Benthic Cover and Fish Density on Great Barrier Reef Fringing Reefs, 1999–2014

Keppel, Whitsunday, and Palm Island groups in the Great Barrier Reef Marine Park are covered by this dataset of site and zone means for benthic cover and fish density. It results from underwater visual census surveys conducted between 1999 and 2014 to assess the ecological effects of no-take marine reserve zoning. The project was established by the Australian Ocean Data Network and provides a baseline prior to the 2004 zoning plan.

Use Cases

• Assessing the impact of no-take marine reserve zoning on fish density based on long-term monitoring data.
• Analyzing changes in benthic cover percentages on fringing coral reefs over a 15-year period.
• Comparing ecological metrics between fished zones and zones closed to fishing in the Great Barrier Reef.
• Modeling ecosystem resilience based on fish functional group density and benthic category data.

Strengths

• Data spans a 15-year time series from 1999 to 2014, providing a long-term perspective.
• Surveys were conducted across three distinct island groups (Keppel, Whitsunday, Palm) for spatial replication.
• The project established a solid baseline dataset prior to the major 2004 zoning management plan.
• Surveys recorded approximately 190 fish species from 15 families, indicating taxonomic breadth.

Limitations

• Column-level documentation is absent; field semantics must be inferred after download.
• Row count is unknown, which may limit suitability assessment for large-scale modeling.
• Data may reflect geographic bias inherent to the three surveyed inshore island groups.

Provenance

Source

Australian Ocean Data Network

Collection Method

Underwater visual census (UVC) using 50m x 6m transects on reef slopes between 4-12 metres depth.

Time Range

1999 – 2014

Freshness

Last updated 2026-07-10 16:17:36.041949; freshness should be verified.

Geography

Fringing coral reefs of the Keppel, Whitsunday, and Palm Island groups within the Great Barrier Reef Marine Park, Australia.