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

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.