Macquarie Island Soil Invertebrate Abundance and Geospatial Data

Soil cores from the Macquarie Island Isthmus document the abundance of over 30 invertebrate species and morphotypes, including mites, springtails, and worms. The dataset includes precise geospatial coordinates (Easting, Northing) and elevation for each sample location. The Australian Antarctic Data Centre (AU_AADC) published this survey data in March 2013.

Use Cases

• Analyze the correlation between Elevation (m) and the abundance of specific species like Cryptopygus antarcticus.
• Model species co-occurrence patterns using columns for Parisotoma insularis, Folsotoma punctata, and other collembolan species.
• Map invertebrate community composition across the isthmus using Location, Easting, and Northing coordinates.
• Compare surface (Depth=0 cm) versus subsurface (Depth=50 cm) invertebrate communities for taxa like Nematode species and Microscolex macquariensis.
• Investigate the distribution of mite morphotypes (Acarina 1 through Acarina 8) relative to other identified species.

Strengths

• Includes geospatial coordinates (Easting, Northing) and Elevation (m) for precise sample location mapping.
• Documents abundance for over 30 distinct invertebrate taxa, including identified species and morphotype groups.
• Contains samples from two standardized soil depths (0 cm and 50 cm) for vertical distribution analysis.

Limitations

• Total number of samples (rows) is unknown, limiting assessment of statistical power.
• Some taxa are identified only to morphotype (e.g., Acarina 1-8) or genus level (e.g., Lepidocyrtus sp.), not species.
• Data is from a single survey period; temporal trends cannot be analyzed.

Provenance

Source

Australian Antarctic Data Centre (AU_AADC), accessed via NASA Earthdata.

Collection Method

Soil cores collected from field locations, invertebrates extracted via heat gradient, and identified under microscope.

Time Range

Collection date unspecified; dataset published in 2013.

Freshness

Last updated in March 2013.

Geography

Macquarie Island Isthmus, sub-Antarctic.