Predicted Seagrass Presence Across the Great Barrier Reef at 30m Resolution

James Cook University's TropWATER Seagrass Group provides a raster dataset predicting the probability of seagrass presence across the Great Barrier Reef World Heritage Area and adjacent estuaries. The prediction is based on six Random Forest models mosaicked together, using environmental predictors like depth, tidal exposure, and water temperature. Data collection for the underlying synthesis began in the early 1980s.

Use Cases

• Identify potential seagrass habitats for conservation planning based on modeled probability maps.
• Inform marine spatial management decisions by overlaying predicted seagrass presence with other marine use data.
• Support ecological research on seagrass distribution drivers using the environmental predictors mentioned, such as depth and benthic light.

Strengths

• Models are based on seagrass site data collected since the early 1980s.
• Provides a 30-meter resolution spatial prediction for a vast area of thousands of kilometers.
• Incorporates multiple environmental predictors like depth, water type, and sediment composition.

Limitations

• The dataset is a model prediction; its accuracy in areas lacking ground-truth data is uncertain.
• Column-level documentation is absent; field semantics must be inferred after download.
• Freshness should be verified as the last update is listed as 2026-07-10.

Provenance

Source

James Cook University's Centre for Tropical Water & Aquatic Ecosystem Research (TropWATER)

Collection Method

Prediction based on six Random Forest models using environmental predictors and historical seagrass site data.

Freshness

Last updated 2026-07-10 20:51:02.852373

Geography

Great Barrier Reef World Heritage Area and adjacent estuaries