Biotopes are recognisable assemblages of species that occur within particular environments and habitats. Each biotope has specific values and responses to environmental changes and their mapping and monitoring is useful for assessing the status of ecosystems.
Marine and coastal biotopes in Victoria are classified using the Combined Biotope Classification Scheme (CBiCS). This scheme dovetails with the terrestrial Ecological Vegetation Class (EVC) system for recording mangrove and saltmarsh biotopes. The CBiCS scheme is hierarchical with six levels. Biotopes are at level 5 and are gouped into Biotope Complexes (level 4), Habitat Complexes (level 3), Broad Habitats (level 2) and Environments (level 1).
Field observations of Victorian marine biotopes are recorded in the CoastKit database, combining records from habitat mapping, monitoring and historical ecological surveys. These records can be expored here using the atlas tool or by querying and downloading subsets of data.
Historical records are progressively being classified and added to the database. The database presently provides biotope records predominantly from the habitats:
- Littoral sediments - mangroves;
- Littoral sediments - saltmarsh;
- Littoral rock (rocky shores);
- Sublittoral sediments - bare sediments;
- Sublittoral sediments - seagrass;
- Sublittoral sediments - seaweed beds;
- Sublittoral sediments - biogenic reef;
- Infralittoral rock (kelp beds); and
- Circalittoral rock (sponge and coral gardens).