The Biogeography of the Australian North West Shelf

Barry Wilson graduated with Honours in science from the University of Western Australia (zoology and geology majors) and was awarded a PhD from that university in 1965 with a thesis on the reproductive biology and ecology of marine molluscs. This was followed by a post-doctoral appointment as Fulbright Scholar and Research Fellow in the School of Evolutionary Biology at Harvard University. Barry has published many research papers on molluscan systematics and coral reef biology and six reference books on Australian marine molluscs.

Barry is an experienced scuba diver (initially self taught in the 1950s when there were no instructors around) and a proficient undersea photographer. He has had extensive marine field experience in the Australian, Pacific and South East Asian regions. He led a biological survey to the Moluccus in 1970 aboard an American research vessel. In 1973, he participated in an American survey of crown-of-thorns seastars in Micronesia and followed this with a three-year research program on crown-of-thorns infestations on coral reefs in northern Western Australia.

Barry has held positions as Curator of Molluscs at the Western Australian Museum, Director of the National Museum of Victoria (Melbourne) and Director of Nature Conservation in Western Australia. He served for 9 years as Chairman of the Western Australian Marine Parks & Reserves Authority (responsible for the establishment and management of that State's extensive marine conservation reserves system) and 7 years as a Director and Managing Director of an organisation known as the Australian Wildlife Conservancy that has built a network of private conservation reserves for endangered species throughout Australia.

Now, after "retirement", Barry provides consulting services to Government and industry, mainly in marine science and environmental protection on the North West Self.

In 2001 Barry Wilson was awarded the Australian Centennial Medal for distinguished service in marine science.

The Biogeography of the Australian North West Shelf provides the first assembly of existing information of the North West Shelf in terms of geological, oceanographic and climatological history and current understanding of such issues as biodiversity, connectivity, larval dispersal and speciation in the sea that determine the distribution patterns of its invertebrate fauna. It is intended as a source of information and ideas on the biota of the shelf and its evolutionary origins and affinities and the environmental drivers of species' ecology and distribution and ecosystem function.

Regulators and industry environmental managers worldwide, but especially on the resource-rich North West Shelf, are faced with having to make decisions without adequate information or understanding of conservation values or the factors that drive ecosystem processes and resilience in the face of increasing anthropogenic and natural change. This book will provide a resource of information and ideas and extensive references to issues of primary concern. It will provide a big-picture narrative, putting the marine biota into a geological, evolutionary, and regional biodiversity context.

Chapter 1: Introduction

Chapter 2: The Contemporary Physical Environment

Chapter 3: Major Coastal and Offshore Habitats and their Invertebrate Communities

3.1: Rocky Shores

3.2: Coral Reefs of the North West Shelf

3.3: Mangrove Habitat and Associated Fauna

3.4: Habitats and Biotic Assemblages of Intertidal Sandy and Muddy Shores

3.5: Benthic Shelf and Slope Habitats

Chapter 4: Biodiversity and Distribution Patterns of North West Shelf

Chapter 5: Reef and Benthic Invertebrate Fauna