Mission Beach - Habitat quality, canopy cover, tenure type (6 months after cyclone Larry), 2006 (MTSRF 4.9.3, JCU)

This dataset consists of an atlas of the habitat quality of the urbanized and agricultural landscapes of the Mission beach region in August 2006, 6 months after cyclone Larry. This analysis and classification includes habitat quality, canopy cover, vegetation quality, vegetation types, tenure type and aerial photography at a resolution of 0.5m.

These maps of habitat quality highlight potential priority areas for maintenance and/or restoration of connectivity and is a tool for natural resource managers to implement restoration goals at Mission beach.

All the PDF maps for this atlas can be accessed from the "Mission Beach - Habitat Quality Atlas page". http://eatlas.org.au/mission-beach_jcu_habitat-quality-2006_atlas

This work was undertaken as part of MTSRF Project 4.9.3. The remote sensing analyses used a novel computerized Anaglyph technique for stereoscopic classification of aerial photographs flown 6 months after Category 4 cyclone Larry. Vegetation polygons of canopy cover and vegetation type were digitized. GIS-based rapid assessment of habitat quality combined vegetation quality with remnant area or riparian width, an analysis providing an excellent surrogate of field-determined habitat quality in rural areas unaffected by cyclones. Field-truthing of the remotely sensed data at 44 sites in coastal Mission beach included rapid transect assessments of vegetation structure, disturbance and microclimate parameters. Repeated bird surveys over 2 years provided an indicator of faunal habitat quality.

Data Units:

Each map consists of a 1 km x 1 km section of the Mission beach region with the following classifications: * Habitat Quality: Excellent, Good, Fair, Poor, Very Poor, Cleared * Percentage Canopy Cover * Shape/Size index * Vegetation Quality Index: Excellent, Good, Fair, Poor, Very Poor, Cleared * Vegetation Types: Rainforest, Sclerophyll Rainforest, Sclerophyll Open Forest, Sclerophyll Woodland, Sclerophyll Open Woodland, Melaleuca Woodland, Melaleuca Swamp Open Forest, Melaleuca Swamp Woodland, Melaleuca Swamp Open Woodland, Grassland, Beach Ridge & Swale, Mangrove, Samphire, Plantation, Cleared * Aerial Photography (0.5 m resolution) * Tenure: Freehold Land, Reserve State Lease, State Land

References: - Goosem, M., Habitat quality and potential improvements to connectivity in the Mission Beach area, MTSRF Conference 2010