Changes in the SE Australian Marine Ecosystem Demersal fish community over 30 years
Demersal fish species and sampling station site comparison over four SEA-MES voyages.
stress = 0.188
A comparison of species composition over 30 years across different latitude ranges
SEFES sites
SEA-MES sites (northern sites are in the latitude range of SEFES sites)
Fish community composition measured from demersal trawl comparing SEFES data (cool colours) collected in the 1990s with SEA-MES data (warm colours) collected in the 2020s.
The SEA-MES survey sites were partitioned into northern where the northern sites were specified by the SEFES latitudes of the SEFES survey, and southern sites.
A comparison of the northern and southern SEA-MES demersal fish community composition with the baseline SEFES composition indicated the southern sites were more like the earlier SEFES species composition than the northern sites, suggesting the ecosystem structure has shifted south in 30 years.
The reasons are still unclear but could potentially be due to a range of factors, including oceanographic factors.
northern sites (stress = 0.191)
southern sites (stress = 0.199)
Ellipses represent 95% confidence intervals of survey composition. Vectors represent associated environmental factors.