Benthic invertebrate assemblages are important components of marine and estuarine environments. They provide food for commercial and recreational fisheries and are sensitive indicators of anthropogenic impacts to these systems.

Knowledge of the types of invertebrates that comprise these assemblages is thus crucial for establishing an understanding of marine and estuarine ecosystem health.

Services

We provide the following services to environmental managers in both the private and public sectors:

1. Design and implementation of robust sampling regimes for monitoring invertebrate assemblages.
2. Reliable and accurate identification and counting of invertebrate taxa and data collation.
3. Comprehensive statistical analyses of assemblage data.

Expertise and Quality Assurance

Dr Michelle Wildsmith, Ocean Vision’s benthic ecologist, completed her PhD at Murdoch University in 2007. She has nine years of experience in the study of marine and estuarine benthic invertebrate assemblages in Australia and has developed sound invertebrate identification skills during this time. Her particular area of expertise is the ecology of soft sediment infauna, including polychaetes, crustaceans and molluscs.

Ocean Vision works with other specialists in the field as required, and is committed to establishing a network of taxonomists from various research institutions throughout Australia. On a project-by-project basis, and if requested, we draw upon this network of expertise to provide additional expertise and Quality Assurance (QA) when undertaking identification work .