The Marine Key Ecological Features dataset is a digital dataset representing parts of the marine ecosystem that are considered to be of importance for a marine region's biodiversity or ecosystem function and integrity.
The Marine Key Ecological Features is owned and managed by the Commonwealth of Australia, Australian Government Department of Climate Change, Energy, the Environment and Water, 2015.
Key ecological features (KEFs) meet one or more of the following criteria:
-
a species, group of species, or a community with a regionally important ecological role (e.g. a predator, prey that affects a large biomass or number of other marine species);
-
a species, group of species, or a community that is nationally or regionally important for biodiversity;
-
an area or habitat that is nationally or regionally important for:
a) enhanced or high productivity (such as predictable upwellings - an upwelling occurs when cold nutrient-rich waters from the bottom of the ocean rise to the surface);
b) aggregations of marine life (such as feeding, resting, breeding or nursery areas);
c) biodiversity and endemism (species which only occur in a specific area); or
-
a unique seafloor feature, with known or presumed ecological properties of regional significance.
KEFs have been identified by the Australian Government on the basis of advice from scientists about the ecological processes and characteristics of the area. A workshop held in Darwin in 2007 also contributed to this scientific advice and helped to underpin the identification of key ecological features.
As new information becomes available, the spatial representations of identified key ecological features will continue to be refined and updated.