Bass Strait Benthic Fauna and Sediment Survey Data from 1979-1983

Biological and sediment data collected by Museum Victoria between 1979 and 1983 in an extensive survey of Bass Strait. The dataset includes identified biological material from a range of taxonomic groups, sediment samples, and underwater video footage, indicating a particularly diverse fauna with high small-scale variation. Analysis suggests longitude and depth are important factors, but overall correlation of faunal composition with physical factors is poor.

Use Cases

• Modeling benthic species distribution based on longitude and depth variables mentioned in the description.
• Analyzing small-scale spatial variation in marine fauna composition as described in the survey results.
• Correlating sediment facies and biogenic content with physical environmental processes described for Bass Strait.
• Assessing the alignment of biological patterns with marine regionalisations like the Interim Marine and Coastal Regionalisation of Australia.

Strengths

• Data collection spanned multiple years from 1979 to 1983.
• Includes multiple data types: biological identifications, sediment samples, and underwater video footage.
• Analysis references specific prior studies (Boreen et al., 1993; Jones and Davies, 1983) for sediment facies correlation.

Limitations

• Column-level documentation is absent; field semantics must be inferred after download.
• Row count is unknown, which may limit suitability assessment.
• The description notes limitations of the statistical analyses used in the original study.

Provenance

Source

Museum Victoria, Geoscience Australia, Australian Hydrographic Office

Collection Method

Field surveys, biological sampling, sediment sampling, and swath mapping.

Time Range

1979-1983

Freshness

Last updated 2026-06-23 05:44:00.915069; freshness should be verified.

Geography

Bass Strait, Australia