abundances. Transects and visual surveys were used to estimate adult abundances and habitat type. Physical characteristics of the lagoon were measured using current meters, tide and wave gauges and the lunar phase was recorded. Abundances of fish larvae was spatially and temporally variable. Different sites had different habitat type and variable adult abundances. Neither habitat type or adult abundances explained spatial variability in fish larvae. Temporal variability in fish larvae was best explained by the moon phase. There was little difference in physical characteristics between sites.

The Western King Prawn species (Penaeus latisculcatus) is landed from South Australian (SA) waters. The prawn industry in SA is divided into the Gulf St Vincent, Spencer Gulf, and West Coast fisheries. A separate fishery in Investigator Strait operated until 1986/87 when it was amalgamated into the Gulf St Vincent fishery. The Gulf St Vincent fishery was closed in 1991/92 and 1992/93. The West Coast fishery was voluntarily closed in 1992/93. This system monitors catch and effort fluctuations in the state's prawn industry. The quantity of prawns (kg) and effort (hours trawled) to catch the prawns are recorded for each fishing period from records submitted by the trawler operators.

Larval fishes are a useful metric of marine ecosystem state and change, as well as species-specific patterns in phenology. This information sheds light on larval distribution and spawning for fisheries management needs. This dataset includes larval fish abundances collected from 12 voyages around Australia since 1983, as well as more recent data from the Marine National Facility (MNF). The backbone of the dataset is from five Integrated Marine Observing Systems (IMOS) National Reference Stations (NRS) (North Stradbroke, Port Hacking, Maria Island, Kangaroo Island and Rottnest Island), between 2014 and 2021 as part of the IMOS Larval Fish Monitoring Sub-Facility of the National Mooring Network Facility (data currently available up to 2021). This adds information to the biological, ecological and oceanic measurements already sampled at these long-term monitoring sites. For information on using the data from the NRS stations and research voyages, please refer to Smith et al., 2018. It is advised that anyone using this data should read this methodology or contact the project contact person to understand the nuances of each sampling and analysis chain. The fish larvae product is available as raw count product, where fish larvae are classified to the lowest taxonomic level possible (with 228 taxonomic groups identified so far, at either the Family, Genus, or Species level). Associated metadata includes location, temperature, salinity, net type, and tow volume. There is a static snapshot of the database as at March 2018 (https://dx.doi.org/10.4225/69/5ab33c62f9c52), and this has been documented in a Scientific Data publication (Smith et al., 2018). This metadata record provides access to the dynamic (most recent) version of the database, which can serve as a data repository for survey of larval fish assemblages in the region.

Study on genetic structure, demography and recruitment of several species of marine invertebrates.

Metadata record for data from AAS (ASAC) project 2926. Public Summary DNA based approaches will be used to study key features of the ecology of whales, penguins and krill. Standard methods cannot accurately estimate what prey species these predators consume, how old they are, or how they are related to the rest of their species. This project will apply novel DNA based methods to biopsy or scat samples as a non-invasive means of improving our understanding of the diet, age and population structure of these important predators. Project objectives: The overall objective of this project is to use molecular biology to study aspects of the ecology of key Southern Ocean predators that cannot be addressed with other methodologies. The organisms that the project would focus upon have been chosen because they are large biomass components of the Southern Ocean food web and because they are important to the Australian Governments commitments to the Commission for the Conservation of Antarctic Marine Living Resources (CCAMLR) and the International Whaling Commission (IWC). This project is integral to the work of the Australian Centre for Applied Marine Mammal Science (ACAMMS) that has recently been formed within the Science Branch of the AAD. The focus predators are baleen whales (primarily Minke whales, Balaenoptera edeni and Humpback whales, Megaptera novaengliae), Antarctic krill (Euphausia superba) and Adelie penguins (Pygoscelis adeliae). Within this overall goal, there are three major objectives: To characterise and monitor predation by key Southern Ocean organisms with dietary DNA analysis. To use population genetics to study the stock structure and population size of baleen whales and Antarctic krill. To develop and validate DNA-based age estimation methods for whales. DNA Based Dietary Research A major objective of this project is to apply DNA based methods for dietary analysis to large sample sets taken to address specific ecological questions. My group at the Australian Antarctic Division has been at the forefront of developing DNA based methods to study animal diet. We have been especially active in researching DNA as a non-invasive means of studying the diet of large mammals and birds by reconstructing diet with prey DNA that we can identify in scats from predators. Our development of new DNA-based methodologies (Jarman et al., 2002; Jarman et al., 2004; Deagle et al., 2005; Jarman et al., 2006a) and accompanying software tools (Jarman 2004; Jarman 2006) have led to more efficient dietary analysis methods and has produced a substantial volume of good quality published research and stimulated international interest in these methodologies, which are now being pursued by several overseas laboratories. We have completed short descriptive studies of the diet of Antarctic krill (Passmore et al., 2006), whales (Jarman et al., 2002; Jarman et al., 2004; Jarman et al., 2006b), fur seals (Casper et al., in prep) and macaroni penguins (Deagle et al., in prep) with these methods, but have not had comprehensive sets of samples with which we can address broader ecological questions. The ecological questions that the dietary component of this project will address are: 1a. What is the diversity and identity of prey species consumed by populations of the key predators? 1b. What are the relative biomass proportions of prey species consumed by key predator populations? 1c. What temporal variation is there in diversity, identity and abundance of prey consumed by each key predator population? 1d. What spatial variation is there in diversity, identity and abundance of prey consumed by each key predator population? The focus species cover three trophic levels of the Southern Ocean food web. Krill are thought to feed predominately on primary producers with some heterotrophic prey taken as well. Adelie penguins feed on krill and other small nekton and plankton, as well as being prey of leopard seals and killer whales, making them a mid-to-high level

In February and June 1983, fishes and benthic fauna were sampled to provide quantitative estimates of densities and volumes of the benthic invertebrate animals and biomass of the seagrass in summer, as well as abundances of the fishes occurring during the day and night and in both summer and winter in Amphibolis seagrass beds and sand flats at Monkey Mia Shark Bay, Western Australia.

The Fisheries Research and Development Corporation Project (FRDC) No. 2001/060 characterised and identified the distribution of the different benthic habitats of the Recherche Archipelago and identified the distribution of assemblages of fish, mobile invertebrates, filter feeding communities and seagrasses and the patterns and processes which structure them.

By-catch species distribution and abundance data collected from prawn trawl surveys, throughout Spencer Gulf, South Australia between 1994 and 2007.