Wakatobi Marine National Park
Indonesia

CMEER project leader: Dr James J. Bell (james.bell@vuw.ac.nz)

Researchers from the Centre for Marine Environmental and Economic Research led by Dr James Bell have been working for the past 6 years in a remote area of Southeast Sulawesi in collaboration with the international NGO Operation Wallacea, the Coral Reef Research Unit (CRRU) based at The University of Essex and the Centre for Coral Reef Research (CCRR) at Makassar University in Indonesia.

The Wakatobi MNP was declared in 1996 and covers over an area of 1.39 million hectares and represents Indonesia’s second largest national park. Approximately 90,000 people live in this park, many of whom are directly dependent on reef resources for a source of daily protein. This creates a complex and challenging management problem in terms of balancing the needs of local people with conservation, since this area supports some of the highest biodiversity in the world. Our research is based at the Hoga Island research station, which is maintained by Operation Wallacea (who we are very grateful to for funding much of our research).

We have a number of ongoing and past projects focused on management, monitoring and conservation of marine resources in the Wakatobi MNP and a particular interest in the sponge assemblages in this region. Early work by Dr Bell identified over 100 species in the close vicinity of Hoga in 2002, although we now think the number across the entire park is greater than 250 species. On an area for area basis the sponge diversity is higher in the Wakatobi than anywhere else where figures are available; this area can be considered a sponge biodiversity hotspot.

The sponges are of interest as in addition to being species rich they are also a dominant feature of the reefs, occupying significant amounts of space. Sponges also play significant roles in reef ecosystem functioning. We have been particularly interested in the ways that sponges interact with corals, fish and other benthic organisms, since sponge assemblages don’t appear to be temporally stable and may be taking advantage of ‘better’ environmental conditions as fish predators have become reduced (from fishing) and coral abundance declines (habitat destruction). Several new sponge projects have start this year including an assessment of sponge disease in the park and targeted monitoring of the huge barrel sponges (Xestospongia spp.). Ultimately, we aim to determine the biological and physical factors that control temporal and spatial variation in sponge assemblages in this region, and model how this might be impacted by future climatic changes and further environmental degradation.     

Specific current postgraduate projects:

There are number of postgraduate students working on Hoga Island from the CMEER, primarily supervised by Dr Bell, although these students have a number of different co-supervisors within the centre (including Drs Jonathan Gardner and Simon Davy) and externally (Drs David Smith and Leanne Hepburn from Essex University). These students are working on a number of different areas, although there is a currently a strong emphasis on sponge ecology.

Pelayo Salinas de León (PhD candidate) – Coral recruitment dynamics in the Wakatobi Marine National Park (pelayo.salinas@vuw.ac.nz)

Abigail Powell (PhD candidate) – Impact of reef degradation on sponge assemblages in the Wakatobi MNP (abigail.powell@vuw.ac.nz)

Jade Berman (PhD candidate) – Temporal variation in sponge assemblage in the Wakatobi MNP (jade.berman@vuw.ac.nz)

Heather Murray (MSc candidate) – Respiration rates and effects of UV of Indonesian sponges (murrayheat@student.vuw.ac.nz)
 

Past postgraduate students

Dr Richard Unsworth - The ecology of Indo-Pacific seagrass systems and there interactions with coral reef and mangrove habitats. (richardunsworth@hotmail.com)

Recent publications from this work

Garrard, S.J., Salinas De León, P., Cullen, L.C., Smith D.J., Bell, J.J., Sloman, K.A.

Unsworth, R.F.K. (in review) Structuring of Indo-Pacific fish assemblages along the             mangrove-seagrass continuum. Aquatic Ecology.

Unsworth, R.K.F., Smith, D.J., Bell, J.J. (in review) The importance of seagrass ecosystems in the Wakatobi Marine National Park. Indonesian Journal of   Marine Science Special issue.

Salinas De León, P. Unsworth, R.K.F., Green B., Smith, D.J., Bell, J.J. (in review) Marine habitat connectivity in the Wakatobi Marine National Park. Indonesian Journal of   Marine Science Special Issue.

Bell, J.J. Hepburn, L. (in review). The significance of sponges in the Wakatobi National Marine Park: competition, cooperation and bioerosion. Indonesian Journal of Marine Science Special issue.

Unsworth, R.F.K., Cullen, L.C., Pretty, J., Smith, D.J., Bell J.J. (in review) The benefits of no-take area management on the direct financial fisheries value of a seagrass bed in Indonesia. Animal Conservation.

Unsworth R.K.F., Garrard, S.L., De León P.S., Smith D.J., Bell, J.J. (in review)
Ontogeny of Lethrinus harak (Forsskål, 1775) in an Indo-Pacific coastal seascape. Journal of Fish Biology

Bell, J.J. (2008) Functional roles of marine sponges. Estuarine and Coastal Shelf Science. In press.

Unsworth, R.K.F., Salinas De León, P., Garrard, S.L. Smith, D.J. & Bell, J.J.(2008). High connectivity of Indo-Pacific seagrass fish assemblages with    mangrove and coral reef habitats Marine Ecology Progress Series 353, 213-224

Unsworth, R.K.F., De Grave, S., Jompa, J. Smith, D.J. & Bell, J.J. (2007). Faunal relationships with seagrass habitat structure: a case study using shrimp from the Indo-Pacific. Marine and Freshwater Research 58 (11), 1008-1018.

Unsworth, R., Bell, J.J. & Smith, D.J. (2007). Tidal fish connectivity of reef and sea grass habitats in the Indo-Pacific. The Journal of the Marine Biological Association 87, 1287-1286

Unsworth, R., Powell, A., Taylor, J., Bell, J.J. & Smith, D.J. (2007). The contribution of Parrotfish (Scaridea spp.) herbivory to ecosystem dynamics in the Indo-Pacific. Estuarine and Coastal Shelf Science,

Bell, J.J. (2007). Contrasting patterns of species and functional composition for coral reef sponge assemblages. Marine Ecology Progress Series 339, 73–81

Unsworth, R., Wylie, E., Smith, D.J. & Bell, J.J. (2007). Diurnal trophic structuring of seagrass bed fish assemblages in the Wakatobi Marine National Park, Indonesia. Estuarine and Coastal Shelf Science 72, 81-88.

Bell, J.J. (2007). The use of volunteers for conducting sponge biodiversity
assessments and monitoring using a morphological approach on Indo-Pacific coral reefs. Aquatic Conservation: Marine and Freshwater Ecosystems 17, 133-145

Bell, J.J. & Smith, D. (2004). Ecology of sponges in the Wakatobi region, south- eastern Sulawesi, Indonesia: richness and abundance. Journal of the Marine Biological Association 84, 581-591.