Octocoral Biodiversity and Environmental Data for the Great Barrier Reef, 1997-2008

The Great Barrier Reef is the focus of this dataset, which quantifies patterns in octocoral biodiversity based on visual surveys of 163 reefs. Data includes estimates of benthic cover for groups like hard corals and macroalgae, as well as physical environmental conditions such as slope angle and sedimentation. Observations were interpolated over the entire GBR using Generalized Additive Models, producing gridded data layers.

Use Cases

• Modeling octocoral biodiversity distribution based on environmental drivers like visibility and sedimentation mentioned in the description.
• Analyzing the relationship between benthic cover groups (hard corals, soft corals, macroalgae) as estimated in the visual surveys.
• Studying spatial patterns of taxa with and without zooxanthellae (endosymbiotic microalgae) across the reef.
• Creating habitat maps of the Great Barrier Reef using the interpolated gridded data layers.

Strengths

• Data is based on surveys of 163 individual reefs on the Great Barrier Reef.
• Surveys were conducted by one experienced observer, suggesting methodological consistency.
• Includes both reef-averaged data and data from individual transects.
• Spatial interpolation provides continuous coverage of the study area.

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 the specific survey methodology and time period (1997-2008).

Provenance

Source

Australian Ocean Data Network, originating from the MTSRF 1.1.5 project and AIMS.

Collection Method

Visual swim surveys along ~200 m transects at up to 5 depth zones per site, followed by spatial interpolation using Generalized Additive Models.

Time Range

1997 - 2008

Freshness

Last updated 2026-07-16 01:16:59.601976; freshness should be verified.

Geography

Great Barrier Reef, Australia