2020
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Achived photoquadrats are available from Reef Life Survey (RLS) surveys undertaken before and after a 2016 bleaching event at all major coral reef systems in Australia. This collection was analysed by experts to annotate coral cover to the highest possible taxonomic resolution for ~40,000 images. Specific Australian Marine Parks included are Ashmore Reef, Mermaid Reef and Coral Sea. NOTE: The high resolution coral taxonomic identification data has been assimilated into the larger global RLS photoquadrats data collection, currently held by AODN. This data is intended to be published before the end of 2020. Once published, the subset of annotation data generated by this project will be published as an excerpt attached to this record.
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An aerial survey was conducted for giant kelp (Macrocystis pyrifera) on the east coast of Tasmania from Eddystone Point to Southeast Cape. This survey represents part of a series of similar surveys, with historic aerial surveys having been conducted in 1986 and 1999. The survey was conducted via light aircraft. Areas of visable Macrocystis pyrifera beds were marked on topographical land tenure maps using landmarks as references, and complimentary photo footage was collected.
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This record provides an overview of the scope and research output of NESP Marine Biodiversity Hub Synthesis Study - "National trends in coral species following heatwaves". For specific data outputs from this project, please see child records associated with this metadata. -------------------- This project engaged coral taxonomic experts to annotate existing Reef Life Survey (RLS) photoquadrats taken across northern Australia before and after major disturbances, to allow: • Quantification of the spatial and species-level responses of Australian corals to the 2016 and 2017 marine heatwave and mass bleaching events (and cyclones that occurred during this period). • Identification of the species most threatened by warming and cyclones, and species likely to respond best to restoration efforts. • Contribution to a coral-specific analysis to the next national State of the Environment report. Planned Outputs • Dataset on % cover of corals to highest taxonomic resolution possible from surveys around northern Australia before and after the 2016 mass bleaching event.
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Mapping of benthic habitat and seafloor bathymetry of Lancelin, WA derived from satellite imagery captured on 17 July 2017 at a spatial resolution of 2 m. Mapping extent covered as much of the Defence gazetted waters as possible, to a depth of approximately 18 m based on water clarity. Recently dead or senesced (e.g. winter dieback of leaves) and mobile seagrass have the same satellite signature as live seagrass at spectral resolutions of the sensor (WorldView-2). This ensured areas of winter dieback and/or senescence were captured as areas of seagrass for the purposes of impact assessment.
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This flythrough highlights canyon environments within the Gascoyne Marine Park offshore northwestern Australia. The Cape Range Canyon is a relatively narrow, linear canyon that initiates on the continental slope, but is connected to the shelf via a narrow channel. The walls of the canyon are steep and reveal a history of slumping and retrogressive failure, that have broadened the canyon over time. The floor contains a series of deep plunge pools, indicative of the action of sediment-laden turbidity currents in further eroding this canyon. Epibenthos within the canyons was relatively sparse and likely regulated by disturbance associated with sedimentation in the canyons. Rock overhangs often supported the highest densities of benthic suspension feeders, including glass sponges, octocorals, and ascidians. Bathymetry data and seafloor imagery for this flythrough was collected by the Schmidt Ocean Institute during survey FK200308. Funding was provided by Schmidt Ocean Institute, Geoscience Australia, the Australian Government’s National Environmental Science Program (NESP) Marine Biodiversity Hub, the Director of National Parks, and the Foundation for the WA Museum through a Woodside Marine Biodiversity Grant.
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These files contain the metadata adopted and MATLAB code edited as well as visual plots generated in the Hongkun Honour's project. The data mainly includes the shipboard ADCP data and vertical cast type of Triaxus data collected from RV Investigator during the voyage IN2016V04 and IN2018T01 and satellite data (chlorophyll, sea level anomaly & sea surface temperature) collected from the IMOS website on the study region. The data was processed in MATLAB and then used to find visualization results, with the ultimate aim of exploring the potential of Triaxus in biogeochemistry.
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Declining atmospheric CO2 concentrations are considered the primary driver for the Cenozoic Greenhouse-Icehouse transition, ~34 million years ago. A role for tectonically opening Southern Ocean gateways, initiating the onset of a thermally isolating Antarctic Circumpolar Current, has been disputed as ocean models have not reproduced expected heat transport to the Antarctic coast. Here we use high-resolution ocean simulations with detailed paleobathymetry to demonstrate that tectonics did play a fundamental role in reorganising Southern Ocean circulation patterns and heat transport, consistent with available proxy data. When at least one gateway (Tasmanian or Drake) is shallow (300 m), gyres transport warm waters towards Antarctica. When the second gateway subsides below 300 m, these gyres weaken and cause a dramatic cooling (average of 2–4°C, up to 5°C) of Antarctic surface waters whilst the ACC remains weak. Our results demonstrate that tectonic changes are crucial for Southern Ocean climate change and should be carefully considered in constraining long-term climate sensitivity to CO2.
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Interaction uncertainties between tidal energy devices and marine animals have the potential to disrupt the tidal energy industry as it advances. Best-practices for environmental impact assessments (EIAs) must be explored that are able to provide conclusive recommendations for mitigating environmental impact concerns of tidal energy developments. As the tidal energy industry is moving closer to commercial-scale array installations, the development of standardised EIAs would allow for potential impact concerns for the marine environment to be identified and minimised early in the site-development process. In an effort to help formulate a standardised EIA framework that addresses knowledge gaps in fish-current interactions at tidal energy candidate sites, this study investigated changes in fish aggregations in response to tidal currents at a tidal energy candidate site in Australia prior to turbine installation. Here, we present the dataset collected for this study that includes tidal current information from Acoustic Doppler Current Profiler (ADCP) measurements, volume backscattering strength from a four-frequency biological echosounder (Acoustic Zooplankton and Fish Profiler – AZFP) as an indicator for fish biomass, and fish aggregation metrics calculated from volume backscatter in post-processing. ADCP and AZFP were installed on a bottom-mounted mooring and engaged in a concurrent sampling plan for ~2.5 months from December 2018 to February 2019. The mooring was deployed in the Banks Strait, a tidal energy candidate site located in the northeast of Tasmania, Australia, at a location favourable for tidal turbine installations considering current speed, depth, substrate, sediment type and proximity to shore. The ADCP dataset includes current velocity and direction measurements at a 1 m vertical and 1-sec time intervals. The raw AZFP dataset includes volume backscattering strength collected at 4-sec time intervals with a vertical resolution of 0.072 m in raw, and 0.1 m in pre-processed form. Fish aggregation metrics were derived in post-processing and are presented by the minute along with corresponding environmental conditions for current speed, shear, temperature, diel stage, and tidal stage compiled from both AZFP and ADCP datasets.
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Intraspecific variation in the thermal tolerance of microscopic giant kelp (Macrocystis pyrifera) sporophytes was tested using a common garden experiment, where 49 unique family-lines were raised under four different water temperatures (12, 16, 20, and 24°C). The unique family-lines were taken from ongoing giant kelp gametophyte cultures held at IMAS, and represented F1 offspring from seven 'selfed' individuals collected from 6 sites across ~250km in Tasmania, Australia, in addition to a site-level cross from each of the sites, and a panmictic cross using the 42 pure family lines. Survivorship of the selected warm-adapted family-lines after outplanting trials at restoration sites can be found here with the associated dataset "NESP Marine Hub Project E7 outplanted kelp survivorship". https://metadata.imas.utas.edu.au/geonetwork/srv/eng/catalog.search#/metadata/908afd8c-cc7a-4ea3-a87e-4497ae8da87a
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Voyage IN2019_V04 contributed an additional 29,000 kms2 of seafloor survey data to the Coral Sea knowledge base. From this new bathymetric data individual seamounts have been extracted and have been classified to the Geoscience Australia Geomorphology Classification Scheme. This dataset contains two layers representing the classification layers- 1) Surface (Plain, Slope, Escarpment) and 2) fine scale Geomorphology of the seamount for the Calder Seamount. Two classification layers are available for each seamount: 1) Surface (Plain, Slope, Escarpment) and 2) fine scale Geomorphology This parent record contains links to child records describing collections from seven (7) seamounts: • Fregetta Seamount • Mellish Seamount • Sula Seamount • Lexington Seamount • Kenn Seamount • Calder Seamount • Cassowary Seamount Data from individual seamounts are available through each record, or as a single data package in the 'Online Resources' section of this record.