1) A coral record from Havannah Reef spanning 1760-1998 shows peaks in barium levels that match increased sediment flux from flood plumes of the Burdekin River, validating the use of barium as a sediment proxy in coral. 2) Microscope images show fine-grained sediment particles and large aggregates of particles and plankton in flood plumes at depths of 2-5 meters, demonstrating transport of sediments offshore. 3) A study found that growth and survival of the fish Acanthochromis polyacanthus decreased with increasing sediment loads, showing sediments impair fish.

1. Coral records match
flood plume spikes
Figure 2: The coral Ba/Ca record of suspended
sediment into the GBR by the Burdekin river over
approximately the past 250 years.
Barium provides a proxy for suspended sediments
as it is desorbed from flood plume sediments21 and
quantitatively partitioned into the corals, calcium
carbonate skeleton22. a, Coral record from
Havannah Reef (green line) for the period from
1760 to 1998 with Ba/Ca peaks proportional to the
sediment flux delivered by Burdekin flood plume
events. The frequency and intensity of flood events
is indicated by luminescent bands in the coral
skeleton19,20,28, represented here as major (black
bar), average (blue bar) and small (grey bar)
discharge events. The record of discharge for the
Burdekin river, available from 1921, is also shown
(black line). b, Coral record for the period from
1840 to 1990 showing the large increase in Ba/Ca
that commences in 1870, the first major flood
following European settlement. c, Coral records
from Havannah (green line) and Pandora reefs (red
line) for the period 1965 to 1985 show excellent
agreement and a good correlation with the
Burdekin river weekly discharge (black line).
Spikes on green and black match
McCulloch et al – Nature 2003.

2. Burdekin river discharge
in 2010/2011 wet season
– w. sediment type
Fig. 2. (a) Time-series of Burdekin River
discharge at Clare (120006B) during the
2010–2011 wet season. River water sample
collection dates at Inkerman are overlayed as
grey vertical lines grouped into three flood
events. (b) Graph of TSS concentrations for
the Burdekin River (Inkerman) surface water
samples grouped into the three separate
flood events as displayed in A. The sediment
particle size composition of each sample is
also represented using four particle size
classes: clay (<3.9 μm), fine silt (3.9–
15.6 μm), coarse silt (15.6–63 μm) and sand
(>63 μm)
Bainbridge et al 2012, Marine Pollution
Bulletin
Sediment by flood event

3. Marine Snow –
sediment aggregrates
by depth.
Microscope images captured from surface (a
and b), 2 (c) and 5 m depth (d) in the plume
water collected at Orchard Rocks on 06/01/11.
Images show individual fine-grained sediment
(i.e. clay and silt <15 μm) particles (b and c),
large flocs (a) and large floc aggregates of fine
particles and plankton remains encased by TEP
(d) are still being carried in plume waters as far
as Magnetic Island in the weeks after peak
discharge.
+ microscope image of a large floc aggregate
captured in surface waters off Acheron Island
along Plume Transect 2.
The fine-grained sediment particles bound in
mucus have formed a large floc aggregate likely
including zooplankton (e.g. copepod; see arrow)
in the bottom-left corner of the image.
fine-grained sediment (i.e.
clay and silt <15 μm)
particles
large floc aggregates of fine particles
and plankton at 5m and in surface
water.
Scale bars represent 100 μm length
Bainbridge et al 2012, Marine Pollution Bulletin

4. Suspended sediment
impairs fish growth
and survival
Wenger et al 2012 – JEMBE
Fig. 2. Differences in growth rate and survival
through time.
Differences over time in (a) growth rate and
(b) survival of juvenile Acanthochromis
polyacanthus in the control (closed circle),
low (open circle), medium (closed triangle),
and high (open triangle) sediment
treatments.
Error bars are SE.
Growth decreases as sediment load increases
1) Control (0 mg l− 1); (2) Low (45 mg l− 1; 7.5 NTU), (3) Medium
(90 mg l− 1; 15 NTU), and (4) High (180 mg l− 1; 30 NTU)

5. Fig 4. Representative photos of the 5 damage levels used in the impact assessment and analysis.
Beeden R, Maynard J, Puotinen M, Marshall P,
Dryden J, et al. (2015) Impacts and Recovery from
Severe Tropical Cyclone Yasi on the Great Barrier
Reef. PLOS ONE 10(4): e0121272.
https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0121272
https://journals.plos.org/plosone/article?id=10.1
371/journal.pone.0121272

6. Number of fish species in each family associating with live coral
habitat as juveniles and adults. [Number in
parenthesis = number of species globally (Fishbase), black
bar = Juveniles, white bar = Adults]
Proportion of fish associating with live coral
habitat from different trophic groups
Coker et al 2014

7. Fig. 5 a Number of coral species that each fish species is found
to associate with, b top 13 fish species that associate with the
highest number of coral species
Coker et al 2014
Corals matter to fish