A 2026 dataset from Fisheries and Oceans Canada defines nine nearshore macrofauna epibenthic biotopes and three physiotopes along the British Columbia coastline. It includes 71 species distribution models predicting occurrence probabilities based on benthic habitat survey data and environmental variables. The dataset aims to fill knowledge gaps for marine planning and conservation initiatives.
Use Cases
- Mapping marine protected area networks based on defined biotope distributions.
- Planning environmental incident responses based on predicted species occurrence probabilities.
- Analyzing benthic community composition based on correlated species and substrate types.
- Studying habitat suitability based on environmental condition ranges like slope, depth, and salinity.
Strengths
- Contains 71 individual species distribution models.
- Defines and maps nine distinct biotopes and three physiotopes.
- Includes species richness calculated from 72 species occurrence probabilities.
Limitations
- Column-level documentation is absent; field semantics must be inferred after download.
- Row count is unknown, which may limit suitability assessment.
- Excludes Northern abalone, an endangered species, from the single-SDMs.
Provenance
- Source
- Fisheries and Oceans Canada
- Collection Method
- Species distribution models derived from benthic habitat mapping survey data and cluster analysis.
- Freshness
- Last updated 2026-06-15 12:31:58.324997
- Geography
- British Columbia coastline