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Diatom data for ten sediment cores collected in 3 marine bays in the Windmill Islands, Antarctica

Entry ID: Diatoms_short_cores

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Summary

Abstract: Ten sediment cores were collected from 3 marine bays in the Windmill Islands. Two cores were collected in Sparkes Bay, one in Shannon Bay, and seven in Brown Bay. Only diatom data are presented here, however Pb210 and metal analyses have also been undertaken - contact Ian Snape (ian.snape@aad.gov.au) for more information regarding this.

The diatom spreadsheet (diatom_data) lists the relative ... abundance of benthic species. The abbreviation used to identify species are explained in the separate file called sp_list. Each core has been saved as a separate file. The STE cores were collected from within a couple of meters of each other. These cores were collected in close proximity to a tip site at one end of Brown Bay. BBMid was collected from the middle of the bay, while BB Outer 1 and 2 were collected from the outer regions of this bay, and thus represent the greatest distance from the tip site. Unless otherwise stated, the lowest number within each core represents the youngest sample.

This work was completed as part of ASAC project 1130 (ASAC_1130) and project 2201 (ASAC_2201).

Public summary from project 1130:

Algal mats grow on sea floor in most shallow marine environments. They are thought to contribute more than half of the total primary production in many of these areas, making them a critical food source for invertebrates and some fish. We will establish how important they are in Antarctic marine environments and determine the effects of local sewerage and tip site pollution. We will also investigate the impact on the algal mats of the additional UV radiation which results from the ozone hole.

Public summary from project 2201:

As a signatory to the Protocol on Environmental Protection to the Antarctic Treaty Australia is committed to comprehensive protection of the Antarctic environment. This protocol requires that activities in the Antarctic shall be planned and conducted on the basis of information sufficient to make prior assessments of, and informed judgements about, their possible impacts on the Antarctic environment. Most of our activities in the Antarctic occur along the narrow fringe of ice-free rock adjacent to the sea and many of our activities have the potential to cause environmental harm to marine life. The Antarctic seas support the most complex and biologically diverse plant and animal communities of the region. However, very little is known about them and there is certainly not sufficient known to make informed judgements about possible environmental impacts.

The animals and plants of the sea-bed are widely accepted as being the most appropriate part of the marine ecosystem for indicating disturbance caused by local sources. Attached sea-bed organisms have a fixed spatial relationship with a given place so they must either endure conditions or die. Once lost from a site recolonisation takes some time, as a consequence the structure of sea-bed communities reflect not only present conditions but they can also integrate conditions in the past. In contrast, fish and planktonic organisms can move freely so their site of capture does not indicate a long residence time at that location. Because sea-bed communities are particularly diverse they contain species with widely differing life strategies, as a result different species can have very different levels of tolerance to stress; this leads to a range of subtle changes in community structure as a response to gradually increasing disturbance, rather than an all or nothing response.

This project will examine sea-bed communities near our stations to determine how seriously they are affected by human activities. This information will be used to set priorities for improving operational procedures to reduce the risk of further environmental damage.

The fields in this dataset are:

Species
Site
Abundance
Benthic

Related URL

Link: GET DATA

Description: Download point for the data

Link: VIEW PROJECT HOME PAGE

Description: Public information for ASAC project 1130

Link: VIEW PROJECT HOME PAGE

Description: Public information for ASAC project 2201

Link: VIEW RELATED INFORMATION

Description: Citation reference for this metadata record and dataset

Geographic Coverage

(Click for Interactive Map)

Spatial coordinates

N: -66.0

S: -66.5

E: 110.5

W: 110.0

Parent DIF

This data set description is a member of a collection. The collection is described in
ASAC_2201

Temporal Coverage

Start Date: 1998-09-01

Stop Date: 1999-03-31

Location Keywords

CONTINENT > ANTARCTICA > Windmill Islands

GEOGRAPHIC REGION > POLAR

Science Keywords

BIOLOGICAL CLASSIFICATION > PROTISTS > DIATOMS

BIOLOGICAL CLASSIFICATION > PLANTS > MICROALGAE > DIATOMS

ISO Topic Category

BIOTA

OCEANS

Platform

FIELD SURVEYS

Quality The dates provided in temporal coverage are approximate only. The years are correct.

Access Constraints These data are publicly available for download from the URL given below.

Use Constraints This data set conforms to the PICCCBY Attribution License
(http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/).

Please follow instructions listed in the citation reference provided at http://data.aad.gov.au/aadc/metadata/citation.cfm?entry_id=Diatoms_... when using these data.

Ancillary Keywords

ABUNDANCE

ANTARCTICA

Data Set Progress

COMPLETE

Data Center

Australian Antarctic Data Centre, Australia

Data Center URL: http://data.aad.gov.au

Data Center Personnel
Name: DATA OFFICER AADC Phone: +61 3 6232 3244 Fax: +61 3 6232 3351 Email: metadata at aad.gov.au Contact Address: Australian Antarctic Division 203 Channel Highway City: Kingston Province or State: Tasmania Postal Code: 7050 Country: Australia

Distribution

Distribution Media: HTTP

Distribution Size: 178 kb

Distribution Format: excel

Fees: free

Personnel

MARTIN RIDDLE

Role: INVESTIGATOR

Phone: +61 3 6232 3573

Fax: +61 3 6232 3351

Email: martin.riddle at aad.gov.au

Contact Address:

Australian Antarctic Division

203 Channel Highway

City: Kingston

Province or State: Tasmania

Postal Code: 7050

Country: Australia

ANDREW MCMINN

Role: INVESTIGATOR

Phone: +61 3 6266 2980

Fax: +61 3 6226 2973

Email: Andrew.McMinn at utas.edu.au

Contact Address:

Institute of Antarctic and Southern Ocean Studies

University of Tasmania

Private Bag 77

City: Hobart

Province or State: Tasmania

Postal Code: 7001

Country: Australia

LAURA KAY CUNNINGHAM

Role: INVESTIGATOR

Role: TECHNICAL CONTACT

Role: DIF AUTHOR

Email: laura.cunningham at aad.gov.au

Contact Address:

Australian Antarctic Division

203 Channel Highway

City: Kingston

Province or State: Tasmania

Postal Code: 7050

Country: Australia

Publications/References

L. Cunningham. (2003), Benthic diatom communities of coastal marine environments in the Windmill Islands, Antarctica, PhD Thesis, University of Tasmania.

Creation and Review Dates

DIF Creation Date: 2003-06-11

Last DIF Revision Date: 2011-11-09

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