Benthic community data from Macquarie Island investigates recovery from the Nella Dan oil spill. The dataset includes quadrat, transect, and direct sampling of macrofauna in kelp holdfasts and shore zones. Data were collected by the Australian Antarctic Data Centre during the 1994-95 summer season.
Use Cases
- Analyze differences in community structure between sheltered and exposed coasts using transect and quadrat data.
- Model macrofauna population patterns in Durvillaea antarctica holdfasts against variables like holdfast volume and sediment content.
- Assess recovery of shore zone biota by comparing biotic variables across spatial scales of hundreds of meters to kilometers.
Strengths
- Data collected using standardized ecological methods: quadrat, transect, and direct sampling.
- Analysis spans multiple spatial scales from hundreds of meters to between coasts.
Limitations
- Dataset is temporally limited to a single summer season (1994-95).
- Specific sample sizes, row counts, and column details are unknown.
- Data is over 25 years old, limiting analysis of recent ecological states.
Provenance
- Source
- Australian Antarctic Data Centre (AU_AADC), ASAC Project 756.
- Collection Method
- Field sampling using quadrat, transect, and direct sampling methods.
- Time Range
- 1994-95 summer season.
- Freshness
- Last updated in March 1996; no indication of ongoing updates.
- Geography
- Macquarie Island, sub-Antarctic region.