Juan David Silva Macias1, Lianna Gendall1, Shinae Montie1, Karen Filbee-Dexter1,2, Thomas Wernberg1,2, Nestor Bosch1,3
1University of Western Australia, Australia - 2Institute of Marine Research, Norway - 3Universidad de Las Palmas de Gran Canaria, Spain
The Great Southern Reef (GSR) is a highly diverse marine ecosystem that supports a multitude of fish species. This study analyses the spatial patterns of fish in Western Australia’s GSR and integrating key environmental and physical layers . Reef Life Survey (RLS) data were used to calculate biodiversity indices for species inhabiting the GSR, which were interpolated using a variety of geospatial methods: Inverse Distance Weighted (IDW), Ordinary Kriging (OK), Ordinary Kriging with Logarithmic Transform (OK-Log), Indicator Kriging (IK), Regularised Splines (RBF), Empirical Bayesian Kriging (EBK) and EBK Regression Prediction. The interpolations incorporated (where possible) bathymetry or geomorphology layers to assess their influence on the interpolation results. Hotspots (areas of high biodiversity) and cold spots (areas of low biodiversity) were then identified to provide key information for conservation and management. Interpolation methods were evaluated through root mean square error (RMSE) and other performance metrics in order to identify the most accurate method. Preliminary results indicate that the EBK regression prediction method, when including the geomorphological feature, had the lowest RMSE and showed the best overall performance compared to the other methods. This finding suggests that advanced interpolation methods, especially when environmental variables are integrated, are more effective for modelling fish biodiversity in complex ecosystems such as the GSR. These interpolations were then used to perform a hot spot analysis (Getis-Ord Gi*) to identify the areas with the highest and lowest fish species diversity. This study highlights geospatial methodologies and their use in understanding and managing marine biodiversity, providing valuable tools for conservation decision-making.
Biography
Colombian, Master’s student in Environmental Sciences at the University of Western Australia. His professional and research development is focused on the use of geospatial tools and analysis to study marine ecosystems. Currently, he is developing his thesis in collaboration with the Wernberg & Filbee-Dexter lab at UWA, focusing on the fish biodiversity of the Great Southern Reef using a geospatial approach, with the objective of developing effective conservation strategies.