Biodiversity is a feature of aquatic ecosystems that is often valued by different members of the community. To effectively manage aquatic biodiversity, we need to know where the areas of high biodiversity are. It is also useful to know what causes some areas to have high biodiversity and others not. This project has sought to answer these questions and so define biologically unique regions (bioregions) within northern Australia, based on patterns of aquatic biodiversity.
The project was led by Professor Jane Hughes from Griffith University and included researchers from Griffith University, the University of Canberra and James Cook University.
The research team also involved Indigenous communities in the collection of samples for molecular analysis.