The impacts of dredging on the early life history stages of coral

Dredging operations in Australia are often halted during periods when corals are likely to spawn; however, the effectiveness of this shut-down period remains unknown. In this thesis, I identified all possible cause-effect pathways where sediment could affect the key early-life stages of corals, and quantified pressure-response relationships. Suspended sediment generally presented a low-to-moderate risk to pelagic stages (i.e. egg-sperm bundle, fertilisation, embryo, and larval), whereas deposited sediment presented a higher risk to the benthic stage (i.e. settlement). These results provide an empirical basis to formally assess the implications of future dredging over the coral spawning window.