Map Gallery
Indigenous Protected Areas (IPAs) in Australia are voluntarily dedicated by Indigenous groups on Indigenous owned or managed land or sea country. They are recognised by the Australian Government as an important part of the National Reserve System, protecting the nation's biodiversity for the benefit of all Australians.
Much of life on earth ultimately depends on the capture of light from the sun and its translation into energy via photosynthesis. This process is called primary production, and is performed by special pigments such as chlorophyll that exist in living plants.
Understanding sea surface temperature and how it varies across the globe over time is incredibly important. The oceans cover 71 percent of the earth's surface. Ocean temperatures have a huge influence on global weather patterns, and play a major role in shaping the structure and function of marine ecosystems. Ocean temperatures help control what species of plants, animals and microbes can live in a given location, and can alter important animal behaviours such as migration and breeding.
Flatback turtles (Natador depressus) are endemic to northern Australia, where they nest and forage in the region's sub-tropical and tropical waters. Although it is known that these turtles migrate between foraging and nesting grounds, little is known about the cues they use to direct these migrations and the habitats that define foraging areas.
Australia’s marine industries are worth more than $50 billion a year. Oil and gas is the largest single contributor to Australia’s marine economy (see report), with most major global companies represented.
Bottom current velocity can affect abundance and biodiversity of benthic fauna by altering disturbance regimes, changing available habitats, and regulating nutrient flows. The intermediate disturbance hypothesis predicts maximum biodiversity at a frequency of disturbance where recruitment is able to replace lost individuals but inter-specific processes don’t have time to exclude species (Connell 1978). Thus, highest biodiversity will be generally associated with occasional episodes of strong bottom current velocity (e.g.
Geomorphologic features are categorical descriptors of the shape of the seabed that range in scale from thousands of km2 (e.g. basins) to tens of m2 (e.g. sand waves, Heap and Harris 2008). Geomorphologic features themselves do not directly affect biodiversity, but since they are associated with depth, substrate hardness, current velocity, and productivity, they can be useful surrogates to link seabed structure and the distribution of benthic communities.
Chlorophyll-a can be estimated at continuous broad scales in the top layers of the ocean via satellite imagery (note this is different from chlorophyll-a in sediments). High primary productivity tends to promote low species richness and high evenness due to the ability of a few species to monopolise resources under ambient conditions (Snelgrove 2001, Hillebrand et al. 2007).
Sediment grain-size is often assumed to be a key driver of infaunal communities (McArthur et al. 2010). Gravel, sand and mud all have different properties that may affect the species and abundances of infaunal animals present. Sediments dominated by gravel (> 2 mm) have the greatest degree of 3-D structure, permeability and the largest interstitial spaces, thereby offering shelter from predators and strong currents, particularly for cryptic species (Brown et al. 2001).
Depth is a consistently powerful explanatory variable in benthic studies (Gray 2001) due to its association with a range of other factors directly affecting abundance, biomass, and biodiversity (e.g. pressure, primary productivity, temperature). Shallow, eutrophic systems tend to have high biomass and low species richness due to high productivity but potentially stressful environmental conditions (Edgar 2001).
Environment Australia is tasked with managing the networks of Commonwealth Marine Reserves (CMRs).
Native title is the recognition in Australian law that some Indigenous people continue to hold rights to their land and waters, which come from their traditional laws and customs. It may include the right to possess and occupy an area to the exclusion of all others (often called a right of exclusive possession).
The map below shows the location of all multibeam bathymetry (shaded red) currently held by Geoscience Australia (GA) as of 2016 (see the metadata record).
The Australian Government developed its Indigenous Programs & Policy Locations (AGIL) dataset as an authoritative source of indigenous location names across Australia. It is designed to support the accurate positioning, consistent reporting, and effective delivery of Australian Government programs and services to indigenous locations. The dataset contains Preferred and Alternate names for indigenous locations where Australian Government programs and services have been, are being, or may be provided.
The National Native Title Tribunal was established by the Native Title Act 1993 to make decisions, conduct inquiries, reviews and mediations, and assist various parties with native title applications, and Indigenous land use agreements (‘ILUAs’).
An Indigenous Land Use Agreement (ILUA) is an agreement about the use and management of land and waters made between people who hold, or may hold, native title in the area, and other people, organisations or governments. To be an ILUA, an agreement must meet with the requirements of the Native Title Act 1993.
Researchers from Project D1 of the Marine Biodiversity Hub of the National Environmental Science Programme present this interactive map-based summary of where pelagic fish are known to exist in the Key
Researchers from Project D1 of the Marine Biodiversity Hub of the National Environmental Science Programme present this interactive map-based summary of where pelagic sharks and rays are known to exist in the
Researchers from Project D1 of the Marine Biodiversity Hub of the National Environmental Science Programme present this interactive map-based summary of where demersal sharks & rays are known to exist in the