Approximately 750 sponge specimens collected in the Oceanic Shoals Commonwealth Marine Reserve were assigned to 348 species. The inventory was compiled from three marine surveys to address questions about biodiversity hotspots and community structure. The study, published in 2015, applies these patterns to support future management and monitoring of the region.
Use Cases
- Identify biodiversity hotspots based on associations with carbonate banks and raised geomorphic features.
- Model sponge community structure using environmental variables like depth, substrate hardness, and slope.
- Compare sponge assemblages among individual raised geomorphic features for regional management strategies.
- Assess the importance of spatial scale in biodiversity assessments using species richness and assemblage data.
Strengths
- Inventory includes approximately 750 sponge specimens assigned to 348 species.
- Analysis compares sponge assemblages across eastern and western areas and among individual geomorphic features.
- Environmental variables such as mean depth, mean backscatter, and mean slope are included in the analysis.
Limitations
- Column-level documentation is absent; field semantics must be inferred after download.
- Row count is unknown, which may limit suitability assessment.
- Only 18% of the 348 sponge species are taxonomically described species.
Provenance
- Source
- Australian Ocean Data Network
- Collection Method
- Species-level inventory compiled from three marine surveys.
- Freshness
- Last updated 2026-04-16 15:27:39.744397; freshness should be verified.
- Geography
- Oceanic Shoals Commonwealth Marine Reserve (CMR) in northern Australia, focusing on the Sahul Shelf and Van Diemen Rise.