IMOS - AusCPR: Plankton Biomass Index for Australian Waters

The Australian Continuous Plankton Recorder survey measures plankton communities as a guide to ocean health. The biomass index is derived from dry weight analysis of plankton samples collected from Australian waters. This joint project by CSIRO Oceans and Atmosphere and the Australian Antarctic Division aims to map biodiversity and document changes in response to climate change.

Use Cases

• Mapping plankton biodiversity and distribution based on survey data.
• Developing long-term plankton baselines for Australian waters.
• Documenting plankton changes in response to climate change.
• Providing indices for fisheries management based on biomass measurements.
• Detecting harmful algal blooms using plankton community data.

Strengths

• Data is part of a long-term monitoring project by national research institutions CSIRO and AAD.
• Data is planned to be interoperable with other national and international programs through IMOS infrastructure.
• Results are available through the AODN portal, indicating a structured data access point.

Limitations

• This dataset has been superseded by a newer collection and was removed from the AODN Portal in March 2022.
• Column-level documentation is absent; field semantics must be inferred after download.
• Row count is unknown, which may limit suitability assessment.

Provenance

Source

Integrated Marine Observing System (IMOS) Ships of Opportunity facility, analyzed by CSIRO and Australian Antarctic Division staff.

Collection Method

Plankton samples collected via Continuous Plankton Recorder, with biomass analyzed via dry weight measurement after oven drying.

Freshness

Last updated 2026-06-04 07:47:29.249624; freshness should be verified as the dataset is superseded.

Geography

Australian waters