Cassowary Density and Abundance Estimates in Australia's Wet Tropics, 2014

NERP TE 3.4 and CSIRO produced this dataset containing the estimated distribution and abundance of cassowaries across 23 sub-regions of Australia's Wet Tropics. The data is based on field surveys along 157 transects conducted from 2012 to 2014, with density estimates derived from faecal-DNA analysis of dung samples. The dataset includes original and simplified shapefiles detailing cassowary essential habitat boundaries.

Use Cases

• Mapping cassowary population density based on estimated abundance across 23 sub-regions.
• Identifying key conservation areas based on the highest densities and abundance mentioned in the description.
• Analyzing the relationship between dung encounter rates and cassowary density as described in the survey methodology.
• Comparing habitat boundaries derived from detailed essential habitat mapping versus simplified regional polygons.

Strengths

• Data is based on field surveys along 157 transects conducted from 2012 to 2014.
• Density estimates are derived from faecal-DNA analysis, which allows for individual identification.
• Provides two spatial representations: an original shapefile with 452 polygons and a simplified version with 23 polygons.

Limitations

• Description metadata is limited; actual data quality requires manual inspection after download.
• Column-level documentation is absent; field semantics must be inferred after download.
• The scale difference between the fine boundary mapping and the 23 regional aggregations needs careful consideration during use.

Provenance

Source

NERP TE 3.4, CSIRO, Australian Ocean Data Network

Collection Method

Field surveys and faecal-DNA analysis of dung samples collected along transects.

Time Range

2012-2014

Freshness

Last updated 2026-07-16 11:57:49.527365; freshness should be verified.

Geography

Wet Tropics Region of Australia