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Issue: Condition of the ocean and coastal waters - Condition of species, habitats and ecosystems

This is an issue under the Coasts and oceans theme of the Data Reporting System.

Why we need to know about this issue

The health of the ocean’s biodiversity is crucial to the condition of the oceans themselves. Marine biota is important to both water quality and to the ocean’s capacity to regulate the global climate. Conversely, physical marine conditions such as water quality, salinity, acidity and temperature are essential to the well-being of marine life.

Species and ecological communities are crucial aspects of marine biodiversity. The health of species and ecological communities determines the overall capacity of the ocean’s biodiversity to maintain the health of the oceans.

Indicators

• CO-01 Trends in selected groups of coastal and marine species and habitats 
  In the absence of any way of assessing the overall condition of species, habitats and ecosystems across all Australian coastal land and coastal and marine waters, considering the condition of a selection of key species, groups of species, habitats and ecosystems is probably the closest we can come to an indicator.
  Corals, mangroves, seagrass and kelp forests have been selected as significant indicators for biodiversity generally because they are groups of species that also represent habitat for a wide range of other species.
  Fish and bird species have selected because they are visible, well up in the food chain (and therefore vulnerable to pressures operating deeper in the food chain) and some measurement of populations of fish and bird species is undertaken.
• CO-02 Number of marine species that are endangered or threatened and changes in population/ distribution of selected threatened species 
  Number of threatened species and communities, as represented by the number that have attained legal status as threatened or endangered species, is an ambiguous indicator for loss of biodiversity. However, trends in population and distribution of selected threatened species may be broadly indicative of condition of marine biodiversity more generally.
• BD-02 Conservation status of nationally significant species and ecological communities, compared with previous years 
  Pressures on the coasts and oceans as a result of human activity has put many of Australia’s unique species at risk. Although conservation status does not provide a measure of condition of species or ecological communities, it could, with other parameters, be used to indicate condition.
• BD-04 Listed threatened species or ecological communities for which recovery action is showing stable or increasing populations 
  Although recovery of species following recovery action is not likely to be indicative of changes in the condition of species, habitats and ecological communities more generally, these are the only species whose status is routinely monitored.
• AAT-08 Plankton populations 
  Plankton are an important part of the food web and therefore monitoring the number and composition of plankton is vital to understanding the condition of marine biodiversity not just in the AAT but throughout the world’s oceans.
• AAT-09 Seabird populations 
  Seabird populations are related to resource availability (food), behavioural mechanisms (immigration/emigration and breeding effort/success) in addition to climate change and human impacts (fisheries, tourism, pollution, disturbance), and are an indicator of the condition of marine biodiversity in the AAT and in the world’s oceans more generally.
• AAT-10 seal populations 
  Seal populations are related to resource availability (food), behavioural mechanisms (immigration/emigration and breeding effort/success) in addition to climate change and human impacts (fisheries, tourism, pollution, disturbance), and are an indicator of the condition of biodiversity in the AAT and in the world’s oceans more generally.
• AAT-11 Whale populations 
  Whale populations are related to resource availability (food), behavioural mechanisms (immigration/emigration and breeding effort/success) in addition to climate change and human impacts (whaling, fisheries, tourism, pollution, disturbance), and are an indicator of the condition of biodiversity in the AAT and in the world’s oceans more generally.

Related issues

• Coasts and Oceans - Contributions and pressures between the coasts and oceans and inland water- Condition of species at the inland waters-oceans interface 
• Coasts and Oceans - Contributions and pressures between the coasts and oceans and land- Condition of species at the land-ocean interface 
• Biodiversity - Landscapes- Ecosystem diversity 
• Biodiversity - Species, habitats and ecological communities- Conservation status of species and ecological communities