Tripneustes australiae

McLaren, Emily, Sommer, Brigitte, Pine, Christopher, Miskelly, Ashley & Byrne, Maria, 2025, Searchin' for Urchins: Utilising Museum Collections and Citizen Science to Assess Species on the Move in the Genus Tripneustes, Journal of Biogeography (e 15092) 52 (5), pp. 1-15 : 8

3.4.1 | T. australiae

The best habitat suitability model (variables: MD, SST, SWV, and pH) for T. australiae had a high predictive capacity (AUC = 0.996 ± 0.001 SD), indicating the model prediction was reliable. Depth was the best predictor of T. australiae habitat suitability (57.9%), followed by SST (39.7%), SWV (2.4%), and pH (0.1%). Tripneustes australiae habitat suitability was limited to the subtropical and temperate regions of Australia, including the offshore islands Lord Howe and Norfolk ( Figure 5 ). This suggests that depth and temperature act to limit the distribution of T. australiae within these regions of Australia. When future habitat suitability was projected using SPP2-4.5 for the period 2090–2100, the latitudinal range of suitable habitat for T. australiae narrowed and shifted poleward ( Figure 5 ). Suitable habitat also decreased on the offshore islands and increased in the northern part of New Zealand ( Figure 5 ).

Figures

FIGURE 5 | Habitat suitability for T. australiae in eastern Australia and the Tasman Sea based on model predictions using minimum depth, current day sea surface temperature, and current day seawater velocity (top) and minimum depth, sea surface temperature (SSP2-4.5), and sea-water velocity (SSP2-4.5) projections for the period between 2090 and 2100 (bottom).