Exposure of marine megafauna to cumulative anthropogenic threats in north-west Australia

Luciana C. Ferreira; Michele Thums; Scott Whiting; Mark Meekan; Virginia Andrews-Goff; Catherine R. M. Attard; Kerstin Bilgmann; Andrew Davenport; Mike Double; Fabio Falchi; Michael Guinea; Sharyn M. Hickey; Curt Jenner; Micheline Jenner; Graham Loewenthal; Glenn McFarlane; Luciana M. Möller; Brad Norman; Lauren Peel; Kellie Pendoley; Ben Radford; Samantha Reynolds; Jason Rossendell; Anton Tucker; David Waayers; Paul Whittock; Phillipa Wilson; Sabrina Fossette

doi:10.3389/fevo.2023.1229803

Back

Exposure of marine megafauna to cumulative anthropogenic threats in north-west Australia

Journal article

Open access

Peer reviewed

Exposure of marine megafauna to cumulative anthropogenic threats in north-west Australia

Luciana C. Ferreira, Michele Thums, Scott Whiting, Mark Meekan, Virginia Andrews-Goff, Catherine R. M. Attard, Kerstin Bilgmann, Andrew Davenport, Mike Double, Fabio Falchi, …

Frontiers in ecology and evolution, Vol.11, 1229803

2023

DOI: https://doi.org/10.3389/fevo.2023.1229803

Files and links (1)

pdf

Published9.01 MBDownload View

Published (Version of Record)CC BY V4.0, Open Access

Abstract

fishing

marine turtle

oil and gas

Shipping

whale

whale shark

As the use of coastal and offshore environments expands, there is a need to better understand the exposure of marine megafauna to anthropogenic activities that potentially threaten their populations. Individual satellite telemetry studies are often hampered by small sample sizes, providing limited information on spatiotemporal distributions of migratory animals and their relationships to anthropogenic threats. We addressed this issue by synthesising satellite tracking data from 484 individuals of three taxonomic groups and six species; three marine turtle, two whale and one shark. The spatial overlap between taxa distributions and multiple anthropogenic activities was assessed as a proxy for the cumulative exposure of these taxa to anthropogenic threats (coastal modification, vessel strike, underwater noise, oil spill, bycatch, entanglement, and artificial light) across an area totalling 2,205,740 km2 off north-western Australia. Core exposure areas (top 50% of the distribution) encompassed ecologically important sites for all taxa, such as the Ningaloo and Pilbara regions, migratory routes for whales and sharks in offshore waters beyond Ningaloo Reef, and marine turtle nesting beaches at Barrow Island and Cape Lambert. Although areas of high exposure represented <14% of taxa distributions, we showed that no taxa occurred in the absence of threats and that even areas with existing spatial protections are experiencing high levels of exposure. Importantly, we developed a robust approach for documenting the potential exposure of marine species to a range of human activities at appropriate spatial scales to inform conservation management.

Details

Title: Exposure of marine megafauna to cumulative anthropogenic threats in north-west Australia
Authors/Creators: Luciana C. Ferreira - The University of Western Australia
Michele Thums - The University of Western Australia
Scott Whiting - Department of Biodiversity, Conservation and Attractions
Mark Meekan - The University of Western Australia
Virginia Andrews-Goff - Department of Climate Change, Energy, the Environment and Water
Catherine R. M. Attard - Flinders University
Kerstin Bilgmann - Flinders University
Andrew Davenport - Center for Whale Research
Mike Double - Australian Antarctic Division
Fabio Falchi - Universidade de Santiago de Compostela
Michael Guinea - Charles Darwin University
Sharyn M. Hickey - The University of Western Australia
Curt Jenner - Center for Whale Research
Micheline Jenner - Center for Whale Research
Graham Loewenthal - Biodiversity and Conservation Science, Department of Biodiversity, Conservation and Attractions, Kensington, WA, Australia
Glenn McFarlane - 1Conservation Volunteers Australia, Darwin, NT, Australia
Luciana M. Möller - Flinders University
Brad Norman - Murdoch University
Lauren Peel - 4Pendoley Environmental, Booragoon, WA, Australia
Kellie Pendoley - 4Pendoley Environmental, Booragoon, WA, Australia
Ben Radford - The University of Western Australia
Samantha Reynolds - The University of Queensland
Jason Rossendell - Rio Tinto (Australia)
Anton Tucker - Biodiversity and Conservation Science, Department of Biodiversity, Conservation and Attractions, Kensington, WA, Australia
David Waayers - 7Environmental Resources Management Pty Ltd (ERM), Perth, WA, Australia
Paul Whittock - 4Pendoley Environmental, Booragoon, WA, Australia
Phillipa Wilson - The University of Western Australia
Sabrina Fossette - The University of Western Australia
Publication Details: Frontiers in ecology and evolution, Vol.11, 1229803
Publisher: Frontiers Media S.A
Identifiers: 991005621190307891
Copyright: © 2023 Ferreira, Thums, Whiting, Meekan, Andrews-Goff, Attard, Bilgmann, Davenport, Double, Falchi, Guinea, Hickey, Jenner, Jenner, Loewenthal, McFarlane, Möller, Norman, Peel, Pendoley, Radford, Reynolds, Rossendell, Tucker, Waayers, Whittock, Wilson and Fossette.
Murdoch Affiliation: Centre for Sustainable Aquatic Ecosystems
Language: English
Resource Type: Journal article

UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs)

This output has contributed to the advancement of the following goals:

Metrics

7 File views/ downloads

62 Record Views

10 Times Cited - Web of Science

InCites Highlights

These are selected metrics from InCites Benchmarking & Analytics tool, related to this output

Collaboration types: Industry collaboration; Domestic collaboration; International collaboration
Citation topics: 3 Agriculture, Environment & Ecology; 3.35 Zoology & Animal Ecology; 3.35.796 Marine Mammal Ecology
Web Of Science research areas: Ecology
ESI research areas: Environment/Ecology