Systematic list of benthic invertebrates identified in the Heard Island and McDonald Islands region from 129 beam trawl or epibenthic sled samples.

• Format: Dataset
• Language: unknown
• Published: Australian Ocean Data Network
• Subjects: biota; oceans; EARTH SCIENCE > BIOLOGICAL CLASSIFICATION > ANIMALS/INVERTEBRATES; BIOSPHERE > ECOSYSTEMS > MARINE ECOSYSTEMS > BENTHIC; Benthic Invertebrates; Beam Trawl; Biodiversity; Epibenthic Sled; Epibenthic Assemblages; HIMI; TRAWL; SHIPS; AMD/AU; CEOS; AMD; OCEAN > SOUTHERN OCEAN > HEARD AND MCDONALD ISLANDS; SOUTHERN OCEAN; GEOGRAPHIC REGION > POLAR; Southern Ocean; Heard Island; Heard; McDonald Islands
• Online Access: https://researchdata.edu.au/systematic-list-benthic-sled-samples/2817285

Progress Code: completed Statement: This list of fauna is conservative in regards to the likely diversity of HIMI. Infauna and taxa smaller than the mesh size used (10 mm) in this study would have been poorly selected, and further expert identification and separation of the taxa collected is likely to add further species to the list. For instance, some groups like the Bryozoa and Amphipoda are largely unsorted at this stage. 2018-10-10 The original files was reformatted to fit OBIS/GBFI/IPT Biodiversity.AQ standards, and a new datasheet "HIMI_Biodiveristy2003_08.csv" was created. The new dataset contains datasetID, occurrenceID, island, decimalLatitude, decimalLongitude, footprintWKF, eventDate, basisOfRecord, occurrenceStatus, organismQuantity, organismQuantityType, samplingProtocol, minimumDepthInMeters, maximumDepthInMeters, institutionCode, continent. The lowest taxonomical rank of the species identified that could be determined is provided, after matched in WoRMS (World Register of Marine Species). With regards to the scanned worksheets, the quality of the scanning results may vary from page to page. This database provides the most comprehensive systematic list of mega-epibenthic assemblages in the Australian Economic Exclusive Zone (AEEZ) of Heard Island and McDonalds Islands (HIMI) at water depths between 168 and 970 m. Data were collected to better understand the types and distribution of benthic invertebrates, their vulnerability to bottom fishing, and the effectiveness of the HIMI Marine Protected Area (MPA) for representing and protecting the regions benthic biodiversity. A total 504 taxa from 14 phyla were collected from 129 stations throughout HIMI. Two methods, beam trawl (for non-complex flat terrains) and epibenthic sled (for more complex, rough terrains), were used to sample the megabenthos. Both the trawl and sled were fitted with a 1 cm-2 mesh cod-end with a net opening (height x width) of 2.7 x 1.2 m for the beam trawl and 1.2 x 0.6 m for the epibenthic sled. Samples were sorted into ...