Masig Island Seagrass Survey with Biomass and Species Data, September 2020

TropWATER at James Cook University conducted intertidal benthic surveys of Masig Island in the Torres Strait in September 2020. The dataset is summarized into three GIS shapefiles covering 128 sites, describing seagrass presence, species composition, algae cover, benthic macro-invertebrate cover, and biomass variation. The full methodology is documented in a 2021 JCU publication, Report no. 21/12.

Use Cases

• Mapping seagrass meadow extent and community structure based on GIS shapefiles.
• Modeling spatial variation in seagrass biomass using the interpolation data.
• Analyzing correlations between sediment type and benthic macro-invertebrate cover mentioned in the methods.
• Calibrating remote sensing models with ground-truthed percent cover and species composition data.

Strengths

• Data is structured into three distinct GIS shapefiles (site, meadow, interpolation) for specific analytical purposes.
• Surveys cover 128 specific geolocated sites, providing a detailed spatial sample.
• Biomass estimates are calibrated using observer-specific linear regressions against harvested values, a documented method.
• Includes multiple measured variables: seagrass presence/absence, species composition, algae cover, and benthic macro-invertebrate cover.

Limitations

• Row count and dataset size are unknown, which may limit suitability assessment.
• Column-level documentation is absent; field semantics must be inferred after download.
• Data may reflect geographic and temporal bias inherent to a single survey in September 2020.

Provenance

Source

TropWATER (Centre for Tropical Water & Aquatic Ecosystem Research), James Cook University.

Collection Method

Helicopter-based surveys using visual estimation and quadrat sampling across 128 sites, with GPS-recorded locations.

Time Range

September 2020

Freshness

Last updated 2026-06-05 06:03:03.970077; freshness should be verified.

Geography

Masig Island, Torres Strait, Australia.