Rhodolith Beds in Northern New Zealand: Characterisation of Associated Biodiversity

Data Records

The data in this sampling event resource has been published as a Darwin Core Archive (DwC-A), which is a standardized format for sharing biodiversity data as a set of one or more data tables. The core data table contains 30 records.

2 extension data tables also exist. An extension record supplies extra information about a core record. The number of records in each extension data table is illustrated below.

This IPT archives the data and thus serves as the data repository. The data and resource metadata are available for download in the downloads section. The versions table lists other versions of the resource that have been made publicly available and allows tracking changes made to the resource over time.

Versions

The table below shows only published versions of the resource that are publicly accessible.

How to cite

Researchers should cite this work as follows:

Nelson, W.A.; Neill, K.; Barr, N.; D'Archino, R.; Miller, S.; Stewart, R. (2012). Data from: Rhodolith Beds in Northern New Zealand: Characterisation of Associated Biodiversity. Southwestern Pacific OBIS, National Institute of Water and Atmospheric Research (NIWA), Wellington, New Zealand, 684 records, Online http://nzobisipt.niwa.co.nz/resource.do?r=rhodolithhabitats released on June 20, 2015.

Rights

Researchers should respect the following rights statement:

The publisher and rights holder of this work is The National Institute of Water and Atmospheric Research (NIWA). This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution (CC-BY 4.0) License.

GBIF Registration

This resource has been registered with GBIF, and assigned the following GBIF UUID: 36ae4600-17b1-437c-bdc5-7a3c98b1bff4.  The National Institute of Water and Atmospheric Research (NIWA) publishes this resource, and is itself registered in GBIF as a data publisher endorsed by GBIF New Zealand.

Keywords

Occurrence; Observation

Contacts

Geographic Coverage

Bay of Islands, at Kahuwhera Bay and Te Miko Reef

Temporal Coverage

Sampling Methods

At each location, sites inside and outside the rhodolith beds were assessed (two sites at each location, i.e., Kahuwhera Bay - KWB and KWB_OUT, Te Miko Reef - TMR and TMR_OUT). At Te Miko Reef an additional site containing mixed rhodolith species was also assessed (TMR_B). As the beds were more or less at single depth (approximately 8 m), it was not necessary to stratify sampling by depth.

Method step description:

1. At each site two 25 m transects were laid out at right angles to the anchor line, creating a single 50 m transect. On each transect, a random point quadrat (RPQ) (after Foster et al. 2007) was used at eight points, 5 m apart, to record the biogenic substrate type (rhodoliths, algae, microalgal mat and sponge/tunicate or bare substrate) under each of 10 knots. The point quadrat was a 1 m long bar with a 120 cm long string attached like a loose string on a bow. Five knots on the string were used as points and the organisms or substrate found on each side of the bar were sampled giving 10 points per quadrat (as detailed in Foster 1975). At sites within the rhodolith beds (i.e., KWB, TMR, TMR_B) all live rhodoliths and associated biodiversity from within a 25 by 25 cm quadrat were collected into plastic bags at each of the eight random points on the transect. These quadrat samples were tipped out into large plastic containers and then thoroughly sorted. All associated epibiota were removed and preserved appropriately for each taxon group for later identification to species level where possible. The rhodoliths were identified to 12 •Rhodolith beds in northern New Zealand Ministry for Primary Industries species, assessed for vitality (proportion of dead and live rhodoliths), and measured to obtain size frequency at each site. Rhodoliths were collected from both locations and transported to Wellington for experimental work on vulnerability to stressors (Objective 2). Infauna were assessed using a cylindrical 10 cm diameter by 10 cm depth core to remove substrate under each quadrat. A sample of sediment was kept from each core for subsequent grain size analysis (i.e., one sediment sample per quadrat). Core samples were sieved through a 5 mm mesh. All macrofauna (approximately 5 mm and above) were sorted to phylum and preserved appropriately for later identification to species level where possible.

Bibliographic Citations

1. Nelson, W.A.; Neill, K.; Barr, N.; D'Archino, R.; Miller, S.; Stewart, R. (2012) .Rhodolith Beds in Northern New Zealand: Characterisation of Associated Biodiversity and Vulnerability to Environmental Stressors New Zealand Aquatic Environment and Biodiversity Report No. 99. ISSN 1179-6480 (online). ISBN 978-0-478-40077-9 (online)

Additional Metadata