Casey sediment macrofaunal community data 1997 to 2014

Published: 2026-06-16

Data from core and grab samples of marine sediments collected around Casey station and Windmill Islands between 1997 and 2014. Sediments were processed to count and identify macrofaunal communities of marine invertebrates (greater than 1mm). Macrofauna were identified to species level or morphospecies where an ID could not be made. A spatially nested sampling design was used with samples take at 19 Locations (main scale of comparison) and within locations at scales of 100 m (termed Sites, usually 2 within each location) and within Sites at a scale of 10 m (termed Plots, usually 2 within each Site). Replicate samples were taken within plots (2 to 4 replicates), usually separated by 1 - 2 m. Cores (10 cm diam. and 10 cm deep where possible) were the routine method of sampling and taken by divers, but in some seasons grab samples were taken with a van veen or eckman grab. Samples were collected between 5 and 30 m depth. Sample method is indicated in the data. Samples were taken in summers of 1996/97, 97/98, 98/99, 2002/03, 03/04, 04/05, 06/07 and 2014/15. Some samples were also taken in winter 1998. The data is as an excel spreadsheet with samples as rows and species as columns. A separate spreadsheet has details of GPS coordinates for each location.