Beyond Capricornia: Tropical Sea Slugs (Gastropoda, Heterobranchia) Extend Their Distributions into the Tasman Sea
1
National Marine Science Centre, Southern Cross University, Bay Drive, Coffs Harbour, NSW 2450, Australia
2
Marine Ecology Research Centre, Southern Cross University, Lismore, NSW 2458, Australia
*
Author to whom correspondence should be addressed.
Diversity 2018, 10(3), 99; https://doi.org/10.3390/d10030099
Received: 7 August 2018
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Revised: 27 August 2018
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Accepted: 28 August 2018
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Published: 4 September 2018
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Climate Change and Human Activities on Coral Reefs)
There is increasing evidence of poleward migration of a broad range of taxa under the influence of a warming ocean. However, patchy research effort, the lack of pre-existing baseline data, and taxonomic uncertainty for some taxa means that unambiguous interpretation of observations is often difficult. Here, we propose that heterobranch sea slugs provide a useful target group for monitoring shifts in distribution. As many sea slugs are highly colourful, popular with underwater photographers and rock-pool ramblers, and found in accessible habitats, they provide an ideal target for citizen scientist programs, such as the Sea Slug Census. This maximises our ability to rapidly gain usable diversity and distributional data. Here, we review records of recent range extensions by tropical species into the subtropical and temperate waters of eastern Australia and document, for the first time in Australian waters, observations of three tropical species of sea slug as well as range extensions for a further six to various locations in the Tasman Sea.
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Keywords:
range extension; climate change; heterobranch; citizen science; Sea Slug Census; biodiversity
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MDPI and ACS Style
Nimbs, M.J.; Smith, S.D.A. Beyond Capricornia: Tropical Sea Slugs (Gastropoda, Heterobranchia) Extend Their Distributions into the Tasman Sea. Diversity 2018, 10, 99. https://doi.org/10.3390/d10030099
AMA Style
Nimbs MJ, Smith SDA. Beyond Capricornia: Tropical Sea Slugs (Gastropoda, Heterobranchia) Extend Their Distributions into the Tasman Sea. Diversity. 2018; 10(3):99. https://doi.org/10.3390/d10030099
Chicago/Turabian StyleNimbs, Matt J., and Stephen D.A. Smith. 2018. "Beyond Capricornia: Tropical Sea Slugs (Gastropoda, Heterobranchia) Extend Their Distributions into the Tasman Sea" Diversity 10, no. 3: 99. https://doi.org/10.3390/d10030099
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