Gamay (Botany Bay, Australia): a brief review of geological past, recent history and overview of its biodiversity

All records of polychaetes, crustaceans, molluscs, echinoderms and fishes from Gamay (Botany Bay, Australia), Cooks River, Woronora River and the Georges River were extracted from the Australian Museum (AM) collection database and mapped. Records were analysed according to the number of species, genera and families present and over 2,159 species recorded.

We provide a brief description of the geological history and geomorphology of the Gamay and how the coastline has been modified since European settlement with massive developments, such as the construction of Kingsford-Smith Airport, the Port Botany international container terminal and urbanisation of the catchment.

We also discuss the habitats present in the Bay from where the collections have been made, such as the endangered ecological communities of Posidonia australis seagrass and saltmarsh. More so, we highlight areas that have been the focus of research and collections with respect to specific projects, such as collections associated with the development of the third airport runway for the Federal Airports Corporation. We provide the current distributions of these habitats and indicate what has been lost due to anthropogenic developments. Further, we provide discussion regarding the variety of land ownership within Gamay, managment implications of this and consider the biodiversity of the Bay in comparison to neighbouring Sydney Harbour. Finally, as a focal taxon we compare the polychaete biodiversity in both Gamay and Jervis Bay (NSW), where extensive sampling of soft sediments has occurred.

Finally, we hope this review will encourage those undertaking ecological surveys in Gamay to deposit a reference collection of their samples into the Australian Museum. This will help facilitate future studies regarding species redistributions on the east coast of Australia as the climate changes.