This record provides an overview of the NESP Marine and Coastal Hub Research Plan 2024 project "Environmental DNA for measuring offshore marine biodiversity: what can DNA in water collected from the RV Investigator tell us?". For specific data outputs from this project, please see child records associated with this metadata. -------------------- Environmental DNA (eDNA) is genetic material that is found in the environment. In marine ecosystems eDNA is ubiquitous in seawater and is derived from everything from bacteria to invertebrates and fishes. eDNA can be recovered by filtering water samples and then used it to characterise biodiversity. Using environmental DNA (eDNA) found in seawater to get a snapshot of the species present in an area is an emerging technology with diverse applications in marine ecosystem monitoring. This project will collect a large eDNA dataset during the Southeast Australian Marine Ecosystem Survey (SEA-MES). The eDNA samples will be taken from the RV Investigator throughout the water column at offshore sites stretching from Tasmania to NSW, including sites within the South-east Marine Park Network. The voyage includes parallel collection of biodiversity data using a suite of conventional methods (nets, cameras, and acoustics) which will allow for an assessment of how eDNA compliments these approaches. The project will provide a new baseline and unique eDNA-based perspective on the biodiversity of the southeast Australian marine region. It will also allow for evaluation of eDNA sampling methods and guidance for design of effective, scalable, and non-extractive biomonitoring tools for marine ecosystems. Outputs • eDNA sequences with associated collection metadata (x2 voyages x50 sites) [dataset] • Final project report [written]

The National Reef Monitoring Network brings together shallow reef surveys conducted around Australia into a centralised database. The IMOS National Reef Monitoring Network sub-Facility collates, cleans, stores and makes this data rapidly available from contributors including: Reef Life Survey, Parks Australia, Department of Biodiversity, Conservation and Attractions (Western Australia), Department of Environment, Water and Natural Resources (South Australia), Department of Primary Industries (New South Wales), Tasmanian Parks and Wildlife Service and Parks Victoria. The data provided by the National Reef Monitoring Network contributes to establishing and supporting national marine baselines, and assisting with the management of Commonwealth and State marine reserves. Reef Life Survey (RLS) and the Australian Temperate Reef Network (ATRC) aims to improve biodiversity conservation and the sustainable management of marine resources by coordinating surveys of rocky and coral reefs using scientific methods, with the ultimate goal to improve coastal stewardship. Our activities depend on the skills of marine scientists, experienced and motivated recreational SCUBA divers, partnerships with management agencies and university researchers, and active input from the ATRC partners and RLS Advisory Committee. RLS and ATRC data are freely available to the public for non-profit purposes, so not only managers, but also groups such as local dive clubs or schools may use these data to look at changes over time in their own local reefs. By making data freely available and through public outputs, RLS and ATRC aims to raise broader community awareness of the status of Australia?s marine biodiversity and associated conservation issues. This dataset contains records of mobile macroinvertebrates collected by Reef Life Survey (RLS) and Australian Temperate Reef Collaboration (ATRC) divers and partners along 50m transects on shallow rocky and coral reefs using standard methods. Abundance information is available for all species recorded within quantitative survey limits (50 x 1 m swathes either side of the transect line, each distinguished as a 'Block'), with divers searching the reef surface (including cracks) carefully for hidden invertebrates such as sea stars, urchins, gastropods, lobsters, crabs etc. These observations are recorded concurrently with the cryptobenthic fish observations and together make up the 'Method 2' component of the surveys. For this method, typically one 'Block' is completed per 50 m transect for the program ATRC and 2 blocks are completed for RLS ? although exceptions to this rule exist. This dataset supersedes the RLS specific "Reef Life Survey (RLS): Invertebrates" collection that was available at https://catalogue-rls.imas.utas.edu.au/geonetwork/srv/en/metadata.show?uuid=60978150-1641-11dd-a326-00188b4c0af8 (provision of data was stopped in June 2021).

The National Reef Monitoring Network brings together shallow reef surveys conducted around Australia into a centralised database. The IMOS National Reef Monitoring Network sub-Facility collates, cleans, stores and makes this data rapidly available from contributors including: Reef Life Survey, Parks Australia, Department of Biodiversity, Conservation and Attractions (Western Australia), Department of Environment, Water and Natural Resources (South Australia), Department of Primary Industries (New South Wales), Tasmanian Parks and Wildlife Service and Parks Victoria. The data provided by the National Reef Monitoring Network contributes to establishing and supporting national marine baselines, and assisting with the management of Commonwealth and State marine reserves. Reef Life Survey (RLS) and the Australian Temperate Reef Network (ATRC) aims to improve biodiversity conservation and the sustainable management of marine resources by coordinating surveys of rocky and coral reefs using scientific methods, with the ultimate goal to improve coastal stewardship. Our activities depend on the skills of marine scientists, experienced and motivated recreational SCUBA divers, partnerships with management agencies and university researchers, and active input from the ATRC partners and RLS Advisory Committee. RLS and ATRC data are freely available to the public for non-profit purposes, so not only managers, but also groups such as local dive clubs or schools may use these data to look at changes over time in their own local reefs. By making data freely available and through public outputs, RLS and ATRC aims to raise broader community awareness of the status of Australia?s marine biodiversity and associated conservation issues. This dataset contains records of cryptobenthic fishes collected by RLS and ATRC divers and partners along 50m transects on shallow rocky and coral reefs using standard methods. Abundance information is available for all species recorded within quantitative survey limits (50 x 1 m swathes either side of the transect line, each distinguished as a 'Block'), with divers searching the reef surface (including cracks) carefully for hidden fishes. These observations are recorded concurrently with the macroinvertebrate observations and together make up the 'Method 2' component of the surveys. For this method, typically one 'Block' is completed per 50 m transect for the program ATRC and 2 blocks are completed for RLS ? although exceptions to this rule exist. This dataset supersedes the RLS specific "Reef Life Survey (RLS): Cryptic Fish" collection that was available at https://catalogue-rls.imas.utas.edu.au/geonetwork/srv/en/metadata.show?uuid=6a56db3f-d1b2-438d-98c6-bd7dd540a4d5 (provision of data was stopped in June 2021).

The National Reef Monitoring Network brings together shallow reef surveys conducted around Australia into a centralised database. The IMOS National Reef Monitoring Network sub-Facility collates, cleans, stores and makes this data rapidly available from contributors including: Reef Life Survey, Parks Australia, Department of Biodiversity, Conservation and Attractions (Western Australia), Department of Environment, Water and Natural Resources (South Australia), Department of Primary Industries (New South Wales), Tasmanian Parks and Wildlife Service and Parks Victoria. The data provided by the National Reef Monitoring Network contributes to establishing and supporting national marine baselines, and assisting with the management of Commonwealth and State marine reserves. Reef Life Survey (RLS) and the Australian Temperate Reef Network (ATRC) aims to improve biodiversity conservation and the sustainable management of marine resources by coordinating surveys of rocky and coral reefs using scientific methods, with the ultimate goal to improve coastal stewardship. Our activities depend on the skills of marine scientists, experienced and motivated recreational SCUBA divers, partnerships with management agencies and university researchers, and active input from the ATRC partners and RLS Advisory Committee. RLS and ATRC data are freely available to the public for non-profit purposes, so not only managers, but also groups such as local dive clubs or schools may use these data to look at changes over time in their own local reefs. By making data freely available and through public outputs, RLS and ATRC aims to raise broader community awareness of the status of Australia?s marine biodiversity and associated conservation issues. This dataset contains unstandardised occurrence records of bony fishes and elasmobranchs. They include any sightings of species by Reef Life Survey (RLS) and Australian Temperate Reef Collaboration (ATRC) divers and partners that were outside of the quanitative survey limits, but can be considered as occuring at that site on the date of the survey they are listed with. This dataset supersedes the RLS specific "Reef Life Survey (RLS): Global reef fish dataset" collection that was available at https://catalogue-rls.imas.utas.edu.au/geonetwork/srv/en/metadata.show?uuid=9c766140-9e72-4bfb-8f04-d51038355c59 (provision of data was stopped in June 2021).

The National Reef Monitoring Network brings together shallow reef surveys conducted around Australia into a centralised database. The IMOS National Reef Monitoring Network sub-Facility collates, cleans, stores and makes this data rapidly available from contributors including: Reef Life Survey, Parks Australia, Department of Biodiversity, Conservation and Attractions (Western Australia), Department of Environment, Water and Natural Resources (South Australia), Department of Primary Industries (New South Wales), Tasmanian Parks and Wildlife Service and Parks Victoria. The data provided by the National Reef Monitoring Network contributes to establishing and supporting national marine baselines, and assisting with the management of Commonwealth and State marine reserves. Reef Life Survey (RLS) and the Australian Temperate Reef Network (ATRC) aims to improve biodiversity conservation and the sustainable management of marine resources by coordinating surveys of rocky and coral reefs using scientific methods, with the ultimate goal to improve coastal stewardship. Our activities depend on the skills of marine scientists, experienced and motivated recreational SCUBA divers, partnerships with management agencies and university researchers, and active input from the ATRC partners and RLS Advisory Committee. RLS and ATRC data are freely available to the public for non-profit purposes, so not only managers, but also groups such as local dive clubs or schools may use these data to look at changes over time in their own local reefs. By making data freely available and through public outputs, RLS and ATRC aims to raise broader community awareness of the status of Australia?s marine biodiversity and associated conservation issues. This dataset shows the locations of Reef Life Survey (RLS) and Australian Reef Collaboration Network (ATRC) sites on shallow rocky and coral reefs, worldwide. Multiple transects (surveys) are usually surveyed within sites on any given date. Sites traditionally need a minimum of 200 m separation to be classified as a different site, unless separated by a significant geological feature or reef habitat discontinuity.

The National Reef Monitoring Network brings together shallow reef surveys conducted around Australia into a centralised database. The IMOS National Reef Monitoring Network sub-Facility collates, cleans, stores and makes this data rapidly available from contributors including: Reef Life Survey, Parks Australia, Department of Biodiversity, Conservation and Attractions (Western Australia), Department of Environment, Water and Natural Resources (South Australia), Department of Primary Industries (New South Wales), Tasmanian Parks and Wildlife Service and Parks Victoria. The data provided by the National Reef Monitoring Network contributes to establishing and supporting national marine baselines, and assisting with the management of Commonwealth and State marine reserves. Reef Life Survey (RLS) and the Australian Temperate Reef Network (ATRC) aims to improve biodiversity conservation and the sustainable management of marine resources by coordinating surveys of rocky and coral reefs using scientific methods, with the ultimate goal to improve coastal stewardship. Our activities depend on the skills of marine scientists, experienced and motivated recreational SCUBA divers, partnerships with management agencies and university researchers, and active input from the ATRC partners and RLS Advisory Committee. RLS and ATRC data are freely available to the public for non-profit purposes, so not only managers, but also groups such as local dive clubs or schools may use these data to look at changes over time in their own local reefs. By making data freely available and through public outputs, RLS and ATRC aims to raise broader community awareness of the status of Australia?s marine biodiversity and associated conservation issues. This dataset contains records of bony fishes and elasmobranchs collected by Reef Life Survey (RLS) and Australian Temperate Reef Collaboration (ATRC) divers and partners along 50m transects on shallow rocky and coral reefs using standard methods. Abundance information is available for all species recorded within quantitative survey limits (50 x 5 m swathes either side of the transect line, each distinguished as a 'Block'), with size and biomass data also included when available. These observations form the Method 1 component of the surveys. This dataset supersedes the RLS specific "Reef Life Survey (RLS): Global reef fish dataset" collection that was available at https://catalogue-rls.imas.utas.edu.au/geonetwork/srv/en/metadata.show?uuid=9c766140-9e72-4bfb-8f04-d51038355c59 (provision of data was stopped in June 2021).

The National Reef Monitoring Network brings together shallow reef surveys conducted around Australia into a centralised database. The IMOS National Reef Monitoring Network sub-Facility collates, cleans, stores and makes this data rapidly available from contributors including: Reef Life Survey, Parks Australia, Department of Biodiversity, Conservation and Attractions (Western Australia), Department of Environment, Water and Natural Resources (South Australia), Department of Primary Industries (New South Wales), Tasmanian Parks and Wildlife Service and Parks Victoria. The data provided by the National Reef Monitoring Network contributes to establishing and supporting national marine baselines, and assisting with the management of Commonwealth and State marine reserves. Reef Life Survey (RLS) and the Australian Temperate Reef Network (ATRC) aims to improve biodiversity conservation and the sustainable management of marine resources by coordinating surveys of rocky and coral reefs using scientific methods, with the ultimate goal to improve coastal stewardship. Our activities depend on the skills of marine scientists, experienced and motivated recreational SCUBA divers, partnerships with management agencies and university researchers, and active input from the ATRC partners and RLS Advisory Committee. RLS and ATRC data are freely available to the public for non-profit purposes, so not only managers, but also groups such as local dive clubs or schools may use these data to look at changes over time in their own local reefs. By making data freely available and through public outputs, RLS and ATRC aims to raise broader community awareness of the status of Australia?s marine biodiversity and associated conservation issues. This dataset provides the metadata associated with individual 50 m transects surveyed by Reef Life Survey (RLS) and Australian Reef Collaboration Network (ATRC) divers and partners. All surveys in this list were undertaken using standard methods. ATRC surveys are predominantly collected as a group of 4 x 50m transects per site, RLS surveys commonly have a minimum of 2 x 50 m surveys per site on any given date (typically at different depths), but this number often varies. This dataset supersedes the RLS specific "Reef Life Survey (RLS): Survey Locations " collection that was available at https://catalogue-rls.imas.utas.edu.au/geonetwork/srv/en/metadata.show?uuid=4972fa20-195b-41e4-bee8-8175d6ac792b (provision of data was stopped in June 2021).

The National Reef Monitoring Network brings together shallow reef surveys conducted around Australia into a centralised database. The IMOS National Reef Monitoring Network sub-Facility collates, cleans, stores and makes this data rapidly available from contributors including: Reef Life Survey, Parks Australia, Department of Biodiversity, Conservation and Attractions (Western Australia), Department of Environment, Water and Natural Resources (South Australia), Department of Primary Industries (New South Wales), Tasmanian Parks and Wildlife Service and Parks Victoria. The data provided by the National Reef Monitoring Network contributes to establishing and supporting national marine baselines, and assisting with the management of Commonwealth and State marine reserves. The Australian Temperate Reef Network (ATRC) aims to improve biodiversity conservation and the sustainable management of marine resources by coordinating surveys of rocky and coral reefs using scientific methods, with the ultimate goal to improve coastal stewardship. Our activities depend on the skills of marine scientists, experienced and motivated recreational SCUBA divers, partnerships with management agencies and university researchers, and active input from the ATRC partners. ATRC data are freely available to the public for non-profit purposes, so not only managers, but also groups such as local dive clubs or schools may use these data to look at changes over time in their own local reefs. By making data freely available and through public outputs, ATRC aims to raise broader community awareness of the status of Australia?s marine biodiversity and associated conservation issues. This dataset contains data on the cover of macroalage and sessile invertebrates collected in situ at Australian Temperate Reef Collaboration (ATRC) sites. Quadrats are placed at 10 m spacing along each transect line (i.e. 5 per 50 m transect and 20 per contiguous 200 m) by divers skilled in macroalgal identification. The canopy layer, mid-story and substrate are sequentially assessed in each single, 50 -point quadrat.