Ecosystems provide numerous services and benefits to society. While historically overlooked, these services are increasingly recognized and are now being mapped and accounted for. There are several approaches to mapping and evaluating these ecosystem services. In this report, we use two increasingly common approaches, Ocean Accounting and Welfare Economics, to evaluate ecosystem services for the Great Southern Reef. The Great Southern Reef is a network of rocky reefs dominated by temperate algal forests known as kelp. It spans over 8,000 Km of coastline and supports two thirds of the Australian population. Despite its presumed importance, there has been little work quantifying the extent and value of the ecosystem services provided by the Great Southern Reef. Through a systematic review we assessed the current state of knowledge of the ecosystem services provided by the Great Southern Reef. Using the Common International Classification of Ecosystem Services (CICES) framework, we created an overview of the ecosystem services (provisioning, regulating, and cultural) provided by the Great Southern Reef in New South Wales, Victoria, Tasmania, South Australia, and Western Australia. We then created metrics to quantify how these services benefit coastal societies in these five states. Highlight summaries include over 17 million Australians who live within 50 Km of the reef, 26 wild seaweed harvest companies, 115 tourism SCUBA operators, 1436 mapped dive sites, 18 million tourist visits each year, 16 temperate marine biology university programs, 43 books and films, key medical products, 23 tons of harvested seaweed, 1116 grams of carbon per m2 used for growth each year, 2,361 peer-reviewed scientific publications from 1976 to 2022, 186 marine protected areas, 2.16 million recreational fishers, and over 28 commercial fisheries with 20,000 tons of biomass taken each year. We then conducted economic evaluations using these biophysical values and the available information. Using a variety of approaches, we found that the total economic value of the Great Southern Reef was $11.56 billion each year. Individually the values were as follows, commercial fishing (producer surplus - $33.2 million), carbon sequestration (avoided damages - $37.8 million), nutrient cycling (avoided damages - $6,484 million), recreational fishing (consumer surplus - $1,668 million), diving and snorkelling (consumer surplus - $403 million), other recreational activities (consumer surplus $1,836 million), and the existence value (consumer surplus - $1,096 million).

Tidal wetlands are vulnerable to accelerated rates of sea-level rise projected by climate models. The Surface Elevation Table (SET) is a technique applied globally to assess the extent of vertical adjustment of tidal wetlands to sea-level rise over decadal timescales. This record describes the SET data from the Australian network (OzSET). This data can be used for analyzing wetlands elevation change at the study sites

This record provides an overview of the NESP Marine and Coastal Hub bridging study - "Aerial survey of the Southern Right Whale ‘western’ sub-population off southern Australia". For specific data outputs from this project, please see child records associated with this metadata. -------------------- Aerial surveys of Southern Right Whales have been conducted across the southern Australian coast from Perth, WA to Ceduna, SA since 1993, as part of a long-term program to monitor their recovery. The surveys data provide a long-term population trend for this ‘western’ population, and provide an understanding of connectivity with the ‘eastern’ population as part of a national population assessment. The NESP Marine Biodiversity Hub funded the aerial surveys in 2015–2020 and the Marine and Coastal Hub funded the survey in 2021. (See Project 1.26: https://catalogue.aodn.org.au/geonetwork/srv/eng/catalog.search#/metadata/b85b2c7d-4631-477a-9217-2cae65f9cf0a) The 2022 survey ensures an uninterrupted time series in the long-term population trend data for this Endangered species. This is particularly important given the non-annual breeding cycle (typically every three years), such that annual surveys are essential to maintain an acceptable level of precision in estimating population trends and key life history parameters (calving intervals) to track the recovery of the species. Continued monitoring of the population is needed to evaluate whether there is a longer term and continuous change (in population size and calving intervals) in the population as indicated by recent sightings and population trend data. Outputs • Estimate of relative abundance and population trend compared to long-term aerial survey sightings [dataset] • Individual whale photo-identification data - 2021-22 season [imagery - published to ARWPIC] • Final technical report detailing overall numbers of southern right whales observed within the survey region, their gender (and life stage where possible) and spatial distribution of individuals [written]

The Maugean Skate Zearaja maugeana is a micro-endemic species known from only two isolated estuaries, Bathurst and Macquarie Harbours in southwestern/western Tasmania. This constitutes one of the most limited distributions of any known extant elasmobranch. As a result, the species is listed as ‘Endangered’ under the Threatened Species Protection Act (Tasmania) and the Environmental Protection and Biodiversity Conservation Act (Commonwealth). Even though it was first discovered in Bathurst Harbour, most of what is known about the species comes from the Macquarie Harbour population. In fact, only four individuals have ever been reported in Bathurst Harbour, with the last known sighting occurring in 1992. This study aimed to use eDNA to determine the presence of the Maugean skate in Bathurst Harbour on the southwest coast of Tasmania. Water samples were collected within 1 m from the sea floor in Bathurst Harbour in November 2021 and February 2022, and in Macquarie Harbour (control samples) in December 2021. Samples were filtered using a self-preserving eDNA sampling system. Following each survey DNA from the samples was extracted and analysed through qPCR amplification. Mitochondrial primer pairs from two gene regions were used to detect the presence of Maugean skate DNA in the samples. Where possible, positive detections were sequenced, and their identity verified.

We investigated the effects of seabird presence and seasonality on ground-active spider community structure (activity-density, family-level richness, age class and sex structure) and composition at the family-level across five short-tailed shearwater breeding islands around south-eastern Tasmania, Australia. Using 75 pitfall traps (15 per island), spiders were collected inside, near and outside seabird colonies on each island, at five different stages of the short-tailed shearwater breeding cycle over a year. 3. Pitfall traps were deployed for a total of 2,674 days, capturing 1,592 spiders from 26 families with Linyphiidae and Lycosidae the most common.

Collection of processed BGC-Argo float profiles, used to calculate phytoplankton phenology from chlorophyll, phytoplankton carbon and nitrate.

Data collected from Southern Ocean phytoplankton laboratory culture experiments to examine the effect of iron limitation on the Chlorophyll fluorescence (F) to chlorophyll (Chl) ratio. Irradiance levels at which cultures were grown are indicated by the photon flux density (PFD). Growth rates of Fe limited cultures (-Fe) relative to Fe replete cultures (+Fe) are referred to as μ / μmax (unitless).

Fish annotations of stereo Baited Remote Underwater Video and panoramic drop camera imagery, were completed as part of a report funded by the NESP Marine & Coastal Hub. This report focussed on an IUCN II zone in the South-west Corner Marine Park off the 'Capes region' near Margaret River. These data were analysed in EventMeasure using standard operating procedures for the annotation of remote stereo imagery.