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Identifying vulnerable ecosystems in an Antarctic coastal marine environment

Created 20/01/2026

Updated 20/01/2026

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Monitoring changes in shallow-water benthic ecosystems requires baseline information against which any future changes can be assessed. This includes information on the existing spatial extent and physical habitat requirements of the different benthic communities.

A detailed study in shallow coastal waters of the Vestfold Hills has shown that seafloor geomorphology information provides a physical framework for understanding benthic habitats and a broad indication of the distribution of benthic communities in the region. Macroalgae is common in the coastal waters, inhabiting very shallow areas with hard substrate. Areas with extended sea ice cover are dominated by invertebrates and are devoid of macroalgae. Studies have shown that these shallow invertebrate-dominated ecosystems are vulnerable to changes in sea ice extent which will increase light availability and drive regime shifts towards macroalgae-dominated communities (Clark et al. 2013. DOI:10.1111/gcb.12337).

New high-resolution multibeam data collected over the broader Vestfold Hills region is being used to expand our understanding of the spatial extent of benthic habitats across the shallow coastal environment and identify potential habitat for macroalgae communities. Bathymetry derived from multispectral satellite imagery is used to fill data gaps in very shallow areas and areas under sea ice. This seafloor information is useful to guide further biological studies to determine if and when regime shifts occur.

Presented at the 2023 POLAR 2018 A SCAR & IASC Conference

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Title Identifying vulnerable ecosystems in an Antarctic coastal marine environment
Language eng
Licence Not Specified
Landing Page https://data.gov.au/data/dataset/c91acf14-bf1c-49a3-ba6c-c95982d5de14
Contact Point
Geoscience Australia Data
clientservices@ga.gov.au
Reference Period 27/10/2025
Geospatial Coverage
Map data © OpenStreetMap contributors
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Data Portal Data.gov.au