Waterway health goes under microscope

Recent research has discovered more about tiny organisms being used as indicators of ecological change and which are key to assessing the state of the oceans around Australia.

Charles Darwin University Research Fellow with the North Australia Marine Research Alliance Dr Diane Purcell-Meyerink contributed data from Darwin Harbour and the Van Diemen Gulf to “The Australian phytoplankton database - abundance and biovolume”.

“Phytoplankton is the foundation of the marine food web and supports nearly all life in our oceans,” Dr Purcell-Meyerink said.

“This is the first phytoplankton taxonomy data from Darwin since the 1970s, so this is a significant contribution to knowledge especially for the tropical coast of North Australia.

Dr Purcell-Meyerink said the information was part of an Australia-wide database that allowed free access to marine managers, scientists and the public regarding changes at the base of the marine food web.

“It is vital to understand the diversity and health of phytoplankton because the rest of the food chain can be negatively affected, including all the fish species within the Harbour,” she said.

“The algal population of Darwin Harbour indicates that this is a presently healthy environment, with natural variation that occurs between the wet to dry seasons.”

She said the database could be used to monitor local waterways and on a broader national scale to monitor temperature shifts and climate change.

The project is led through CSIRO as part of the Integrated Marine Observing System and will be updated and evolve as ecological indicators are refined. The Australian phytoplankton database - abundance and biovolume is now published online in the Scientific Journal Nature-Scientific Data.