Australian Coastal Zooplankton Biomass Time Series

Aggregating monthly zooplankton biomass samples from nine reference stations around the Australian coastline. The sampling program analyzes community composition, biomass, and size spectrum, with data planned for interoperability through IMOS infrastructure.

Use Cases

• Analyze temporal trends in zooplankton biomass (dry weight in mg/m3) across the nine Australian coastal stations.
• Study changes in zooplankton community composition (Taxon/m3) over time at specific stations like Port Hacking.
• Conduct size spectrum analysis using the planned Zooscan data to understand population structure.
• Compare sampling methodologies between the historical Port Hacking 4 site (2002-2009) and the current national reference stations.

Strengths

• Data is collected from nine stations regularly sampled around the Australian coastline.
• Sampling is conducted monthly at most stations, providing a consistent time series.
• Three zooplankton samples are taken each month for different analyses (formalin-fixed, molecular).

Limitations

• The dataset's exact size, row count, and column structure are unknown from the provided input.
• Sampling frequency is reduced to every three months at the Esperance and Ningaloo stations.
• Historical Port Hacking 4 data uses a different net and sampling method, complicating direct time-series continuity.

Provenance

Source

CSIRO Marlin Data Catalogue, part of the Integrated Marine Observing System (IMOS).

Collection Method

Monthly sampling using a weighted drop net (60 cm diameter, 100 micron mesh) at nine coastal stations, with three samples taken per month.

Time Range

Time series includes historical data from Port Hacking 4 (2002 - January 2009) and ongoing sampling.

Freshness

Last updated metadata indicates 2026-03-20, suggesting ongoing updates.

Geography

Nine national reference stations located around the Australian coastline.