Posidonia australis (Vincentia, Jervis Bay)
While the diversity and spatial arrangement of habitats often found within the Australian New South Wales coastal seascape is likely to be important in defining fish communities it has rarely been studied. The importance of the presence of several habitat types within a given area and spatial scale will guide marine park managers in designating habitat protection zones of appropriate size, habitat combinations, and locations especially if there are certain target fish species in mind.
Seagrass beds form an essential nursery area for many species of commercially important fish and provide a foraging ground for many adult coral reef fish of commercial and recreational importance in Australia, the Caribbean and other locations worldwide. Whereas differences in fish assemblage, diversity and abundance have been documented for seagrass habitats across larger spatial scales, how the presence of an adjacent habitat on a small spatial scale influences the fish assemblage and performance within the seagrass bed has not been reported. The knowledge of any such influence would allow us to better understand how fish community composition may vary within a single habitat depending on the nature of habitats immediately surrounding it.
Seagrass beds form an essential nursery area for many species of commercially important fish and provide a foraging ground for many adult coral reef fish of commercial and recreational importance in Australia, the Caribbean and other locations worldwide. Whereas differences in fish assemblage, diversity and abundance have been documented for seagrass habitats across larger spatial scales, how the presence of an adjacent habitat on a small spatial scale influences the fish assemblage and performance within the seagrass bed has not been reported. The knowledge of any such influence would allow us to better understand how fish community composition may vary within a single habitat depending on the nature of habitats immediately surrounding it.