Reef Life Survey is a marine life monitoring programmeStaff, RLS website home page http://reeflifesurvey.com/ based in

Hobart Hobart ( ; Nuennonne/Palawa kani: ''nipaluna'') is the capital and most populous city of the Australian island state of Tasmania. Home to almost half of all Tasmanians, it is the least-populated Australian state capital city, and second-small ...

Tasmania ) , nickname = , image_map = Tasmania in Australia.svg , map_caption = Location of Tasmania in AustraliaCoordinates: , subdivision_type = Country , subdi ...

. It is international in scope, but predominantly

Australia Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a Sovereign state, sovereign country comprising the mainland of the Australia (continent), Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous List of islands of Australia, sma ...

n, as a large proportion of the volunteers are Australian. Most of the surveys are done by volunteer recreational divers, collecting

biodiversity Biodiversity or biological diversity is the variety and variability of life on Earth. Biodiversity is a measure of variation at the genetic (''genetic variability''), species (''species diversity''), and ecosystem (''ecosystem diversity'') l ...

data for

marine conservation Marine conservation, also known as ocean conservation, is the protection and preservation of ecosystems in oceans and seas through planned management in order to prevent the over-exploitation of these marine resources. Marine conservation is i ...

. The database is available to

marine ecology Marine ecosystems are the largest of Earth's aquatic ecosystems and exist in waters that have a high salt content. These systems contrast with freshwater ecosystems, which have a lower salt content. Marine waters cover more than 70% of the surf ...

researchers, and is used by several

marine protected area Marine protected areas (MPA) are protected areas of seas, oceans, estuaries or in the US, the Great Lakes. These marine areas can come in many forms ranging from wildlife refuges to research facilities. MPAs restrict human activity for a conserv ...

managements in Australia, New Zealand, American Samoa and the eastern Pacific.

Function

Reef Life Survey provides data to improve biodiversity conservation and the sustainable management of marine resources. They collect and curate biodiversity information at spatial and temporal scales beyond those possible by most scientific dive teams which have to work with limited resources, by using volunteer recreational divers trained in the RLS survey procedures. The

University of Tasmania The University of Tasmania (UTAS) is a public research university, primarily located in Tasmania, Australia. Founded in 1890, it is Australia's fourth oldest university. Christ College, one of the university's residential colleges, first pro ...

houses and manages the RLS database, and the data is freely available to the public for non-profit purposes through public outputs, including their website.

History

Reef Life Survey was started by researchers at the University of Tasmania and initially funded by the Commonwealth Environment Research Facilities (CERF) Program. This program is the core activity of the Reef Life Survey Foundation Incorporated – a not for profit Australian organisation.

Personnel

Reef Life Survey includes a volunteer network of recreational

scuba divers This is a list of underwater divers whose exploits have made them notable. Underwater divers are people who take part in underwater diving activities – Underwater diving is practiced as part of an occupation, or for recreation, where t ...

, trained in the relevant skills, and an Advisory Committee. The advisory committee is made up of managers and scientists who use the collected data, and representatives of the recreational diver network.

Procedures

Diver swimming a transect for Reef Life Survey PB164699

Standard survey procedures are used matched to a variety of habitat

topographies Topography is the study of the forms and features of land surfaces. The topography of an area may refer to the land forms and features themselves, or a description or depiction in maps. Topography is a field of geoscience and planetary scien ...

, and using simple equipment - waterproof clipboard with records sheet,

underwater camera Underwater photography is the process of taking photographs while under water. It is usually done while scuba diving, but can be done while diving on surface supply, snorkeling Snorkeling ( British and Commonwealth English spelling: snor ...

, and 50m surveyor's tape measure. The surveys are typically repeated at irregular intervals at listed sites, identified by

GPS The Global Positioning System (GPS), originally Navstar GPS, is a Radionavigation-satellite service, satellite-based radionavigation system owned by the United States government and operated by the United States Space Force. It is one of t ...

location,

transect A transect is a path along which one counts and records occurrences of the objects of study (e.g. plants). There are several types of transect. Some are more effective than others. It requires an observer to move along a fixed path and to count ...

depth and direction, and are usually conducted as a pair of transects in opposite directions from the nominal position, at approximately constant depth. Data collected includes fish counts by visual census in a 5m x 5m corridor on both sides of the transect line (Method 1), mobile

invertebrate Invertebrates are a paraphyletic group of animals that neither possess nor develop a vertebral column (commonly known as a ''backbone'' or ''spine''), derived from the notochord. This is a grouping including all animals apart from the chordate ...

counts in a 1m corridor on both sides of the line (Method 2), and photo-quadrats at 2.5m intervals along the 50m transect line. Manufactured debris may also be recorded. Off transect observations of interest are recorded separately (Method 0). Numbers and size class are recorded for fish, just numbers for most invertebrates.

Data

Since 2006, divers have collected data for RLS from over 44 countries. As of September 2015, more than 4500 species have been recorded from over 7000 surveys.

Expeditions

circumnavigation Circumnavigation is the complete navigation around an entire island, continent, or astronomical object, astronomical body (e.g. a planet or natural satellite, moon). This article focuses on the circumnavigation of Earth. The first recorded circ ...

of Australia by volunteer citizen scientists aboard the sailing

catamaran A Formula 16 beachable catamaran Powered catamaran passenger ferry at Salem, Massachusetts, United States A catamaran () (informally, a "cat") is a multi-hulled watercraft featuring two parallel hulls of equal size. It is a geometry-stab ...

Reef Dragon left

Port Davey Port Davey is an oceanic inlet located in the south west region of Tasmania, Australia. Port Davey was named in honour of Thomas Davey, a former Governor of Tasmania. Port Davey is contained within the Port Davey/Bathurst Harbour Marine Natu ...

, Tasmania, on February 16, 2013, on an counterclockwise journey around the continent of Australia and ended in February 2014 in

Prince of Wales Bay Prince of Wales Bay is located on the western shore of the River Derwent in southern Tasmania, Australia. It is located between the suburbs of Dowsing Point, Goodwood and Lutana. The area is home to two public parks, Giblin Reserve and Pr ...

, Hobart. During the voyage a marine baseline of reef biodiversity for the new

Coral Sea Commonwealth Marine Reserve The Coral Sea Marine Park (previously known as the Coral Sea Commonwealth Marine Reserve) is an Australian marine park located in the Coral Sea off the coast of Queensland. The marine park covers an area of and is assigned IUCN category IV. I ...

network was established. File:Reef Dragon at moorings at Leigh, NZ PA252525.JPG, Reef Dragon moored at Leigh between survey trips. New Zealand, November 2012 File:Diver preparing to dive on RLS survey PA262752.JPG, Volunteer diver preparing for a survey dive from the Reef Dragon File:Diver swimming a transect for Reef Life Survey PB164684.JPG, Swimming a transect for Reef Life Survey, Mayor Island, New Zealand, 2012 File:Reef Dragon in Hobart at the end of the circumnavigation P2184613.JPG, Reef Dragon in Hobart at the end of the circumnavigation of Australia

Publications

* Global conservation outcomes depend on marine protected areas with five key features. * Systematic global assessment of reef fish communities by the Reef Life Survey program. * Exploited reefs protected from fishing transform over decades into conservation features not otherwise present in the seascape. * Ecological effects of marine protected areas on rocky reef communities: a continental-scale analysis. * Integrating abundance and functional traits reveals new global hotspots of fish diversity.

References

{{authority control Marine biology Non-profit organisations based in Tasmania Research organisations in Australia Citizen science