Australian Phytoplankton Abundance Survey from Continuous Plankton Recorder

A collection of phytoplankton abundance data from the Australian Continuous Plankton Recorder (AusCPR) survey, a joint project by CSIRO Oceans and Atmosphere and the Australian Antarctic Division. It serves as a long-term plankton baseline for Australian waters, supporting research on biodiversity, climate change impacts, and fisheries management.

Use Cases

• Analyze phytoplankton distribution patterns across Australian waters to map biodiversity.
• Correlate plankton abundance changes with climate change indicators to document ecosystem responses.
• Use plankton data as indices for fisheries management models to inform stock assessments.
• Detect harmful algal bloom events by monitoring specific phytoplankton taxa abundance.

Strengths

• Data collection is part of a long-term baseline project for Australian waters, supporting temporal analysis.
• Methodology follows a published standard (Richardson et al. 2006) for phytoplankton analysis.
• Data is interoperable with other national and international programs through the IMOS infrastructure.

Limitations

• Taxonomic resolution of the data has changed over time, requiring users to consult change log tables for validity.
• Classification fields (e.g., genus, species) may be blank if identification was only to a higher taxonomic level.
• Sample data and specific data structure (rows, columns) are unavailable for review.

Provenance

Source

CSIRO Marlin Data Catalogue, via the Integrated Marine Observing System (IMOS) Ships of Opportunity facility.

Collection Method

Phytoplankton captured in situ by Continuous Plankton Recorder (CPR) mesh and silk strands, analyzed as per Richardson et al. 2006.

Time Range

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Freshness

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Geography

Australian waters