Biogeography of the Lord Howe Rise Region

Geoscience Australia's review synthesizes physical and biological information for the Lord Howe Rise region in the Tasman Sea. The dataset covers a large area of 1.95 million km², spanning latitudes from 18.4°S to 40.3°S, and describes topographically complex features including soft sediment basins, plateaus, seamounts, and guyots. Biological data from the TAN0713 and NORFANZ surveys show differences in species assemblages between raised and subdued bathymetric features, influenced by substrate and depth-related variables.

Use Cases

• Analyzing species distribution and assemblage differences between seamounts and sedimentary basins.
• Modeling habitat suitability based on geomorphic features and substrate types.
• Assessing latitudinal biodiversity gradients for demersal fish taxa.
• Regional biogeographic classification at a scale of hundreds of kilometers.

Strengths

• Covers a large, defined geographic region of 1.95 million km².
• Integrates data from two specific marine surveys (TAN0713 and NORFANZ).
• Synthesizes both physical (geomorphic) and biological variables for a holistic review.

Limitations

• Metadata completeness is low: column names, row counts, license, and author are unknown.
• The description indicates limited spatially-replicated studies and an absence of time-series data for most of the region.
• The dataset appears to be a published review or abstract, not a primary data table.

Provenance

Source

Geoscience Australia Data

Collection Method

Synthesis of physical and biological information from surveys and literature, described as a review.

Freshness

Last updated 2026-04-20 according to the most reliable source.

Geography

Lord Howe Rise region, Tasman Sea, spanning 18.4°S to 40.3°S.