Reef biodiversity monitoring at Lord Howe Island 2015

This report provides an overview of condition and trends in shallow reef biodiversity within the Lord Howe Island Marine Park (LHIMP) obtained from Reef Life Survey monitoring in 2012 and 2014. Data from 111 transects at 50 sites in 2012 and 106 transects at 47 sites in 2014 were analysed in combination with the monitoring data collected from 2006 to 2010. These include data from reef fish surveys that cover all reef species, size and biomass information, finer-scale targeted surveys of large mobile invertebrates and cryptic fishes closely associated with the substrate, and analysis of percentage cover of coral, macroalgae and other sessile organisms from photoquadrats of the substrate. These surveys form part of a globally-standardised methodology, and allow assessment of linkages between different taxonomic components and trophic groups surveyed at the same place and time.