GCMD

Summary

Abstract: Sediment samples were collected from nine points along 3 parallel transects within the contaminated Brown Bay. The diatom spreadsheet (diatom_data) contains both initial diatom counts and the relative abundance of benthic species. The abbreviation used to identify species are explained in the separate file called sp_list. Metal, Total Purgeable Hydrocarbons (TPH), and grain-size data are all presented as separate files.

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:

bbg_lat spreadsheet

Site
Latitude
Longitude
Easting
Northing

Diatoms spreadsheet

Species
Site
Abundance
Transect

Metals Spreadsheet

Sample
Antimony
Arsenic
Cadmium
Chromium
Copper
Iron
Lead
Manganese
Mercury
Nickel
Silver
Tin
Zinc
Total Organic Carbon
Easting
Northing

TPH Spreadsheet
Site
Total Purgeable Hydrocarbons
Fraction of Purgeable Hydrocarbons

Parent DIF

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

Access Constraints

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

Data Center

Australian Antarctic Data Centre, Australia [Information]
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: 74 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

JONATHAN SEAN STARK
Role: INVESTIGATOR
Phone: +61 3 6232 3589
Fax: +61 3 6232 3158
Email: jonny.stark at aad.gov.au
Contact Address:
Australian Antarctic Division
203 Channel Highway
City: Kingston
Province or State: Tasmania
Postal Code: 7050
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

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