Surrogates in the north: Relationships between physical and biological factors in the Joseph Bonaparte Gulf  

Authors / CoAuthors

Przeslawski, R.

Abstract

Abiotic surrogates for marine biodiversity have been identified across multiple ecosystems and vary according to spatial scale, region, habitat, and biodiversity measures. Compared to other regions, our knowledge of the relationships between abiotic and biotic factors in northern Australian waters is limited. As part of the Australian Government's program of collecting pre-competitive regional information on seabed habitats, Geoscience Australia recently collaborated with the Australian Institute of Marine Science to conduct a survey along a representative channel of the Van Diemen Rise in the Joseph Bonaparte Gulf (50 - 250 km off the coast of Darwin). We used a range of methods to collect physical and biological data including multibeam sonar, towed underwater video, oceanographic moorings, sediment sampling, and epibenthic sampling. Depth was a major driver in epibenthic biomass and richness. Sponge and octocoral gardens were common on almost all banks surveyed but rarely found on other geomorphic features, suggesting that biodiversity of epifauna is linked to geomorphology and depth. Infaunal assemblages were extremely diverse in soft sediment plains and correlated to some geochemical factors. Species-level identifications will show whether these biological communities are different across sites and thereby reveal potentially unique habitats in the region. Results from this survey will identify key environmental drivers of biological assemblages in a representative region of the Van Diemen Rise to produce regional-scale information on seabed habitats in northern Australia for resource management purposes.

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nonGeographicDataset

eCat Id

70346

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Keywords

• External Publication

( Theme )

• marine

Australian and New Zealand Standard Research Classification (ANZSRC)

• Earth Sciences

• Published_Internal

Publication Date

2010-01-01T00:00:00

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Australian Government Security ClassificationSystem    

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Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International Licence    

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geoscientificInformation

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