Origins and Implications of a Primary Crown-of-Thorns Starfish Outbreak in the Southern Great Barrier Reef

Figure 3

Historic change in COTS abundance on Swain Reefs compared to Capricorn-Bunker Reefs. Surveys conducted in both regions annually except for 1989. Survey years run from 1 July to 30 June, so, for instance, the 2012 survey year represents reefs surveyed between July 2011 and June 2012. -axis log scale, the small line peak in 2013, represents small numbers of COTS recorded from Swain Reef surveys in that year (see Table 1).