Leschenault Estuary Seagrass Cover Surveys 2009-2023

2009 to 2023 surveys record seagrass species distribution, percentage cover, epiphytic cover, and macroalgae cover at sites in Leschenault Estuary, Western Australia. The Department of Water and Environmental Regulation collected this data, with physical water profile measurements added from 2018 onward.

Use Cases

• Model temporal trends in seagrass percentage cover categories across survey years to assess estuary health.
• Analyze correlations between epiphytic cover levels and macroalgae cover categories at monitoring sites.
• Map species distribution changes using point and polygon data layers for each survey year.
• Investigate the impact of physical water profiles and secchi depth measurements on cover categories from 2018 onwards.

Strengths

• Provides 15 years of temporal coverage from 2009 to 2023.
• Includes multiple derived data products: point locations, presence/absence polygons, and percentage cover polygons.
• Enriched from 2018 with additional physical measurements like secchi depth and photosynthetically active radiation.

Limitations

• Unknown sample size (row count) and specific feature set (columns) for analysis.
• Inconsistent site accessibility required method changes (boat, kayak, drone), potentially affecting data uniformity.
• Physical water profiles were only collected at approximately one-third of sites from 2018, limiting spatial coverage for those variables.

Provenance

Source

Department of Water and Environmental Regulation, Geospatial and Data Services Manager.

Collection Method

Field surveys recording species, cover categories, and epiphytic levels; supplemented by drone imagery and kayak access where needed.

Time Range

April 2009 to February/March 2023.

Freshness

Last updated March 2026, indicating active maintenance.

Geography

Leschenault Estuary, Western Australia.