We undertook a biological data acquisition program as part of the transit of the R.V. Southern Surveyor between Darwin and Cairns 15-24 October 2012. The overarching aim of this program was to use an ROV and benthic sled to collect benthic marine information and specimens for biodiversity and biodiscovery research in areas previously mapped by Geoscience Australia during survey GA-276, including a bank (Area I) and terrace/hole feature within the proposed Wessel Islands CMR (Area II). This study focuses on sessile invertebrates such as sponges and octocorals due to their ecological importance as habitat providers and their chemical importance as sources of marine natural products and medicines. In less than 24 hours of sampling effort, survey SS2012/t07 resulted in 261 voucher specimens which will be used for biodiversity and natural products research. A total of 49 samples are to be lodged at the ABL, and samples with weights larger than 300 g will be sent to the NCI for screening of active compounds against cancer and HIV. Sponges were the most abundant group collected based on both biomass (~ 139 kg) and number of voucher specimens (93), followed by cnidarians (30 kg, 73 vouchers), particularly hard corals (23 kg, 11 vouchers). As expected the top of the bank in Area I had a seemingly diverse and abundant sessile invertebrate community, with consistent patchy occurrence of sponges, octocorals, and hard corals. The terrace at in Area II supports moderate densities of sponges and octocorals, while the adjacent deep hole at ~ 100 m seems to be covered with muddy gravel and supports scattered mobile and sedentary invertebrates, of which crinoids dominate, as well as skates and numerous small demersal fish.

We undertook a biological data acquisition program as part of the transit of the R.V. Southern Surveyor between Darwin and Cairns 15-24 October 2012. The overarching aim of this program was to use an ROV and benthic sled to collect benthic marine information and specimens for biodiversity and biodiscovery research in areas previously mapped by Geoscience Australia during survey GA-276, including a bank (Area I) and terrace/hole feature within the proposed Wessel Islands CMR (Area II). This study focuses on sessile invertebrates such as sponges and octocorals due to their ecological importance as habitat providers and their chemical importance as sources of marine natural products and medicines. In less than 24 hours of sampling effort, survey SS2012/t07 resulted in 261 voucher specimens which will be used for biodiversity and natural products research. A total of 49 samples are to be lodged at the ABL, and samples with weights larger than 300 g will be sent to the NCI for screening of active compounds against cancer and HIV. Sponges were the most abundant group collected based on both biomass (~ 139 kg) and number of voucher specimens (93), followed by cnidarians (30 kg, 73 vouchers), particularly hard corals (23 kg, 11 vouchers). As expected the top of the bank in Area I had a seemingly diverse and abundant sessile invertebrate community, with consistent patchy occurrence of sponges, octocorals, and hard corals. The terrace at in Area II supports moderate densities of sponges and octocorals, while the adjacent deep hole at ~ 100 m seems to be covered with muddy gravel and supports scattered mobile and sedentary invertebrates, of which crinoids dominate, as well as skates and numerous small demersal fish.

We undertook a biological data acquisition program as part of the transit of the R.V. Southern Surveyor between Darwin and Cairns 15-24 October 2012. The overarching aim of this program was to use an ROV and benthic sled to collect benthic marine information and specimens for biodiversity and biodiscovery research in areas previously mapped by Geoscience Australia during survey GA-276, including a bank (Area I) and terrace/hole feature within the proposed Wessel Islands CMR (Area II). This study focuses on sessile invertebrates such as sponges and octocorals due to their ecological importance as habitat providers and their chemical importance as sources of marine natural products and medicines. In less than 24 hours of sampling effort, survey SS2012/t07 resulted in 261 voucher specimens which will be used for biodiversity and natural products research. A total of 49 samples are to be lodged at the ABL, and samples with weights larger than 300 g will be sent to the NCI for screening of active compounds against cancer and HIV. Sponges were the most abundant group collected based on both biomass (~ 139 kg) and number of voucher specimens (93), followed by cnidarians (30 kg, 73 vouchers), particularly hard corals (23 kg, 11 vouchers). As expected the top of the bank in Area I had a seemingly diverse and abundant sessile invertebrate community, with consistent patchy occurrence of sponges, octocorals, and hard corals. The terrace at in Area II supports moderate densities of sponges and octocorals, while the adjacent deep hole at ~ 100 m seems to be covered with muddy gravel and supports scattered mobile and sedentary invertebrates, of which crinoids dominate, as well as skates and numerous small demersal fish.

The overall aims were to provide data on the distribution of deep seabed habitats and fauna that are amenable to scientific hypothesis testing, can be immediately applied to marine resource management processes, and that enable strategic development of tools and techniques for understanding the processes that maintain deep sea biodiversity. This work was to support the process of NWR Estate inventory and management performance assessment by providing interpreted benthic habitat maps, faunal inventories, distribution maps and conservation values. Data will be collected at scientific reference sites from potential MPA areas that can be re-visited for monitoring purposes in the future. Sampling along environmental gradients (geographic range and depth) in this section of Australia's coast will also provide the opportunity to evaluate biogeographic hypotheses. Further refinement of predictive methods for identifying seabed habitat types, initially developed in temperate and cool-temperate environments, will be enabled by data collection from this tropical location in Australia. We intended to highlight the importance of this underlying science as a modern "Voyage of Discovery" given the likely significance of the findings in terms of Australia's biodiversity and its biogeography and evolution. (From Voyage Plan) This record describes the biological samples taken during the survey. Fishes were lodges in the CSIRO Fish collection, invertebrate specimens were photographed and distributed to Australian museums for identification by taxonomists, focusing on sponges, corals, echinoderms, ascidians, molluscs and crustaceans. To date (as per Dec 2016) we are aware of 27 manuscripts of taxonomic revisions and/or descriptions that have used material collected from this survey.

Point data collected from video drops identifying benthic habitats such as seagrass, macroalgae and reef, collected during field work in 2007 to 2011. Used to support the Benthic Habitat Mapping project undertaken by DENR to map the nearshore benthic habitats of South Australia.

The biological data used in this study was collected by Museum Victoria in an extensive survey of the fauna of Bass Strait between 1979 and 1983. Additional sediment sampling and swath mapping of parts of Bass Strait were undertaken on GA Survey 226 and Australian Hydrographic Office Survey HI339, in which Geoscience Australia personnel participated (GA Survey 233). Survey HI339 also collected underwater video footage. Biological material from a range of taxonomic groups was identified as a basis for identification and analysis of biological communities. The results indicate that Bass Strait supports a particularly diverse fauna. A high degree of small-scale variation occurs, with even adjacent samples having low similarity. Video footage from sites to the east of Bass Strait corroborates the high degree of faunal diversity over small spatial scales. Analysis of physical variables, derived from data collected on the original survey and supplemented by more recent data, show that longitude and depth are important factors in explaining the biological diversity. Despite this, overall correlation of faunal composition with physical factors is poor, indicating that other environmental variables influence the composition of benthic assemblages, and that different groups of species react to different environmental variables. It is likely that the biota reflect a series of intergrading assemblages rather than a group of discrete and repeatable species associations. Sediment facies identified can be correlated with facies from the Otway margin (Boreen et al., 1993) and those mapped previously in Bass Strait (Jones and Davies, 1983). Analysis of sediments taken from sites previously targeted by Jones and Davies (1983) indicate that sampling technique has had little impact on retention of fines. Rather, the lack of fines is a reflection of the high energy environment of much of Bass Strait. Examination of the composition of sand and gravel fractions indicates that extensive bioerosion acts in concert with physical processes to produce carbonate mud. Biogenic content in sediments shows little correlation with living communities, due in part to the abundance of soft-bodied organisms in the biota, as well as the strong imprint of post-depositional processes on sediments. The biological patterns identified in this study broadly support the divisions of the current Interim Marine and Coastal Regionalisation of Australia (IMCRA Technical Group, 1998) for Bass Strait. However, the biological assemblages are not consistent enough to be mapped. The lack of relationships between biota and sediments over the scale of the study area may reflect the scale of the study area and limitations of the statistical analyses used.

The biological data used in this study was collected by Museum Victoria in an extensive survey of the fauna of Bass Strait between 1979 and 1983. Additional sediment sampling and swath mapping of parts of Bass Strait were undertaken on GA Survey 226 and Australian Hydrographic Office Survey HI339, in which Geoscience Australia personnel participated (GA Survey 233). Survey HI339 also collected underwater video footage. Biological material from a range of taxonomic groups was identified as a basis for identification and analysis of biological communities. The results indicate that Bass Strait supports a particularly diverse fauna. A high degree of small-scale variation occurs, with even adjacent samples having low similarity. Video footage from sites to the east of Bass Strait corroborates the high degree of faunal diversity over small spatial scales. Analysis of physical variables, derived from data collected on the original survey and supplemented by more recent data, show that longitude and depth are important factors in explaining the biological diversity. Despite this, overall correlation of faunal composition with physical factors is poor, indicating that other environmental variables influence the composition of benthic assemblages, and that different groups of species react to different environmental variables. It is likely that the biota reflect a series of intergrading assemblages rather than a group of discrete and repeatable species associations. Sediment facies identified can be correlated with facies from the Otway margin (Boreen et al., 1993) and those mapped previously in Bass Strait (Jones and Davies, 1983). Analysis of sediments taken from sites previously targeted by Jones and Davies (1983) indicate that sampling technique has had little impact on retention of fines. Rather, the lack of fines is a reflection of the high energy environment of much of Bass Strait. Examination of the composition of sand and gravel fractions indicates that extensive bioerosion acts in concert with physical processes to produce carbonate mud. Biogenic content in sediments shows little correlation with living communities, due in part to the abundance of soft-bodied organisms in the biota, as well as the strong imprint of post-depositional processes on sediments. The biological patterns identified in this study broadly support the divisions of the current Interim Marine and Coastal Regionalisation of Australia (IMCRA Technical Group, 1998) for Bass Strait. However, the biological assemblages are not consistent enough to be mapped. The lack of relationships between biota and sediments over the scale of the study area may reflect the scale of the study area and limitations of the statistical analyses used.

The biological data used in this study was collected by Museum Victoria in an extensive survey of the fauna of Bass Strait between 1979 and 1983. Additional sediment sampling and swath mapping of parts of Bass Strait were undertaken on GA Survey 226 and Australian Hydrographic Office Survey HI339, in which Geoscience Australia personnel participated (GA Survey 233). Survey HI339 also collected underwater video footage. Biological material from a range of taxonomic groups was identified as a basis for identification and analysis of biological communities. The results indicate that Bass Strait supports a particularly diverse fauna. A high degree of small-scale variation occurs, with even adjacent samples having low similarity. Video footage from sites to the east of Bass Strait corroborates the high degree of faunal diversity over small spatial scales. Analysis of physical variables, derived from data collected on the original survey and supplemented by more recent data, show that longitude and depth are important factors in explaining the biological diversity. Despite this, overall correlation of faunal composition with physical factors is poor, indicating that other environmental variables influence the composition of benthic assemblages, and that different groups of species react to different environmental variables. It is likely that the biota reflect a series of intergrading assemblages rather than a group of discrete and repeatable species associations. Sediment facies identified can be correlated with facies from the Otway margin (Boreen et al., 1993) and those mapped previously in Bass Strait (Jones and Davies, 1983). Analysis of sediments taken from sites previously targeted by Jones and Davies (1983) indicate that sampling technique has had little impact on retention of fines. Rather, the lack of fines is a reflection of the high energy environment of much of Bass Strait. Examination of the composition of sand and gravel fractions indicates that extensive bioerosion acts in concert with physical processes to produce carbonate mud. Biogenic content in sediments shows little correlation with living communities, due in part to the abundance of soft-bodied organisms in the biota, as well as the strong imprint of post-depositional processes on sediments. The biological patterns identified in this study broadly support the divisions of the current Interim Marine and Coastal Regionalisation of Australia (IMCRA Technical Group, 1998) for Bass Strait. However, the biological assemblages are not consistent enough to be mapped. The lack of relationships between biota and sediments over the scale of the study area may reflect the scale of the study area and limitations of the statistical analyses used.