A spatial analysis of seagrass habitat and community diversity in the Great Barrier Reef World Heritage Area.

ABSTRACT: The Great Barrier Reef World Heritage Area (GBRWHA) in north eastern Australia spans 2500 km of coastline and covers an area of ~ 350,000 km². It includes one of the world's largest seagrass resources. To provide a foundation to monitor, establish trends and manage the protection of seagrass meadows in the GBRWHA we quantified potential seagrass community extent using six random forest models that include environmental data and seagrass sampling history. We identified 88,331 km² of potential seagrass habitat in intertidal and subtidal areas: 1111 km² in estuaries, 16,276 km² in coastal areas, and 70,934 km² in reef areas. Thirty-six seagrass community types were defined by species assemblages within these habitat types using multivaria

SUBMITTER: Carter AB 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC8595360 | biostudies-literature | 2021 Nov

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature