Recent datasets

The aim of this component of the Reef Rescue Monitoring Program is to assess trends in the concentrations of specific herbicides and pesticides, primarily through routine monitoring at sites (Green Island, Low Isles, Fitzroy Island, Normanby Island, Dunk Island, Orpheus Island, Magnetic Island, Cape Cleveland, Pioneer Bay, Outer Whitsunday, Sarina Inlet, North Keppel Island) within 20km of the Queensland coast. The monitoring year for routine pesticide sampling is from May to April.

Traditional use activities in the Great Barrier Reef Marine Park are managed under the Great Barrier Reef Marine Park Act 1975, and the Great Barrier Reef Marine Park Regulations 2019. The Great Barrier Reef Marine Park Zoning Plan 2003 recognises that under section 211 of the Native Title Act 1993, native title holders may undertake traditional use of marine resources in the Great Barrier Reef Marine Park. eAtlas Notes: This is not the authoritative metadata for this dataset.

Climate change has emerged as the single greatest threat to coral reefs. The climate change threat will take many forms and includes projections that there will be higher abundances of coral diseases. Links have already been made between high temperatures and outbreaks of the disease ‘white syndrome’ in the Indo-Pacific but little is known about the disease due, in part, to not knowing where outbreaks will occur.

The purpose of this study is to detect and quantify spatial and temporal changes in reef fish assemblages of the Great Barrier Reef (GBR). Between 1993 and 2005, reef fish assemblages of 46 reefs were monitored annually along permanent transects within a standard habitat using visual census. The selected intensive survey reefs are distributed across three positions of the continental shelf and among six sectors each representing one band of latitude. These reefs continue to be surveyed in odd years as part of the Long Term Monitoring Program (LTMP).

Pattern of seagrass distribution in the Great Barrier Reef World Heritage Area Seagrasses in waters deeper than 15m in the Great Barrier Reef World Heritage Area adjacent to the Queensland coast were surveyed using a camera and dredge towed for 4-6 minutes at 1,429 sites spanning from 10ºS to 25ºS and from inshore out to the reef edge up to 120nm from the coast. At each site seagrass presence, species and biomass were recorded together with depth, sediment, sechii, algae and epibenthos, and proximity to reefs.

This very large study is part of the Seabed biodiversity study, published in Pitcher et al. (2007). Its purpose was to quantify patterns in seabed biodiversity and inter-reefal environmental conditions throughout the GBR.

The purpose of this study was to quantify patterns in skeletal density, linear extension and calcification throughout the GBR based on the AIMS Coral Core Archive of 328 colonies of massive Porites from 69 reefs. Annual data for the three growth parameters, skeletal density, annual extension, and calcification rate (the product of skeletal density and annual extension) were obtained from each colony using standard x-ray and gamma densitometry techniques.

This very large study is published in Pitcher et al. (2007). Its purpose was to quantify patterns in seabed biodiversity and inter-reefal environmental conditions throughout the GBR.

The purpose of this study was to quantify patterns in octocoral biodiversity and their environmental drivers on the GBR. The data are based on visual surveys of octocoral communities (soft corals and sea fans) on 163 GBR reefs. Octocorals contain taxa with and without endosymbiotic microalgae (zooxanthellae), and these two groups have contrasting distributions and ecological niches (Fabricius and De’ath 2008). Richness is therefore presented as number of taxa with and without zooxanthellae.

The purpose of this study is to quantify spatial and temporal changes in the density of crown-of-thorns starfish and benthic cover in the Great Barrier Reef. Broad-scale manta tow surveys have been conducted by the Long-Term Monitoring Program (LTMP) of the Australian Institiute of Marine Science since 1986, counting crown-of-thorns-starfish (COTS, Acanthaster planci). COTS densities fluctuates over years forming southward bound ‘waves’ (the incidence of reefs with new active outbreaks moving south over time, due to the southward transport of larvae by the East Australian Current).

The purpose of this study was to quantify patterns in scleractinian biodiversity, and in the cover of the main benthos groups, on the Great Barrier Reef. Taxonomic surveys of hard corals conducted on 110 reefs (599 transects) of the GBR between 1994 and 2001. Surveys are based on rapid ecological assessments (taxonomic inventories based on swim surveys) conducted at two depth zones (deep and shallow), typically at two sites per reef. The data are abundance estimates of each species. Richness is calculated based on reef-averaged data.

The purpose of this study was to characterise spatial and temporal patterns in sea surface temperatures in the Great Barrier Reef. Annual mean sea surface temperatures (1 degrees latitude-longitude grid size) were derived from the monthly sea surface temperatures from the Global Sea surface Temperature database 'HadISST 1.1', from the Hadley Centre for Climate Research, United Kingdom Meteorological Office.

This study characterises spatial patterns in water clarity. Water clarity is a key indicator for water quality and is an essential environmental factor for phototrophic organisms that dominate coral reefs, seagrass meadows and the seafloor microphytobenthos. Secchi disk depthis a commonly used standardised way to quantify water clarity.

The purpose of this study was threefold: (1) to identify water quality guideline values based on existing ecological data; (2) to identify areas where guidelines are met or exceeded, and (3) to quantify the likely ecological changes associated with improving water quality to meet the guidelines. Water quality guideline values were derived based on two separate approaches. Firstly, long-term average water quality conditions were characterized for the six NRM regions within the GBR.

Depth and Elevation Model of the Great Barrier Reef (GBRDEM), a regional-scale terrain model covering the Great Barrier Reef, catchments which flow into the Great Barrier Reef and, where data are available, depths beyond the edge of the continental shelf. Data are presented as Mean Sea Level (MSL, unit: m), a measure indistinguishable from the Australian Height Datum (AHD) in accuracy at the regional scale.

The aim of this component of the study was to determine how photosynthetic rates related to growth rates both into terms of skeletal deposition and organic carbon accrual associated with linear extension, and with organic carbon accrual associated with fat deposition or lipid enrichment of existent tissue. The study was based on the coral Acropora millepora located at Lizard Island (-14°40’, 145°27’) and at Heron Island (-23°26', 151°54') in the Great Barrier Reef (GBR) of Australia, with data collected for winter and summer months.

The purpose of this data set was to compile distributional, general life-history characteristics and phylogenies for Australian tropical rain forest vertebrates to inform a wide range of comparative studies on the determinants of biodiversity patterns and to assess the impacts of global climate change.

This dataset shows the estimated maximum temperature of the warmest period for the Wet Tropics Bioregion of North Queensland over a 24 month period from January 2007 to December 2008. It was modelled based on weather station data, elevation, foliage cover and distance to the coast. The purpose of this dataset is as a metric for estimating thermal stress on animals living in this region. Methods: The maximum temperate was modelled over the region at an 80 m resolution using weather station data with adjustments for elevation, foliage cover and distance from the coast.

The purpose of this study is to quantify spatial and temporal patterns in water quality of the GBR. Surface water quality data collected by Miles Furnas and colleagues (AIMS) between 1988 and 2006. Niskin or bucket surface water samples and laboratory analyses of a suite of physical and chemical water quality data, including chlorophyll, suspended solids (SS), and the following nutrients: particulate phosphorus (PP), particulate nitrogen (PN), total dissolved phosphorus (TDP), total dissolved nitrogen (TDN), total phosphorus (TP = PP + TDP), total nitrogen (TN = PN + TDN).

The eAtlas delivers its mapping products via two Web Mapping Services, a legacy server (from 2008-2011) and a newer primary server (2011+) to which all new content it added. This record describes the legacy WMS. This service was decommissioned on in Jan 2024. This service delivered map layers associated with the eAtlas project (https://eatlas.org.au), and contained map layers of environmental research focusing on the Great Barrier Reef.