A growing need to manage marine biodiversity at local, regional and global scales cannot be met by applying the limited existing biological data sets. Abiotic surrogacy is increasingly valuable in filling the gaps in our knowledge of biodiversity hotspots, habitats needed by endangered or commercially valuable species and systems or processes important to the sustained provision of ecosystem services. This review examines the utility of abiotic surrogates across spatial scales with particular regard to how abiotic variables are tied to processes which affect biodiversity and how easily those variables can be measured at scales relevant to resource management decisions.

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.

Multibeam sonar swath-mapping has revealed small submarine volcanic cones on the northeastern Lord Howe Rise (LHR), a submerged ribbon continent. Two such cones, aligned NNW and 120 km apart, were dredged at 23-24Degrees S. Water depth is about 1150 m nearby: the southern cone rises to 750 m and the northern to 900 m. Volcanic rocks dredged from the cones are predominantly highly altered hyaloclastites with minor basalt. The clasts are mostly intensely altered vesicular brownish glass with lesser basalt, in zeolitic, clayey, micritic or ferruginous cement. Lavas and hyaloclastites contain altered phenocrysts of olivine and plagioclase, and fresh clinopyroxene. The latter have compositions between acmite and Ti-augite, and match well clinopyroxene phenocrysts in undersaturated intraplate basanitic mafic lavas. Interbedded micrites in the volcaniclastics represent calcareous ooze that was deposited with (or later than) the volcanic pile. Foraminifera indicate that the oldest micrite is late Early Miocene (~16 Ma), and that the original ooze was deposited in cool water. Late Miocene to Pliocene micrites, presumed to be later infillings, all contain warm water forms. This evidence strongly suggests that both cones formed in pelagic depths in the Early Miocene. Ferromanganese crusts from the two cones are up to 7 cm thick and similar physically, but different chemically. The average growth rate is 3 mm/m.y.. Copper, nickel and cobalt content are relatively high in the north, but copper does not exceed 0.08 wt %, nickel 0.65% and cobalt 0.25%. The Mn:Fe ratio is high in the south (average 13.7) suggesting strong hydrothermal influence. Such small volcanic cones related to intraplate hotspot-type magmatism may occur in extensive fields like those off southern Tasmania. On Lord Howe Rise, the known small volcanic cones coincide with broad gravity highs in areas of shallow continental basement. The highs probably represent Neogene plume-related magmatism. The thick continental crust may dissipate and spread the magma widely, whereas plumes may penetrate thin oceanic crust more readily and build larger edifices. The correspondence of the ages derived from micropalaeontology and from extrapolating from nearby dated hotspot traces support such a genesis. Accordingly, gravity highs in the right setting may help predict fields of small volcanic seamounts.

An important aim of the comparative geomorphology of estuaries project was to increase understanding of the environmental characteristics of near-pristine estuaries and provide a reference dataset for quantifying changes in habitat patterns in modified systems. It was anticipated that this aim would be fulfilled by identifying key geomorphic characteristics of the near-pristine systems that may be used to benchmark the current condition of, and quantify change within, 'modified' waterways. Here we provide examples of some very promising results obtained from our preliminary analyses of the geomorphic habitat area information contained within the GIS maps available on OzEstuaries.

This map produced in June 2014, is an updated and modified version of "Northern Region (Map for Australian Customs and Border Protection Service)" GeoCat 77778, October 2013. Map showing all of Australia's Maritime Jurisdiction north of approx 25CS . This includes areas around Cocos (Keeling) Islands and areas west of Christmas Island as well as those contiguous to the continent in the north. Map derived from one of the "Australia's Maritime Jurisdiction Map Series" (GeoCat 71985). Depicting Australian Maritime Boundaries sourced from Australia's Maritime Boundaries data, by Geoscience Australia, 2014. Supplemented with the continental shelf as proclaimed in the "Seas and Submerged Lands (Limits of Continental Shelf) Proclamation 2012" established under the "Seas and Submerged Lands Act 1973". International Boundaries are sourced from the most reliable publicly available sources. Some international boundaries remain in dispute. Background bathymetry image is derived from a combination of the 2009 9 arc second bathymetry and topographic grid by Geoscience Australia and a grid by W.H.F. Smith and D.T. Sandwell, 1997. Background land imagery derived from Blue Marble, NASA's Earth Observatory. Map size 3m x 2m for Department of Immigration and Border Protection. (for internal use only - not for publication)

Selected geomorphic features and sedimentary facies were mapped in 283 of Australia's wave- and tide-dominated estuaries and deltas to quantitatively evaluate established evolutionary facies models that depict the evolution of estuaries into deltas during stable sea level conditions. While diagnostic facies for wave- and tide-dominated estuaries and deltas approximate those specified by the models, statistical analyses of the data also reveal two additional insights regarding the evolution of estuaries to deltas. First, there is an offshore shift in the locus of sand accumulation between tide-dominated estuaries and deltas, associated with the onset of delta development. Second, the mean surface area of intertidal environments (i.e., intertidal flats, mangroves/melaleuca, saltmarsh/salt flat facies) is greater in wave-dominated deltas than in wave-dominated estuaries. Tidal penetration associated with the river establishing a more direct and permanent connection to the sea during late-stage development presents a natural impediment to continued formation of an alluvial plain and full development of the 'classic' wave-dominated delta morphology. A notional evolutionary pathway for wave-dominated estuaries is developed from the distribution of facies that predicts the rate and susceptibility of geomorphic and habitat changes. The 'classic' deltaic geomorphology may be unattainable for wave-dominated systems, except those with significant terrigenous sediment inputs. Our study is the first published example of geomorphic and sedimentary data assembled from a large number of wave- and tide-dominated estuaries and deltas across an entire continent.

The benthic (sea floor) component of the National Marine Bioregionalisation covers the 80% of Australia's Exclusive Economic Zone that lies beyond the continental shelf break. It provides a description of patterns of biological distributions and physical habitats on the seafloor. The Benthic Bioregionalisation Report is a technical document describing how the benthic bioregions were created. It includes descriptions of all the datasets used, details of each bioregion, and examples of how the physical data may be used to sub-divide the marine bioregions for management. An evaluation of the benthic bioregionalisation including strengths, weaknesses and future work is also contained in the report.

Simple, conceptual geomorphic models can assist environmental managers in making informed decisions regarding management of the coast at continental and regional scales. This basic information, detected from aerial photographs and/or satellite images, can be used to ascertain the relative significance of several common environmental issues, including: sediment trapping efficiency, turbidity, water circulation, and habitat change due to sedimentation for different types of clastic coastal depositional environments.

Seascapes describing a layer of ecologically meaningful biophysical variable that spatially represent potential seabed habitats have been derived for the Australian margin and adjacent seabed in a new analysis of existing biophysical data. A total of 13 seascapes were derived for the continental shelf and nine seascapes for regions beyond the continental shelf using the unsupervised ISOCLASS classification in the software package ERMapper. The ecological significance of the seascapes is assessed at the national, regional and local scale using existing biological data. Options and avenues for future development are also described.

This is a joint product developed by GA and Skyring Environment Entetrprises. It is an animated CDROM developed specifically in Authoware software for state of the art visual presentation.