GAB Research Program: Project 3.1 – Benthic Biodiversity Characterisation: Biological collections

This record describes the collections of benthic biota (and their derived data) from two Marine National Facility charter voyages conducted under the Benthic Characterisation Project (3.1) of the Great Australian Bight Research Program (GABRP): SS2013_C02 and IN2015_C02. The GABRP aims to describe the key elements of the GAB marine ecosystem. This understanding of the structure and function of the ecosystem will be used to inform future integrated and sustainable ocean management and assessment/mitigation of potential future impacts. An overarching objective of the voyages was to contribute to developing models of ecosystem-level structure and function for the GAB. Benthic biota samples were taken on 5 transects in the central and eastern GAB at 6 depth strata (200m, 400m, 1000m, 1500m, 2000m and 3000m). Epibenthic biota were collected primarily using the beam trawl; macro- infauna were extracted by elutriation of sediment collections taken using the ICP and the Smith-MacIntyre grab. Most beam trawl samples were taken during the IN2015_C02 voyage while most macro-infauna were collected during the earlier SS2013_C02 voyage. The invertebrate specimens were identified to OTU and photographed on board and shipped to Museum Victoria, from where selected taxa were distributed to taxonomic experts for identification. Macro-infauna samples were sorted to OTU in the lab and specimens treated the same as epifauna for further identification. Specimens were distributed to various Museum collections (including SAMA, NMV, AMS) for registration and curation. All fishes were identified to OTU on board and shipped to the Australian National Fish Collection (ANFC) where they were registered and databased. A series of workshops were held bringing together fish expert taxonomists to identify the collection and distribute representative sub-collections to various museums. Taxa targeted for detailed taxonomic identification: sponges, anemones, octocorals, polychaetes, molluscs, echinoderms, crustacea (select groups), pycnogonids and fishes.