Mission Beach Habitat Quality and Canopy Cover Maps After Cyclone Larry, 2006

An atlas of habitat quality for the Mission Beach region in August 2006, six months after Category 4 cyclone Larry. The dataset includes maps classifying habitat quality, canopy cover, vegetation types, and tenure across 1 km x 1 km sections at 0.5-meter resolution. This work was undertaken as part of MTSRF Project 4.9.3 using a novel stereoscopic classification of aerial photographs and field-truthing at 44 sites.

Use Cases

• Identify priority areas for habitat restoration based on the Habitat Quality classification.
• Analyze post-cyclone vegetation recovery patterns using the Vegetation Types and Canopy Cover data.
• Assess land management strategies by overlaying habitat quality with Tenure type information.
• Validate remote sensing classification techniques using the field-truthing data from 44 sites.

Strengths

• Includes field-truthing data from 44 sites, providing ground validation for remote sensing.
• Maps have a high spatial resolution of 0.5 meters derived from aerial photography.
• Analysis combines multiple factors like vegetation quality, remnant area, and riparian width.
• Bird surveys conducted over 2 years provide an indicator of faunal habitat quality.

Limitations

• Column-level documentation is absent; field semantics must be inferred after download.
• Row count is unknown, which may limit suitability assessment.
• Data is from a single snapshot in 2006; temporal coverage is limited.

Provenance

Source

Australian Ocean Data Network via data_gov_au, associated with MTSRF Project 4.9.3 and James Cook University (JCU).

Collection Method

Remote sensing analysis using a novel computerized Anaglyph technique for stereoscopic classification of aerial photographs, combined with GIS-based rapid assessment and field surveys.

Time Range

August 2006 (six months after cyclone Larry in February 2006).

Freshness

Last updated 2026-07-10 16:43:43.096647; freshness should be verified.

Geography

Mission Beach region, Queensland, Australia.