COTS Initiation Zone Polygon 2016 (Accelerated Partnership, AIMS)

This dataset corresponds to a shapefile that defines the COTS initiation zone for use in the evaluation of the merit of investment in surveillance and cull and reducing agricultural run off.

The COTS box is a speculative area of primary outbreaks of Crown-of-Thorns Starfish.

This polygon includes Lizard island to the north and Green Island in the south.

Methods:

The polygon was drawn free hand in ArcMap based on the requirement to cover all reefs from Green Island to just north of Lizard Island without cutting through any reefs. The northern boundary was chosen just north of Lizard Island to include Nymph island because this reef showed outbreak levels of COTS similar to Lizard Island during the 1996-2000 outbreak initiation period.

Format:

Shapefile with 1 polygon and no attributes.

References:

Wooldridge, S.A. and Brodie, J,E. (2015). Environmental triggers for primary outbreaks of crown-of-thorns starfish on the Great Barrier Reef, Australia. Marine Pollution Bulletin, 101: 805-815

Data Location:

This dataset is saved in the eAtlas enduring data repository at: data\custodian\institute\2015-2020\AIMS\GBR_AP-AIMS_COTS-initiation-box_2016