Dungeness Reef Seagrass Survey in Torres Strait, February 2021

February 2021 intertidal benthic survey data from Dungeness Reef, Torres Strait, summarised into three GIS shapefiles. The dataset includes seagrass presence/absence and species composition at 128 sites, community descriptions for a reef-top meadow, and interpolated biomass variation. This monitoring, conducted annually since 2016 by TropWATER at James Cook University, informs dugong and turtle management plans for regional governments.

Use Cases

• Mapping seagrass meadow extent and community structure based on GIS shapefiles.
• Analyzing spatial variation in seagrass biomass across survey sites using interpolation data.
• Monitoring long-term trends in intertidal reef-top seagrass as part of an annual survey series.
• Informing marine species management plans based on habitat data for dugongs and turtles.

Strengths

• Includes data from 128 specific survey sites with GPS coordinates.
• Part of a consistent annual monitoring program established in 2016, providing temporal context.
• Data collection follows a published, observer-calibrated methodology for biomass estimation.

Limitations

• Row count is unknown, which may limit suitability assessment.
• Column-level documentation is absent; field semantics must be inferred after download.
• Description metadata is limited; actual data quality requires manual inspection after download.

Provenance

Source

TropWATER, James Cook University, via the Australian Ocean Data Network.

Collection Method

Helicopter-based surveys using visual estimation of seagrass cover, biomass ranking, and species composition within quadrats.

Time Range

February 2021 (part of annual surveys since 2016).

Freshness

Last updated 2026-07-16 02:25:54.915295; freshness should be verified.

Geography

Dungeness Reef, Torres Strait, Australia.