WAMSI PhD Top-up - 3.9.4 - Quantifying impacts of the Leeuwin current on the ecology and biogeochemistry of the Ningaloo Reef

Four objectives addressed by the research conducted as part of this thesis were:

1. To characterise the seasonal variability of nutrient and chlorophyll a concentrations off the north west coast of Australia.

2. To identify the processes driving the seasonal variability in nutrient and chlorophyll a concentrations off the north west coast of Australia.

3. To investigate the differences in phytoplankton community, primary production and nutrient uptake between a period of high- and low-flow of the Leeuwin Current in the waters off Ningaloo Reef.

4. To estimate losses of primary production due to microzooplankton grazing in the waters off the west coast of Australia.

The goal of this research is to understand the processes offshore of Ningaloo Reef that support the production of particulate organic matter that may be available to sustain the reef. This understanding provides the basis to predict the health of the reef under climatic stresses such as El Niño and La Niña events.