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No abstract available

Conservation planning requires spatial information on biodiversity within a region of interest and its patterns of association with physical environmental features. Such information, however, is often unavailable, and spatial planning is reliant upon proxies based on assumed relationships between species and environmental features have been used as the basis of spatial planning. Here we evaluate the effectiveness of a set of key ecological features (KEF) used in the design of Australia's network of Commonwealth Marine Reserves for representing key marine macrobenthos in a large and biodiverse but data-sparse region in the Oceanic Shoals Commonwealth Marine Reserve (CMR), Timor Sea. Predictive spatial models of the distributions of four key habitat-forming macrobenthic taxa including hard corals, soft corals, gorgonians and sponges, were built using 10 geophysical variables and Boosted Regression Trees. We identified the extent to which KEFs captured the distributions of each taxon, and whether models derived from the western region of the CMR could predict well the distribution of the same taxon in the eastern CMR. All four taxa showed similar habitat preferences, occurring on the tops of raised geomorphic features with hard substrata and while absent from deeper habitats with soft substrata. However, high variability in the biodiversity observed among similar features indicated that factors other than geomorphology alone influence spatial patterns in the distribution of macrobenthos in the region. Overall, models derived from the western region performed reasonably well predicting distribution patterns in eastern region. Transferability of models among sites increased with greater model precision accuracy (higher deviance explained), and all models predicted taxon absence better than presence.

This dataset contains sediment and geochemistry information for the Oceanic Shoals Commonwealth Marine Reserve (CMR) in the Timor Sea collected by Geoscience Australia during September and October 2012 on RV Solander (survey GA0339/SOL5650). Further information on the survey is available in the post-survey report published as Geoscience Australia Record 2013/38: Nichol, S.L., Howard, F.J.F., Kool, J., Stowar, M., Bouchet, P., Radke, L., Siwabessy, J., Przeslawski, R., Picard, K., Alvarez de Glasby, B., Colquhoun, J., Letessier, T. & Heyward, A. 2013. Oceanic Shoals Commonwealth Marine Reserve (Timor Sea) Biodiversity Survey: GA0339/SOL5650 - Post Survey Report. Record 2013/38. Geoscience Australia: Canberra. (GEOCAT #76658).

Exmouth Offshore Resource Map Series 1:1m

No abstract available

Submarine canyons are recognised as having an influence on oceanographic processes, sediment transport, productivity and benthic biodiversity from the shelf to the slope. However, not all canyons are the same and the relative importance of an individual canyon will, in part, be determined by its form, shape and position on the continental margin. Here we present an analysis of these parameters using an updated national dataset of 713 submarine canyons for the margin of mainland Australia. Attribute data for each canyon is used to classify them into canyon types across a hierarchy of canyon physical characteristics for shelf-incised and slope-confined (blind) canyons. At each level on the hierarchy, large groupings of canyons are identified that represent common sets of characteristics. The spatial distribution of canyons on the Australian margin is not regular, with clusters located in the east, southeast, west and southwest. The northern margin has the lowest concentration of canyons. We also assess the potential productivity associated with the various canyon types using chlorophyll-a data derived from satellite (MODIS) images. Shelf-incised canyons are associated with significantly higher and more temporally variable chlorophyll-a concentrations, consistent with their function as conduits for upwelling. Australian submarine canyons are well represented in the national network of marine protected areas, with 36 percent of the mapped canyon population intersecting (whole or in part) a Commonwealth Marine Reserve. This information is relevant to setting priorities for the management of these reserves. Results from this study provide a framework for further analysis of the relative importance of canyons on the Australian margin.

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In early 2014 the RVIB Nathaniel B. Palmer conducted the first ever multidisciplinary study of the Sabrina Coast continental shelf. This area is remote and generally inaccessible, but biological significance is recognised by its initial inclusion within the proposed East Antarctic representative system of Marine Protected Areas. The datasets collected during this voyage allow analysis of the physical habitat parameters and benthic biota through interpretation of bottom camera images, high resolution multibeam bathymetry, sediment properties and oceanographic measurements, with satellite observations of sea ice also providing important environmental context. The suite of environmental and biological datasets provides evidence for a diverse, relatively high biomass continental shelf community that is strongly structured by the physical environment. The distribution of benthic taxa is most closely related ( = 0.592) to seafloor bathymetry, substrate type, latitude and the occurrence of phytodetritus. Phytodetritus accumulation is associated with muddy/sandy substrates, indicating long term sediment focussing in these areas, consistent with evidence of bottom recirculation features. These softer substrates contain relatively high abundances of mobile holothurians and amphipods. Scattered occurrence of dropstones creates habitat heterogeneity at fine-scales. Harder substrates have high abundances of brachiopods, bryozoans, polychaete tubeworms, a range of massive and encrusting sponges and sea whips. Several taxa are found only on areas of hard substrate, yet have a broad distribution across the sites, indicating that the density of dropstones is sufficient for most sessile invertebrates to disperse across the region. The occurrence of dropstones is associated with significant increases in taxa diversity, abundance and percent biological cover, enhancing the overall diversity and biomass of this ecosystem. This study illustrates how multidisciplinary studies can inform understanding of the drivers of benthic ecosystems, providing important constraints for generating realistic ecosystem models and contributing to our understanding of the sensitivity of this community to environmental change.

This dataset contains species identifications of macro-benthic worms collected during survey SOL4934 (R.V. Solander, 27 August - 24 September, 2009). Animals were collected from the Joseph Bonaparte Gulf with a benthic sled or a Smith-McIntyre grab. Specimens were lodged at Northern Territory Museum on the 24 September 2009. Species-level identifications were undertaken by Chris Glasby at the Northern Territory Museum and were delivered to Geoscience Australia on the 26 October 2009 See GA Record 2010/09 for further details on survey methods and specimen acquisition. Data is presented here exactly as delivered by the taxonomist, and Geoscience Australia is unable to verify the accuracy of the taxonomic identifications.