Lord Howe Island shelf sediments supported an impoverished infaunal assemblage with a high proportion of rare, new, and endemic species. The dataset was created by mapping seabed features with high-resolution multibeam sonar and sampling sediments and infauna using a Smith-McIntyre grab. It is hosted by the Australian Ocean Data Network and was last updated in 2026.
Use Cases
- Modeling infaunal community structure based on broad-scale geomorphic zones like drowned lagoon, relict reef, and outer shelf.
- Predicting population abundances and finer-scale community patchiness using sediment composition and seafloor topography.
- Analyzing trophic structure and species richness in relation to oceanic currents and physical wave disturbance.
- Examining the role of biogeographic isolation and sediment dynamics in determining the success of transient dispersers.
Strengths
- Integrates high-resolution multibeam sonar seabed mapping with fine-scale biological and physical sampling.
- Identifies three geomorphic zones as strong predictors of infaunal community structure across the shelf.
- Analysis includes species richness, abundance, and trophic structure across distinct shelf habitats.
Limitations
- Column-level documentation is absent; field semantics must be inferred after download.
- Row count is unknown, which may limit suitability assessment.
- Freshness should be verified as the last update timestamp is 2026-06-27 15:47:46.503972.
Provenance
- Source
- Australian Ocean Data Network (data_gov_au)
- Collection Method
- Seabed mapping with multibeam sonar and sediment/infauna sampling with a Smith-McIntyre grab.
- Freshness
- Last updated 2026-06-27 15:47:46.503972; freshness should be verified
- Geography
- Lord Howe Island shelf