Can sponge morphologies act as environmental proxies to biophysical factors in the Great Barrier Reef, Australia?

Sponges play a vital role in the world’s most complex and vulnerable marine ecosystems. Various in situ studies have suggested that sponge morphologies (developed from exposure to a range of biophysical factors) can be considered as ecological indicators to current detrimental environmental changes such as climate change, overfishing, pollution and dredging for coastal development. Regional and long-term taxonomic data on sponges within each...