A general description of the subtidal habitats of the Dampier Archipelago, Western Australia

WA Museum Records and Supplements | Updated 8 years ago

ABSTRACT – Subtidal habitats at 45 locations were recorded on video during the diving surveys of the Dampier Archipelago in 1998 (DA1/98) and 1999 (DA3/99) and analysed for percentage cover in terms of 13 benthic categories. The video recording provided a permanent record of each station while the video transect analysis provided a quantitative description of the benthic habitat to complement the semi-quantitative specimen collections. A statistical comparison of the habitats present indicated that the survey stations could be grouped into seven distinct categories (abiotic – six stations; macroalgae four stations; gorgonian soft corals – one station; neptheid and alcyoniid soft corals - five stations; foliose non-Acropora hard corals – one station; branching Acropora - two stations; massive non-Acropora – four stations) and one less distinct category (abiotic and hard coral habitats, predominantly massive non-Acropora or tabulate Acropora species – twenty two stations) based on dominant percentage cover.