Orman Reefs Seagrass and Benthic Survey, Torres Strait, October 2020

October 2020 intertidal benthic surveys of Orman Reefs in the Torres Strait, conducted by the TropWATER Seagrass Group at James Cook University. The dataset includes 160 survey sites and is structured into three GIS shapefiles describing seagrass presence, species composition, biomass, and macro-invertebrate and algae cover. Data was collected via helicopter-based sampling using visual estimation techniques for biomass and percent cover.

Use Cases

• Mapping seagrass meadow extent and biomass based on the geospatial interpolation shapefile.
• Analyzing species composition and biodiversity from the site-level seagrass presence and species data.
• Studying correlations between sediment type and benthic community structure mentioned in the methods.
• Calibrating remote sensing models of seagrass cover using ground-truthed percent cover and biomass estimates.

Strengths

• Surveys cover 160 distinct georeferenced sites, providing spatial density.
• Data includes calibrated above-ground biomass estimates (g DW m^-2) derived from observer rankings.
• Methods detail specific taxonomic groups for benthic macro-invertebrates and three biomass scales.

Limitations

• Column-level documentation is absent; field semantics must be inferred after download.
• Row count is unknown, which may limit suitability assessment.
• Description metadata is limited; actual data quality requires manual inspection after download.

Provenance

Source

TropWATER, James Cook University, via the Australian Ocean Data Network.

Collection Method

Helicopter-based intertidal surveys using visual estimation of biomass and percent cover within quadrats, following TropWATER Seagrass Group methods.

Time Range

October 2020

Freshness

Last updated 2026-06-05 06:15:32.356134; freshness should be verified.

Geography

Orman Reefs, Torres Strait