Figure 1.
Redundancy analysis biplot representing spearman rank correlations for fish species, habitat variables and centroids of modified Gower log 10 fish assemblage resemblance matrix sampled from each of 16 habitat depth categories.
Some of the fish species that contribute greatest similarity between stereo-BRUV replicates from within zones and percent cover of habitat variables correlated to overall assemblage structure are indicated.
Table 1.
Displaying results of distance based linear model using forward selection and 4999 permutations.
Table 2.
PERMANOVA results displaying the significance of interactions between overall MaxN, species MaxN, species, genus, family, order and class richness, overall length and trophic level and Shannon diversity; and depth (10 degrees of freedom), habitat (11 degrees of freedom) and depth/habitat terms, using 4999 permutations.
Figure 2.
Average overall MaxN, length and trophic level, Shannon diversity, number of unique species and average species richness per stereo-BRUV replicate within each habitat zone.
Axes titles are situated at the head of each axis with the units (where appropriate) displayed in brackets. Unique species and species richness are represented on the same axis as whole numbers. Overall trophic level and Shannon diversity are relative measures and do not have units of measure.
Figure 3.
Family and species MaxN of fish in relation to 16 habitat zones.
62 species from 25 families have Pearson correlation values >0.25 and explain a majority of differences in fish assemblages between zones. A number of these species and families are represented on the respective plots with vectors illustrating the strength and direction of correlation to the 16 habitat categories.
Figure 4.
Showing 26 families with a Spearman rank correlation >0.25 from CAP plots with the exception of Carcharhinidae.
Habitat affinities of the different families can be considered primarily related to sampling location either inshore or offshore.
Figure 5.
The proportion of stereo-BRUV stations within a particular habitat and depth combination which recorded the presence of a species.
Family and species spearman rank correlations to CAP axis 1 & 2 indicated in brackets in addition to depth ranges.
Figure 6.
Showing species from families that have a Spearman rank correlation >0.25 from CAP plots.
These plots demonstrate significant stratification of species across continental shelf habitat and depth gradients.
Figure 7.
Average MaxN and length distributions across continental shelf habitats and depths for species of Balistidae, Lethrinidae, Lutjanidae, Carangidae and Serranidae.
Significant habitat partitioning between conspecific species was evident with smaller bodied species inshore and larger bodied species offshore. Varying size distributions across habitat and depth gradients within species was indicative of ontogenetic habitat shifts e.g. Lethrinus nebulosus, L. atkinsoni and L. miniatus.
Figure 8.
Relative comparison indicating degree of habitat specialization within demersal fish families.
Average number of habitat/depth categories of species from the same family censused in this study are indicated by dots. Bars indicate min and max number of habitats for species from the same family.
Table 3.
Species maximum depth recorded during this study compared to previous published records.
Figure 9.
Map of Western Australia showing the location of Ningaloo Reef.
The northern Ningaloo Reef and adjacent bathymetric contours expanded with the perimeter of the study site bounded by the box extending from Winderabandi point in the south to Tantabiddi in the north. The reef crest shown demarking between inshore and offshore waters.
Table 4.
Depth/habitat factor groups and number of stereo-BRUVS replicates sampled.