The study, which was carried out by scientists from five different research agencies, brought together under a Commonwealth Environment Research Facilities programme known as the Marine Biodiversity Hub, compiled existing biological survey datasets, mapped 1,868 square kilometres of seabed with multi-beam sonar, recorded 171 kilometres of underwater video, and collected nearly 1,000 samples of seabed sediments and marine life, according to the hub’s director, Professor Nic Bax of the University of Tasmania.

‘At a national level, we identified 37 environmental factors that shape seabed life, such as depth, oceanography, the type of seafloor, food availability, and the strength of currents and waves,’ Bax explained. ‘Statistical modelling was then used to predict seabed biodiversity, at a scale of one square kilometre, across more than two million square kilometres of the continental shelf.

‘These studies have helped local marine managers to fine-tune reserve design, and will assist in monitoring individual marine reserves,’ Bax said.

May 11