Abstract
This paper describes seagrass species and percentage cover point-based field data sets derived from georeferenced photo transects. Annually or biannually over a ten year period (2004–2014) data sets were collected using 30–50 transects, 500–800 m in length distributed across a 142 km2 shallow, clear water seagrass habitat, the Eastern Banks, Moreton Bay, Australia. Each of the eight data sets include seagrass property information derived from approximately 3000 georeferenced, downward looking photographs captured at 2–4 m intervals along the transects. Photographs were manually interpreted to estimate seagrass species composition and percentage cover (Coral Point Count excel; CPCe). Understanding seagrass biology, ecology and dynamics for scientific and management purposes requires point-based data on species composition and cover. This data set, and the methods used to derive it are a globally unique example for seagrass ecological applications. It provides the basis for multiple further studies at this site, regional to global comparative studies, and, for the design of similar monitoring programs elsewhere.
Highlights
This paper presents a unique point based data set that was collected over the period 2004 to 2014 and which describes the spatial and temporal distribution of seagrass species and their horizontally-projected percentage cover for the Eastern Banks, a shallow 142 km[2] area of Moreton Bay, Australia
The data sets described in this study were integrated with satellite imagery as calibration and validation data to generate and verify maps of seagrass properties using a variety of remote sensing mapping approaches[1,2,3,4,5,6,7], and several of these maps are accessible online[8,9,10,11,12]
The point based data in this study was collected for the Eastern Banks, Moreton Bay Australia
Summary
This paper presents a unique point based data set that was collected over the period 2004 to 2014 and which describes the spatial and temporal distribution of seagrass species and their horizontally-projected percentage cover for the Eastern Banks, a shallow 142 km[2] area of Moreton Bay, Australia. The data sets were used to create and validate remote sensing image-based benthic habitat maps (e.g. seagrass species composition, percentage cover and biomass). Seagrass Watch is the most well-known data collection program, and involves a global citizen science-based monitoring program with over 300 study regions in 17 countries[14] One of those regions is Moreton Bay (1,500 km2) in Australia, where Seagrass Watch has 50 sites[15], of which three are located within the Eastern banks, the focus of this paper.
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