In January 2014, 25 years after its inception (Table 1), 196 delegates from 24 countries descended on Perth for the 10th International Temperate Reefs Symposium (ITRS). For 5 days, temperate reef scientists ranging from students to senior professors, submerged themselves in presentations, passionate discussions and networking. Temperate reefs are hard-bottom marine ecosystems found in cool waters between the tropics and the poles. Temperate reef ecosystems are diverse, spanning supralittoral lichen-encrusted boulders to sponge gardens on rocky outcrops in the deep oceans. They comprise extensive rocky platforms and small boulder islands in soft-sediment habitats, and biogenic surfaces such as consolidated piles of oyster shells to man-made structures including groynes and pylons. These reefs are inhabited by a plethora of unique, weird and wonderful seaweeds, invertebrates and fishes, all interacting in complex ways with their environment and each other. Unravelling the patterns and processes that drive these ecosystems is the calling of the temperate reef ecologist. Temperate reefs are not just esoteric constructs of academic acclaim – they are important marine ecosystems that contribute goods and services worth billions of dollars through biodiversity, coastal protection, and activities such as tourism, and recreational and commercial fishing (Bennett et al. 2016). Indeed, our intimate connection with temperate reefs is as old as humankind itself. Some believe early humans evolved along the rocky coasts of southernAfrica,where a rich diet ofmussels, limpets and other marine organisms provided the omega-3 fatty acids and trace elements required for brain function and development (Compton 2011). Temperate reefs have also played an important role in the biogeography of humans, as early colonisers of the America’s followed the ‘kelp highway’, sustained by the bounty provided by reefs along the Pacific rim (Erlandson et al. 2007). Inmore recent times, temperate reefs have been at the centre of many scientific discoveries, and the development of our understanding of the living world, as the cradle and test-bed for many ecological theories (Petraitis and Latham 1999; Underwood 2000; Menge et al. 2009; Hawkins et al. 2016) although, perhaps not always duly recognised by the non-marine scientific community (Menge et al. 2009; Thomsen and Wernberg 2014). Of immediate concern, though, the temperate reefs we are passionate about, faces ever increasing pressures from expanding human populations and activities. Urbanisation, fishing, invasive species and climate change are threatening the fundamental functioning and ecological integrity of temperate reefs across scales, latitudes and biogeographical regions (Fraschetti et al. 2001; Steneck et al. 2002; Connell 2007; Wernberg et al. 2011; Smale et al. 2013). Understanding the impacts of these pressures is complicated by the fact that many temperate reefs are intrinsically dynamic, experiencing substantial natural environmental and biological fluctuations over decades, seasons, days and tidal cycles (e.g. Reed et al. 2016; Wahl et al. 2016). Understanding of the interplay between natural and human processes across local to global scales is critical to our ability to predict, detect, and mitigate adverse ecological change. Never before has it been so critical to place temperate reefs front and centre in our public conscience and nowhere is this more pertinent and urgent than in Australia, where almost 70% of the population live within 50 km of a temperate coastline (Bennett et al. 2016), and where reefs have experienced dramatic degradation and habitat loss (Coleman et al. 2008; Connell et al. 2008; Johnson et al. 2011; Wernberg et al. 2013; Alleway and Connell 2015). However, it is not all bad news. As we are increasingly understanding the many facets of habitat-species interactions (Thomsen et al. 2010) we also find ways to minimise impacts through less destructive harvesting (Stagnol et al. 2016) and habitat protection (Olds et al. 2014), as well as new management procedures (Shiel and Howard-Williams 2016), and we discover new opportunities for ecological engineering, reclaiming and maximising the ecological value of man-made structures increasingly encroaching on our coastlines (e.g. Evans et al. 2016; Firth et al. 2016). Importantly, the seed of science does not grow in a vacuum. For quarter of a century, the International Temperate Reefs Symposium has been a cauldron, forging the new ideas, international collaborations and professional friendships that are at the core of successfully and efficiently meeting the challenges faced by temperate reefs and other marine ecosystems. The 10th ITRS is a milestone in temperate reef science well worth a celebration!
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Aug 8, 2024
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