NESP TWQ Project 3.1 - Seagrass mapping synthesis – A resource for marine park and coastal

A 2015 synthesis project recompiled and updated GIS layers for seagrass distribution, abundance, and species composition in the Great Barrier Reef World Heritage Area. The work, conducted by TropWATER and associated with James Cook University, aimed to incorporate data from 2010-2015 and provide meadow-specific information. It was aggregated by the Australian Ocean Data Network.

Use Cases

• Monitor seagrass habitat change over time based on the updated 2010-2015 data compilation.
• Plan marine protected areas based on synthesized seagrass distribution and meadow-specific information.
• Model coastal ecosystem health based on seagrass abundance and species composition data.

Strengths

• Synthesizes data across multiple scales, from the World Heritage Area to individual estuaries and meadows.
• Updates a previous composite map from 2010 with data through 2015.

Limitations

• Column-level documentation is absent; field semantics must be inferred after download.
• Data may reflect geographic bias inherent to data_gov_au, focusing on Queensland's Great Barrier Reef.

Provenance

Source

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

Collection Method

Recompilation and updating of existing GIS layers with new data.

Time Range

2015-2015, incorporating data from 2010-2015.

Freshness

Last updated 2026-07-10 18:37:35.352440; freshness should be verified.

Geography

Great Barrier Reef World Heritage Area, Queensland, Australia.