David Spencer Muirhead

Unido: 22.oct.2016 Última actividad: 28.mar.2024 iNaturalist Australia

Experienced amateur citizen scientist age 68 currently living in Normanville South Australia 5204.
Keen snorkeler from childhood, scuba from age 16.
My interest in tropical diving soon waned . Hooked on the golden browns and reds of temperate macroalgae, after a few tropical dive trips(eg Fiji, Bali,GBR,Sri Lanka) stony coral reefs all looked much the same. The fish move but most corals don't. Sunlit kelp's bedazzling fluidity is otherworldly. (A recent Ningaloo trip softened my stance somewhat).
I prefer observing and photographing South Australian marine life. Anything terrestrial comes next.
Ever dived a temperate algal 'rainforest' ? There's no going back...it'll change you.
The under-researched temperate rocky reefs of Southern Australia fascinate . The Great Southern Reef is larger, contributes more to carbon fixation,generates more oxygen and is more biodiverse than any tropical reef system, including the GBR.
'Dive' and 'Reef' are almost synonymous in the community mindset. So, many divers neglect the rich variety of benthic habitats providing unparalleled opportunities inThe Unique South.The world's most diverse near-shore temperate marine habitat choices occur right here,and most have shore access. Shallow bays. Crystal rock pools ,some tidal, others deep. Often amenable to safe exploration,even as massive swells hammer a headland's outer ramparts . Remote platform reefs, the world's most southerly mangroves,and vast seagrass beds (seagrass meadows now rank top for carbon fixation ahead of tundra and way ahead of any rainforests). Sponge gardens,relict bryozoan reefs, you name it we've got it.And our continental shelf's so wide, with many offshore isles.
Shore snorkeling's a euphoric thrill along our thousands of km of accessible coastline.
Southern Australia has the world's highest temperate marine biodiversity,and the world's PEAK ENDEMISM! Platypuses, roos, koalas, echidnas,peak avian and botanical terrestrial diversity are one huge arrow pointing to the world's marine life frontier .Right here in 'my' backyard .The proportion of marine species in the middle of the world's longest south facing coastline that are undiscovered, undescribed, or known only from 1-2 museum specimens beggars belief.
Life's ours for the making, and eternity's waiting ,in the carbon cycle.

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