Jervis Bay Benthic Habitat Mapping with Co-located Physical and Biological Data

A 2008 field survey in Jervis Bay, New South Wales, collected co-located physical and biological data to research biodiversity surrogates in soft-sediment habitats. Geoscience Australia staff conducted the work, producing high-resolution multibeam acoustic datasets, underwater video footage, and seabed sediment and infauna samples. The data supports analysis of covariance between physical parameters and benthic biodiversity patterns.

Use Cases

• Analyze covariance between physical seabed parameters (e.g., sediment type from samples, bedform from video) and biological metrics (e.g., infauna counts) to identify biodiversity surrogates.
• Characterize benthic habitat types (e.g., polychaete mounds, sand flats) and map their distribution using high-resolution multibeam acoustic data and video-derived GIS layers.
• Model seabed current patterns in the Darling Road study area using data from the acoustic doppler current profiler trial.
• Classify seabed relief and biota occurrence from processed, real-time characterizations of high-quality underwater video footage along transects.

Strengths

• Co-located physical and biological sampling across broad-scale, bay-wide soft-sediment habitats.
• High-resolution multibeam acoustic datasets for priority coastal areas within Jervis Bay.
• Multiple data modalities: acoustic, video, sediment samples, and current profiler data.

Limitations

• Sample size and row counts for biological and sediment data are not specified, limiting statistical power assessment.
• Primary data collection occurred in 2008, making the biological and physical conditions potentially stale for current ecological studies.
• Data is presented in report formats (PDF, HTML), requiring extraction for computational analysis.

Provenance

Source

Geoscience Australia, conducted as part of the CERF Marine Biodiversity Hub Surrogates Program.

Collection Method

Field surveys including multibeam acoustic mapping, towed-video transects, and co-located seabed sampling of sediment and infauna.

Time Range

2008

Freshness

null

Geography

Jervis Bay, New South Wales, Australia, including open coast, Jervis Bay National Park, and the Darling Road study area.