Australian Exclusive Economic Zone Benthic Bioregionalisation Report

A 2000s-era technical report describes benthic bioregionalisation for 80% of Australia's Exclusive Economic Zone beyond the continental shelf break. It details patterns of biological distributions and physical habitats on the seafloor. The report was produced by the Australian Ocean Data Network for the National Oceans Office.

Use Cases

• Identify and describe distinct benthic bioregions using physical habitat data and biological distribution patterns.
• Sub-divide marine bioregions for management purposes based on physical seafloor data layers.
• Evaluate the strengths and weaknesses of a national-scale benthic bioregionalisation framework.
• Apply the bioregionalisation methodology to other marine areas using the described datasets and techniques.

Strengths

• Covers 80% of Australia's Exclusive Economic Zone.
• Integrates multiple datasets to describe biological and physical seafloor patterns.
• Includes a formal evaluation of the bioregionalisation's strengths and weaknesses.

Limitations

• Data is contained in a report format (HTML), not a structured, queryable dataset.
• Specific row counts, column names, and sample data are unavailable.
• The underlying source data and its temporal range are not directly accessible.

Provenance

Source

Australian Ocean Data Network, produced for the National Oceans Office.

Collection Method

Analysis and synthesis of multiple marine datasets to create a bioregionalisation.

Time Range

2000s (era of the report's creation).

Freshness

Report metadata last updated in 2026, but the core report content is from the 2000s.

Geography

Australia's Exclusive Economic Zone, specifically areas beyond the continental shelf break.