Western Australia's Carnarvon Shelf is the location for data collected using the Mounted Assembly for Planktobenthic Sampling (MAPS), a novel tri-layered net system. The dataset, published by Geoscience Australia, contains samples of benthic and planktobenthic fauna collected concurrently. The method was successful in separately sampling a wide variety of organisms, including fragile larvae and adults.
Use Cases
- Study larval ecology and dispersal based on the collection of fragile planktobenthic larvae.
- Analyze biodiversity correlations between benthic and planktobenthic communities based on the described species relationship.
- Model nutrient cycling pathways based on concurrent sampling of linked benthic and suprabenthic biota.
- Support biogeography and surrogacy research based on fauna collected from a defined shelf region.
Strengths
- Describes a novel sampling method (MAPS) that concurrently collects benthic and planktobenthic specimens, a previously unmet need.
- Method was successfully deployed and tested on the Carnarvon Shelf, collecting a broad range of organisms including fragile larvae.
- The tri-layered net design is noted as particularly effective for collecting smaller, fragile organisms that might be destroyed in a single net.
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 bias inherent to a single deployment on the Carnarvon Shelf.
Provenance
- Source
- Geoscience Australia Data
- Collection Method
- Samples collected using the Mounted Assembly for Planktobenthic Sampling (MAPS), a tri-layered net attached to an epibenthic sled.
- Time Range
- null
- Freshness
- Last updated 2026-03-25 16:24:31.414462; freshness should be verified.
- Geography
- Carnarvon Shelf, Western Australia