Dungeness Reef Seagrass and Benthic Survey, Torres Strait, February 2021

Torres Strait intertidal benthic surveys from Dungeness Reef in February 2021, summarized into three GIS shapefiles. The data includes seagrass presence, species composition, and biomass at 128 sites, along with benthic macro-invertebrate cover, collected by TropWATER at James Cook University. Survey methods involved helicopter-based sampling and visual biomass estimation techniques.

Use Cases

• Mapping seagrass meadow extent and community types based on the meadow shapefile.
• Analyzing spatial variation in seagrass biomass across the reef using the interpolation shapefile.
• Studying species composition and presence/absence patterns at 128 surveyed sites.
• Assessing benthic macro-invertebrate cover alongside seagrass metrics for habitat studies.

Strengths

• Data is structured into three distinct GIS shapefiles (site, meadow, interpolation) for specific analytical purposes.
• Surveys cover 128 specific sites with recorded GPS coordinates and sediment type.
• Biomass estimates are calibrated using observer-specific linear regressions against harvested values.
• Methods are documented and referenced to established TropWATER Seagrass Group publications.

Limitations

• Column-level documentation is absent; field semantics must be inferred after download.
• Row count is unknown, which may limit suitability assessment.
• Data may reflect geographic and temporal bias inherent to a single reef survey in February 2021.

Provenance

Source

TropWATER, James Cook University, via Australian Ocean Data Network (data_gov_au).

Collection Method

Helicopter-based intertidal surveys using visual estimates of seagrass percent cover, biomass ranking, and species composition from quadrats.

Time Range

February 2021

Freshness

Last updated 2026-07-18 23:59:38.177182; freshness should be verified.

Geography

Dungeness Reef, Torres Strait