Benthic environments of the Lord Howe Rise submarine plateau: Introduction to the special volume  


Authors / CoAuthors

Harris, P.T.

Abstract

The Australian exclusive economic zone (EEZ) contains1.6 million km2 of submarine plateaus, equal to about 13.8% of the world's known inventory of these features. This disproportionate occurrence of plateaus presents Australia with an increased global responsibility to understand and protect the benthic habitats and associated ecosystems. This special volume presents the results of two major marine surveys carried out on the Lord Howe Rise plateau during 2003 and 2007, during which benthic biological and geological samples, underwater photographs, video and multibean sonar bathymetry data were collected. The benthic habitats present on Lord Howe Rise include hard/rocky substrates covering a small area of volcanic peaks (around 31 km2) and parts of other larger seamounts (eg. the Lord Howe Island seamount) which support rich and abundant epifaunal assemblages dominated by suspension feeding invertebrates. These habitats appear to qualify as ecologically and biologically significant areas under the United Nations Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD) scientific selection criterion 1 (uniqueness or rarity), 4 (vulnerability, fragility, sensitivity or slow recovery) and 7 (naturalness). The collection of papers included in this special volume represents a major advance in knowledge about benthic habitats of the Lord Howe Rise, but also about the ecology of plateaus in general.

Product Type

nonGeographicDataset

eCat Id

70778

Contact for the resource

  Custodian

EGD  

  Owner

Commonwealth of Australia (Geoscience Australia)  

  Custodian

Commonwealth of Australia (Geoscience Australia)  
Cnr Jerrabomberra Ave and Hindmarsh Dr GPO Box 378
Canberra
ACT
2601
Australia

Digital Object Identifier

http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.dsr2.2010.10.044

Keywords

  • External PublicationScientific Journal Paper
( Theme )
  • bathymetry
( Theme )
  • environmental
( Theme )
  • seabed
( Theme )
  • geomorphology
( Theme )
  • marine
  • AU-EEZ
Australian and New Zealand Standard Research Classification (ANZSRC)
  • Earth Sciences
  • Published_External

Publication Date

2010-01-01T00:00:00

Creation Date

Security Constraints

Australian Government Security ClassificationSystem    

Classification - unclassified

Legal Constraints

Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International Licence    

Access - license

Use - license

Status

Purpose

Maintenance Information

unknown

Topic Category

geoscientificInformation

Series Information

Vol. 58

Lineage

Unknown

Parent Information

Extents

[-28.0, -26.0, 160.0, 162.0]

Reference System

Spatial Resolution

Service Information

Associations

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Link to Publication  

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