Lord Howe Island Benthic Feeding Guild Counts

Lord Howe Island shelf survey data provides aggregated counts of benthic infauna by feeding guild, derived from species-level sampling. The data originates from a 2008 Geoscience Australia marine survey (SS06_2008) that characterized seabed environments through sediment sampling, video observation, and bathymetric mapping covering 1034 sq km. It represents a synthesized ecological view of seafloor community functions.

Use Cases

• Analyzing benthic community trophic structure based on feeding guild aggregations.
• Correlating infauna functional groups with seabed characteristics from the colocated survey.
• Studying marine biodiversity and ecosystem function on the Lord Howe Island shelf.

Strengths

• Data is derived from a systematic, multi-method government survey (Geoscience Australia SS06_2008).
• Bathymetric context is supported by a merged grid covering a specific 1034 sq km area.
• Aggregation from species-level data suggests a structured taxonomic foundation.

Limitations

• Critical metadata is missing: column names, row counts, file size, and license are not provided.
• Conflicting 'last updated' dates (2026-06-04 vs 2026-04-04) create uncertainty about version freshness.
• Dataset description is repeated verbatim across entries, indicating potential metadata duplication rather than unique records.

Provenance

Source

Geoscience Australia, Australian Ocean Data Network

Collection Method

Aggregated from species-level data collected during the SS06_2008 marine survey using the RV Southern Surveyor.

Time Range

2008 (primary survey), with mooring deployment from 2007.

Freshness

2026-06-04 07:29:45.520275

Geography

Lord Howe Island shelf, New South Wales, Australia