Centre for Sustainable Aquatic Ecosystems

Catchments to Coast

Node Leader: Dr Stephen Beatty (s.beatty@murdoch.edu.au)

Our members are leaders in the field of freshwater, estuarine and coastal aquatic system research. Our researchers specialise in estuarine health, threatened fishes, impact of introduced species, climate change and habitat condition. Our research spans the entire Western Australian state, from the rivers and macrotidal areas of the remote Kimberley, to the arid rivers and mangrove systems of the Pilbara and the world's largest fringing reef at Ningaloo, to the spectacular stream, lakes, estuaries and islands of the south-west.

Current Research

Fire Water Points: Creating water sources that enhance the resilience of biodiversity to climate change

Freshwater Fish Research

Healthy Rivers

Freshwater Mussels

Pilbara Fish documentary

Featured publication:

Norman, B.M., Reynolds, S. & Morgan, D.L. (2021). Three-way symbiotic relationships in whale sharks. Pacific Conservation Biology. https://doi.org/10.1071/PC20043

Check out the footage of both host and hitchhikers feeding https://vimeo.com/646312293

Some of our recent research outputs can be found below:

2024

Bateman, R.L., Morgan, D.L., Wueringer, B.E., McDavitt, M. & Lear, K.O. (2024). Collaborative methods identify a remote global diversity hotspot of threatened, large bodied rhino rays. Aquatic Conservation: Marine and Freshwater Ecosystems 2024: 1-17. https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/aqc.4047
Morgan, D.L., Allen, M.G. & Beatty, S.J. (2024). The enigmatic Salamanderfish (Lepidogalaxias salamandroides Mees, 1961) in acidic, ephemeral peat swamps of south-western Australia. FiSHMED: Fishes in Mediterranean Environments 2024.002.
Roberts, B.H., Morrongiello, J.R., Morgan, D.L., King, A.J., Saunders, T.M., Banks, S.C. & Crook, D.A. (2024). Monsoonal wet season influences the migration tendency of a catadromous fish (barramundi Lates calcarifer). Journal of Animal Ecology 93: 83-94.

2023

Lear, K.O., Ebner, B.C., Fazeldean, T., Whitty, J.M., & Morgan, D.L. (2023). Inter-decadal sampling reveals macrohabitat and environmental drivers of variation in aquatic assemblages in a near pristine dryland river. Ecology of Freshwater Fish 32: 444-463.
Lear, K.O., Fazeldean, T., Bateman, R.L., Ingelbrecht, J. & Morgan, D.L. (2023). Growth and morphology of Critically Endangered green sawfish Pristis zijsron in globally important nursery habitats. Marine Biology 170: 70.
Morgan, D.L. and Beatty, S.J. (2023). The Pouched lamprey (Geotria australis Gray, 1851) in Mediterranean streams of the Southern Hemisphere. FiSHMED: Fishes in Mediterranean Environments 2023.004: 1-5.

2022

Beatty, S.J., Lear, K.O., Allen, M.G., Lymbery, A.J., Tweedley, J.R. & Morgan, D.L. (2021). What factors influence fin-nipping by the invasive Gambusia holbrooki (Poeciliidae) on native fishes in riverine systems? Freshwater Biology 67: 325-337. https://doi.org/10.1111/fwb.13843
Espinoza, M., Bonfil-Sanders, R., Carlson, J., Charvet, P., Chevis, M., Dulvy, N.K., Everett, B., Faria, V., Ferretti, F., Fordham, S., Grant, M.I., Haque, A.B., Harry, A.V., Jabado, R.W., Jones, G.C.A., Kelez, S., Lear, K.O., Morgan, D.L., Phillips, N.M. & Wueringer, B.E. 2022. Pristis pristis. The IUCN Red List of Threatened Species 2022: e.T18584848A58336780.
Grant, M.I., Charles, R., Fordham, S., Harry, A.V., Lear, K.O., Morgan, D.L., Phillips, N.M., Simeon, B., Wakhida, Y. & Wueringer, B.E. 2022. Pristis clavata. The IUCN Red List of Threatened Species 2022: e.T39390A68641215.
Harry, A.V., Everett, B., Faria, V., Fordham, S., Grant, M.I., Haque, A.B., Ho, H., Jabado, R.W., Jones, G.C.A., Lear, K.O., Morgan, D.L., Phillips, N.M., Spaet, J.L.Y., Tanna, A. & Wueringer, B.E. 2022. Pristis zijsron. The IUCN Red List of Threatened Species 2022: e.T39393A58304631.
Ingelbrecht, J., Morgan, D.L., Lear, K.O., Fazeldean, T., Lymbery, A.J., Norman, B.M. & Martin, S.B. (2022). A new microbothriid monogenean Dermopristis pterophilus sp. from the skin of the Critically Endangered green sawfish Pristis zijsron Bleeker, 1851 (Batoidea: Pristidae) in Western Australia. International Journal for Parasitology: Parasites and Wildlife 17: 185-193. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ijppaw.2022.01.006
Ma, L., Beatty, S.J., Morgan, D.L. & Lymbery, A.J. (2022). Population structure and microhabitat preference of a threatened freshwater mussel, Westralunio carteri, in south-western Australia. Hydrobiologia https://doi.org/10.1007/s10750-022-04929-2

2021

Lear, K.O., Morgan, D.L., Whitty, J.M., Beatty, S.J. & Gleiss, A.C. (2021). Wet season flood magnitude drives resilience to dry season drought of a euryhaline elasmobranch in a dry-land river. Science of the Total Environment 750: 142234.
Lymbery, A.J., Ma, L., Lymbery, S.J., Klunzinger, M.W., Beatty, S.J. & Morgan, D.L. (2021). Burrowing behavior protects a threatened freshwater mussel in drying rivers. Hydrobiologia 848: 3141-3152.
Morgan, D.L., Lear, K.O., Dobinson, E., Gleiss, A.C., Fazeldean, T., Pillans, R.D., Beatty, S.J. & Whitty, J.M. (2021). Seasonal use of a macrotidal estuary by the endangered dwarf sawfish (Pristis clavata). Aquatic Conservation: Marine and Freshwater Ecosystems 31: 2164-2177. https://doi.org/10.1002/aqc.3578
Morgan, D.L., Lear, K.O., Ebner, B.C. & Beatty, S.J. (2021). Net design for selective control of the ‘plague minnow’ Gambusia holbrooki that minimises impact on native fishes. Journal of Fish Biology. https://doi.org/10.1111/jfb.14895
Norman, B.M., Reynolds, S. & Morgan, D.L. (2021). Three-way symbiotic relationships in whale sharks. Pacific Conservation Biology 28(1), 80-83.
Palermo, C.J., Morgan, D.L., Beatty, S.J., Elliot, A. & Greay, T.L. (2021). The discovery of Asian fish tapeworm (Schyzocotyle acheilognathi) in Western Australia may pose a threat to the health of endemic native fishes. Journal of Helminthology. https://doi.org/10.1017/S0022149X21000365
Roberts, B.H., Morrongiello, J.R., Morgan, D.L., King, A.J., Sauders, T.M. and Crook, D.A. (2021). Faster juvenile growth promotes earlier sex change in a protandrous hermaphrodite (barramundi Lates calcarifer). Scientific Reports 11:2276.
Storer, T., Bannister, J., Bennett, K., Byrnes. E., Crook, D.A., Morgan, D.L., Gleiss, A. & Beatty, S.J. (2021). Influence of discharge regime on the movement and refuge use of a freshwater fish in a drying temperate region. Ecohydrology 14:e2253.

2020

Allen, M.G., Morgan, D.L., Close, P.G., & Beatty, S.J. (2020). Too little but not too late? Biology of a recently discovered and imperiled freshwater fish in a drying temperate region and comparison with sympatric fishes. Aquatic Conservation: Marine and Freshwater Ecosystems 30: 1412-1423.
Beatty, S.J., Ramsay, A., Pinder, A.M. & Morgan, D.L. (2020). Reservoirs act as footholds for an invasive freshwater crayfish. Pacific Conservation Biology 26, 78-83.
Byrnes, E., Lear, K., Morgan, D. & Gleiss, A. (2020). Respirometer in a box: development and use of a portable field respirometer for estimating oxygen consumption of large-bodied fishes. Journal of Fish Biology.
Chan, F.T., Beatty, S.J., Gilles, A.S.Jr., Hill, J.E., Kozic, S., Luo, D., Morgan, D.L., Pavia, R.T.B.Jr., Therriault, T.W., Verreycken, H., Vilizzi, L., Wei, H., Yeo, D.C.J., Zeng, Y., Zięba, G. & Copp, G.H. (2020). Leaving the fish bowl: the ornamental trade as a global vector for freshwater fish invasions. Aquatic Ecosystem Health & Management 22: 417-439.
Donaldson, J.A., Drews Jr, P., Bradley, M.J, Morgan, D.L., Baker, R. & Ebner, B.C. (2020). Countering low visibility in video survey of an estuarine fish assemblage. Pacific Conservation Biology 26: 190-200. doi.org/10.1071/PC19019
Ebner, B.C., Millington, M., Holmes, B.J., Wilson, D., Sydes, T., Bickel, T.O., Power, T., Hammer, M., Lach, L., Schaffer, J., Lymbery, A. & Morgan, D.L. (2020). Scoping the biosecurity risks and appropriate management relating to the freshwater ornamental aquarium trade across northern Australia. Centre for Tropical Water and Aquatic Ecosystem Research (TropWATER) Publication 20/17, James Cook University, Cairns.
Emery-Butcher, H., Beatty, S., Robson, B. (2020). The effects of invasive ecosystem engineers on freshwater ecosystems: A review. Freshwater Biology. 65, 999-1015.
Feutry, P., Devloo-Delva, F., Tran Lu Y, A., Mona, S., Gunasekera, R.M., Johnson, G., Pillans, R.D., Jaccoud, D., Kilian, A., Morgan, D.L., Saunders, T., Bax, N., & Kyne, P.M. (2020). One panel to rule them all: DArTcap genotyping for population structure, historical demography, and kinship analyses, and its application to a threatened shark. Molecular Ecology Resources https://doi.org/10.1111/1755-0998.13204
Lintermans, M., Geyle, H.M., Beatty, S., Brown, C., Ebner, B., Freeman, R., Hammer, M., Humphreys, W.F., Kennard, M.J., Kern, P., Martin, K., Morgan, D., Raadik, T.A., Unmack, P.J., Wager, R., Woinarski, J.C.Z. & Garnett, S.T. (2020). Big trouble for little fish: Australian freshwater fish in imminent risk of extinction. Pacific Conservation Biology.
Lymbery, A.J., Ma, L., Lymbery, S.J., Klunzinger, M.W., Beatty, S.J. & Morgan, D.L. (2020). Burrowing behaviour protects a threatened freshwater mussel in drying rivers. Hydrobiologia.

2019

Beatty, S.J. & Morgan, D.L. (2019). A “cray-zy” dam solution for an iconic species. Frontiers in Ecology and the Environment 17: 184.
Lear, K.O., Gleiss, A.C., Whitty, J.M., Fazeldean, T., Albert, J., Green, N., Ebner, B.C., Thorburn, D.C., Beatty, S.J., and Morgan, D.L. (2019). Recruitment of a critically endangered sawfish into a riverine nursery is dependent on natural flow regimes. Scientific Reports 9: 17071.
Lear, K.O., Whitney, N.M., Morgan, D.L., Brewster, L.R., Whitty, J.M., Poulakis, G.R., Scharer, R.M., Guttridge, T.L. & Gleiss, A.C. (2019). Thermal performance responses in free-ranging elasmobranchs depend on habitat use and body size. Oecologia 191: 829-842.
Roberts, B.H., Morrongiello, J.R., King, A.J., Morgan, D. Saunders, T.M., Woodhead, J. & Crook, D.A. (2019). Migration to freshwater increases growth rates in a facultatively catadromous tropical fish. Oceologia 191: 253-260.
Santoro A., Chambers, J., Robson, B., Beatty, S. (2020). Land use surrounding wetlands influences urban populations of a freshwater turtle. Aquatic Conservation: Marine and Freshwater Ecosystems. 30: 1050-1060.