Aquatic Environment and Biodiversity Annual Review 2012

AEBAR 2012: Appendices: Past projects
BIODIVERSITY continued
Project Code Project Title Specific Objectives Status Citation/s
ZBD2005-05 Long-term effects of
climate variation and
human impacts on the
structure and functioning
of New Zealand shelf
ecosystems
ZBD2004-01 Baseline information on
the diversity and function
of marine ecosystems
ZBD2004-02 Ecosystem-scale trophic
relationships: diet
composition and guild
structure of middle-depth
fish on the chatham rise
1. To estimate changes in marine productivity via fluctuations in ocean climate
and terrestrial nutrient input over the last 1000 years.
2. To assess and collate ex isting archaeological, historical and contemporary
data (including catch records and stock assessments) on relevant components of
the marine ecosystem to provide a detailed description of change in the shelf
marine ecosystem in two areas of contrasting human occupation over last 1000
years.
3. To collect additional oral histories from Maori and non-Maori fishers and
shellfish gathers regarding the distribution, sizes and relative abundance
(compared to present availability) of key fish and invertebrate stocks in both
regions during the first half of the 20th century before the start of widespread
modern industrial fishing.
4. To build mass-balance ecosystem models (e.g. Ecopath) of the coastal and
shelf ecosystem in each area for five critical time periods: now, 60 years BP
(before modern industrial fishing), 250 years BP (before European whaling and
sealing), 600 y BP (early Maori phase) and 1000 years BP (before human
settlement).
5. To use qualitative modelling techniques to determine the critical interactions
amongst species and other ecosystem components in order to identify those that
should be a priority for future research.
1. To quantify, and compare, the macro-invertebrate assemblage composition of
a number of
seamounts at the southernmost end of the Kermadec volcanic arc.
2. To compare the macro-invertebrate diversity of the southernmost end of the
Kermadec
volcanic arc with that of seamounts already sampled and reported on.
1. To quantitatively characterise the diets of abundant middle-depth fish species
on the Chatham Rise, by analysis of fish stomach contents collected from the
January 2005, January 2006 and January 2007 Chatham Rise middle-depths
trawl surveys.
2. To quantitatively characterise Chatham Rise fish diets throughout the year, for
a period of 24 months, by analysis of fish stomach contents collected
opportunistically aboard industry vessels.
3. To describe and examine patterns of diet variation within each fish species as
a function of spatial, temporal, and environmental variables, and of fish size.
4. To define and characterise trophic guilds for abundant fish species on the
Chatham Rise, using multivariate analysis of fish diet data, and to analyse the
nature and relative strength of potential trophic interactions between guilds.
5. To create and populate a diets database to store all of the dietary information
collected under Objectives 1 and 2, and for use in subsequent dietary studies.
369
In the process
of publication
Carroll et al. In Press;
Jackson et al. In Press; Lalas
et al. In Press a; b; Lalas &
MacDiarmid In Press; Lorrey
et al. In Press; MacDiarmid
et al. In Press a; b; Maxwell
& MacDiarmid In Press; Neil
et al. In Press; Paul 2012;
Parsons et al. In Press;
Pinkerton In Press; Smith
2011
Completed Rowden & Clark 2010; Smith
et al. 2008
Completed Connell et al. 2010; Dunn
2009; Dunn et al. 2010a; b;
c; Dunn et al. In press;
Forman & Dunn 2010; Horn
et al. 2010; Stevens & Dunn
2010;