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High Seas Marine Protected Areas: Benthic environmental conservation priorities from a GIS analysis of global ocean biophysical data

In order to design a representative network of high seas marine protected areas (MPAs), an acceptable scheme is required to classify the benthic bioregions of the oceans. Given the lack of sufficient biological information to accomplish this task, we used a multivariate statistical method with 6 biophysical variables (depth, seabed slope, sediment thickness, primary production, bottom water dissolved oxygen and bottom temperature) to objectively classify the ocean floor into 11 different categories, comprised of 53,713 separate polygons, that we have termed "seascapes". Validation of the seascape classification was carried out by comparing the seascapes with an existing map of seafloor geomorphology, and by GIS analysis of the number of separate polygons and perimeter/area ratio. We conclude that seascapes, derived using a multivariate statistical approach, are biophysically meaningful subdivisions of the ocean floor and can be expected to contain different biological associations, in as much as different geomorphological units do the same. Our study illustrates how the identification of potential sites for high seas marine protected areas can be accomplished by GIS analysis of seafloor geomorphic and seascape classification maps. Using this approach, maps of seascape and geomorphic heterogeneity were generated in which heterogeneity hot-spots identify themselves as MPA candidates. The use of computer-aided mapping tools removes subjectivity in the MPA design process and provides greater confidence to stakeholders that an unbiased result has been achieved.

Simple

Identification info

Date (Publication)
2009-01-01T00:00:00
Citation identifier
Geoscience Australia Persistent Identifier/https://pid.geoscience.gov.au/dataset/ga/66156

Identifier

Codespace

Digital Object Identifier

Cited responsible party
Role Organisation / Individual Name Details
Author

Harris, P.T.

1
Author

Whiteway, T.

2
Point of contact
Role Organisation / Individual Name Details
Owner

Commonwealth of Australia (Geoscience Australia)

Custodian

Commonwealth of Australia (Geoscience Australia)

Voice
Point of contact

Carroll, A.

PSCD Internal Contact
Topic category
  • Geoscientific information

Extent

N
S
E
W


Maintenance and update frequency
Unknown
Keywords
  • External Publication

  • Scientific Journal Paper

Theme
  • bathymetry

Theme
  • geomorphology

Theme
  • habitat

Theme
  • marine park

Theme
  • marine

Keywords
  • AU-EEZ

Australian and New Zealand Standard Research Classification (ANZSRC)
  • Earth Sciences

Keywords
  • Published_External

Resource constraints

Title

Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International Licence

Alternate title

CC-BY

Edition

4.0

Website

http://creativecommons.org/licenses/

Access constraints
License
Use constraints
License

Resource constraints

Title

Australian Government Security ClassificationSystem

Edition date
2018-11-01T00:00:00
Website

https://www.protectivesecurity.gov.au/Pages/default.aspx

Classification
Unclassified
Language
English
Character encoding
UTF8

Distribution Information

Distributor contact
Role Organisation / Individual Name Details
Distributor

Commonwealth of Australia (Geoscience Australia)

Voice
OnLine resource

Link to Publication

Link to Publication

Resource lineage

Statement

Unknown

Hierarchy level
Non geographic dataset
Other

External Publication

Description

Source data not available.

Metadata constraints

Title

Australian Government Security ClassificationSystem

Edition date
2018-11-01T00:00:00
Website

https://www.protectivesecurity.gov.au/Pages/default.aspx

Classification
Unclassified

Metadata

Metadata identifier
urn:uuid/a05f7892-d3fb-7506-e044-00144fdd4fa6

Title

GeoNetwork UUID

Language
English
Character encoding
UTF8
Contact
Role Organisation / Individual Name Details
Point of contact

Commonwealth of Australia (Geoscience Australia)

Voice

Type of resource

Resource scope
Document
Name

nonGeographicDataset

Alternative metadata reference

Title

Geoscience Australia - short identifier for metadata record with

uuid

Citation identifier
eCatId/66156

Metadata linkage

https://ecat.ga.gov.au/geonetwork/srv/eng/catalog.search#/metadata/a05f7892-d3fb-7506-e044-00144fdd4fa6

Date info (Revision)
2018-04-22T08:22:04
Date info (Creation)
2008-06-13T00:00:00

Metadata standard

Title

AU/NZS ISO 19115-1:2014

Metadata standard

Title

ISO 19115-1:2014

Metadata standard

Title

ISO 19115-3

Title

Geoscience Australia Community Metadata Profile of ISO 19115-1:2014

Edition

Version 2.0, September 2018

Citation identifier
https://pid.geoscience.gov.au/dataset/ga/122551

 
 

Spatial extent

N
S
E
W


Keywords

bathymetry geomorphology habitat marine marine park

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Associated resources

Not available


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