Hard-Substratum Epifauna Recruitment in Antarctic Bays

A 1999 field experiment by the Australian Antarctic Data Centre examined sessile epifauna recruitment on 160 tiles deployed at five locations in Antarctic bays. The dataset includes results from the first sampling period, 15 months after deployment, with eight tiles collected per location. It specifically analyzes recruitment differences between the upper and lower surfaces of the tiles.

Use Cases

• Compare sessile organism recruitment rates between impacted locations (Brown Bay, Shannon Bay) and control locations (O'Brien Bay) using location and tile side data.
• Analyze spatial patterns of epifaunal settlement through the nested design of 32 tiles per location.
• Investigate substrate preference by comparing colonization density on the upper versus lower tile surfaces.
• Model temporal recruitment dynamics using the 15-month sampling interval as a baseline time point.

Strengths

• Data from a controlled field experiment with 160 total tile samples.
• Spatially structured design with five distinct geographic locations for comparison.
• Explicit measurement of recruitment on two tile surfaces (upper and lower).

Limitations

• Dataset is limited to a single sampling time point at 15 months, lacking a time series.
• Sample size is 8 tiles per location for this record, which may limit statistical power for some analyses.
• Data is from 1999 and may not reflect current ecological conditions.

Provenance

Source

Australian Antarctic Data Centre (AU_AADC), via NASA Earthdata.

Collection Method

Field experiment using deployed tiles to collect recruiting epifauna.

Time Range

Sampling occurred 15 months after initial deployment, circa 1999.

Freshness

null

Geography

Antarctica: Brown Bay, Shannon Bay, and O'Brien Bay.