Benthic Community Imagery and Surrogates from Joseph Bonaparte Gulf

2009-2010 seabed imagery from the Van Diemen Rise in northeastern Joseph Bonaparte Gulf, Australia, characterizes sponge and octocoral communities. The Australian Institute of Marine Science and Geoscience Australia collected data across four study areas during two surveys. Analyses correlate biological groups with abiotic variables like pheophytin, Si/Al ratio, mud content, and multibeam backscatter.

Use Cases

• Identify correlations between sponge functional growth forms and multibeam sonar backscatter signals.
• Model relationships between key habitat-forming species (Mopsella sp., Ianthella sp., Xestospongia sp.) and environmental surrogates like pheophytin, Si/Al ratio, and mud content.
• Use still imagery of the sea floor to characterize benthic community structure across four distinct study areas.
• Apply non-linear modeling to investigate complex relationships between abiotic variables and biological groups identified in the study.

Strengths

• Data collected during two dedicated seabed mapping surveys in 2009 and 2010.
• Analyses correlate specific biological groups with multiple measured abiotic variables.
• Provides baseline information for a proposed marine reserve area where such data was previously lacking.

Limitations

• Sample size and spatial extent are limited to four study areas on the Van Diemen Rise.
• Primary data formats (PDF, HTML) suggest derived, analyzed results rather than raw, structured data tables.
• Temporal coverage is limited to two points in time (2009, 2010).

Provenance

Source

Australian Ocean Data Network, based on work by Geoscience Australia and the Australian Institute of Marine Science.

Collection Method

Analysis of still imagery from the sea floor collected during seabed mapping surveys.

Time Range

2009, 2010

Freshness

null

Geography

Van Diemen Rise, northeastern Joseph Bonaparte Gulf, northern Australia.