First comprehensive maps made of Australia's continental shelf

William Atkins
Monday, 28 March 2011 23:32

Science - Climate

The first comprehensive mapping of life found on Australia's continental shelf was made after a three-year study of the sea-shelf. Scientists now have much more valuable information available to study life within its continental shelf habitats.

 

Marine scientists from five research agencies produced these 'broad-scale' maps of the 'shelf seascape' after three years of work by the Commonwealth Environment Research Facilities (CERF) Marine Biodiversity Hub (Hub).

The five participating organizations are: the University of Tasmania, CSIRO, Geoscience Australia, the Australian Institute of MarineScience, and Museum Victoria.

The March 25, 2011 CSIRO article 'First broad-scale maps of life on the sea-shelf' quotes Dr. Nic Bax, who is associated with CSIRO (Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation), which is Australia's national government body for scientific research, and the University of Tasmania.

Dr. Bax, who is also the Hub director, stated, 'The program compiled existing biological survey datasets, mapped 1868 square kilometres of seabed with multibeam sonar, recorded 171 km of underwater video, and collected nearly 1000 samples of seabed sediments and marine life.' [CSIRO]

Bax added, 'At a national level we identified 37 environmental factors that shape seabed life, such as depth, oceanography, the type of seafloor, food availability, and the strength of currents and waves.'

And, 'Genetic techniques examined the links between biodiversity in different areas, and economic studies examined new options for biodiversity management.'

Page two concludes with the valuable information now available to the world's marine scientists.