Masig Island Seagrass Survey with Biomass and Species Data, September 2022

TropWATER at James Cook University conducted intertidal benthic surveys of Masig Island, Torres Strait, in September 2022. The dataset is summarized into three GIS shapefiles covering 125 survey sites, seagrass meadow boundaries, and biomass interpolation. The full report was published in 2023 by Carter et al. and the Centre for Tropical Water & Aquatic Ecosystem Research.

Use Cases

• Mapping seagrass meadow extent and species composition based on GIS meadow and site layers.
• Modeling spatial variation in seagrass biomass using the interpolation layer.
• Analyzing benthic community structure based on percent cover data for corals, sponges, algae, and substrate.
• Studying megafauna habitat use based on recorded presence/absence of dugongs, turtles, and dolphins.

Strengths

• Includes data from 125 distinct survey sites.
• Integrates multiple data sources: field surveys, satellite imagery, and aerial photographs.
• Provides three structured GIS layers (site, meadow, interpolation) for spatial analysis.

Limitations

• Column-level documentation is absent; field semantics must be inferred after download.
• Row count is unknown, which may limit suitability assessment.
• Data may reflect geographic and temporal bias inherent to a single survey in September 2022.

Provenance

Source

TropWATER (Centre for Tropical Water & Aquatic Ecosystem Research), James Cook University, and Torres Strait Regional Authority Land and Sea Rangers.

Collection Method

Field surveys tailored by TropWATER, with data integrated into an ArcGIS 10.8 system using rectified satellite imagery and aerial photographs.

Time Range

September 2022

Freshness

Last updated 2026-06-05 06:44:08.723114; freshness should be verified.

Geography

Masig Island, Torres Strait, Australia