The conservation of marine biodiversity is firmly embedded in national and international policy frameworks. However, the difficulties associated with conducting broad-scale surveys of oceanic environments restrict the evidence base available for applied management in pelagic waters. For example, the Oceanic Shoals Australian Marine Park (AMP) was established in 2012 in a part of Australia’s continental shelf where unique topographic features are thought to support significant levels of biodiversity, yet where our understanding of ecological processes remains limited. We deployed mid-water baited remote underwater video systems (mid-water BRUVS) in the Oceanic Shoals AMP to provide the first non-extractive baseline assessment of pelagic wildlife communities in the area. We used these observations and high-resolution multibeam swaths of the seafloor to explore potential relationships between prominent geomorphological features and the (i) composition, (ii) richness, and (iii) relative abundance of pelagic communities. We documented 32 vertebrate species across three sampling areas, ranging from small baitfish to large sharks and rays, and estimated that up to nearly twice as many taxa may occur within the region as a whole. This highlights the Oceanic Shoals AMP as a reservoir of biodiversity comparable to other documented offshore oceanic hotspots. Our results also confirm the AMP as a possible distant foraging destination for IUCN red listed sea turtles, and a potential breeding and/or nursing ground for a number of charismatic cetaceans. Model outputs indicate that both species richness and abundance increase in proximity to raised geomorphic structures such as submerged banks and pinnacles, highlighting the influence of submarine topography on megafauna distribution. By providing a foundational understanding of spatial patterns in pelagic wildlife communities throughout a little studied region, our work demonstrates how a combination of non-destructive sampling techniques and predictive models can provide new opportunities to support decision-making under data shortage.

中文翻译：

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淹没的碳酸盐岩滩聚集了澳大利亚近海热带地区的远洋巨型动物

海洋生物多样性的保护牢固地植根于国家和国际政策框架中。然而，与对海洋环境进行大规模调查相关的困难限制了可用于远洋水域应用管理的证据基础。例如，大洋洲澳大利亚海洋公园 (AMP) 于 2012 年在澳大利亚大陆架的一部分建立，那里独特的地形特征被认为支持显着的生物多样性水平，但我们对生态过程的了解仍然有限。我们在大洋洲 AMP 部署了中层水诱饵远程水下视频系统（中水 BRUVS），以提供该地区远洋野生动物群落的第一个非提取基线评估。我们使用这些观察结果和海底的高分辨率多波束带来探索突出的地貌特征与（i）组成、（ii）丰富度和（iii）远洋群落的相对丰度之间的潜在关系。我们记录了三个采样区域的 32 种脊椎动物物种，从小型诱饵鱼到大型鲨鱼和鳐鱼，并估计整个区域内可能出现的分类群多达近两倍。这突出了大洋浅滩 AMP 作为一个生物多样性库，可与其他记录在案的近海海洋热点相媲美。我们的结果还证实了 AMP 可能是 IUCN 红海龟的远距离觅食目的地，以及许多魅力非凡的鲸类动物的潜在繁殖和/或护理基地。模型输出表明，靠近凸起的地貌结构（例如淹没的河岸和尖峰），物种丰富度和丰度都增加，突出了海底地形对巨型动物分布的影响。通过提供对整个研究范围较小的远洋野生动物群落空间模式的基本了解，我们的工作展示了无损采样技术和预测模型的结合如何为支持数据短缺下的决策提供新的机会。