Encrusting and motile benthic taxa associated with Autonomous Reef Monitoring Structures in Antarctica, 2019-2022
GB/NERC/BAS/PDC/02217
Abstract:
Datasets from visual surveys of benthic biodiversity associated with Autonomous Reef Monitoring Structures (ARMS), including both encrusting and motile species. The datasets were generated from image-based analyses of ARMS plates and visual isolation of motile species. One ARMS was deployed at South Cove (-67.57087, -68.13273) on 29/08/2019 and retrieved 21/02/2022. One ARMS was deployed at Cheshire Island (-67.57383, -68.12523) on 10/12/2019 and retrieved 21/02/2022.
This research was supported by: a PhD studentship from the University of Plymouth; the ARMS-MBON network, established under the infrastructure programme ASSEMBLE Plus (grant agreement ID: 730984); resources provided by the European Marine Omics Biodiversity Observation Network (EMO BON) project, coordinated by the European Marine Biological Resource Centre - European Research Infrastructure Consortium (EMBRC-ERIC); France Genomique National infrastructure, funded as part of the Investissements d'Avenir program managed by the Agence Nationale pour la Recherche (contract ANR-10-INBS-09); and UKRI-NERC core funding to Melody Clark and Lloyd Peck.
Citation:
Jessop, A., Clark, M.S., Cometti, V., Daraghmeh, N., Jeunen, G.-J., Peck, L.S., & Fraser, K.P.P. (2026). Encrusting and motile benthic taxa associated with Autonomous Reef Monitoring Structures in Antarctica, 2019-2022 (Version 1.0) [Data set]. NERC EDS UK Polar Data Centre. https://doi.org/10.5285/ead7e8e2-8208-4e88-bcf2-2e24d5370aad
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License
| Access: | This dataset is under embargo until publication of the associated manuscript. |
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| Use: | This data is governed by the NERC data policy (http://www.nerc.ac.uk/research/sites/data/policy/) and supplied under Open Government Licence v.3 (http://www.nationalarchives.gov.uk/doc/open-government-licence/version/3/). |
Basic Information
| Creation Date: | 2026-06-03 |
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| Dataset Progress: | Complete |
| Dataset Language: | English |
| ISO Topic Categories: |
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| Parameters: |
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Additional Information
| Reference: | Pavoni, G., Corsini, M., Ponchio, F., Muntoni, A., Edwards, C., Pedersen, N., Sandin, S., & Cignoni, P. (2022). TagLab: AI-assisted annotation for the fast and accurate semantic segmentation of coral reef orthoimages. Journal of Field Robotics, 39, 246-262. https://doi.org/10.1002/rob.22049 | |
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| Lineage/Methodology: | Autonomous Reef Monitoring Structures (ARMS) were placed directly on the seabed by SCUBA divers in 2019 at two sites adjacent to the Rothera Research Station on Adelaide Island, in the Western Antarctic Peninsula. One ARMS was deployed at South Cove (67.57087, -68.13273) on 29/08/2019 at a depth of 21 metres and retrieved on 21/02/2022; and one ARMS was deployed near Cheshire Island (-67.57383, -68.12523) on 10/12/2019 at a depth of 20 metres and retrieved 21/02/2022. They were all placed near to seabed structures, such as boulders, that were expected to give some protection from iceberg scour. ARMS were disassembled plate by plate, and non-encrusting species visually isolated and preserved in ethanol for later identification. Motile specimens were sorted by morphology, identified to the lowest possible taxonomic level, and the abundance of each taxon was recorded as the number of individuals per ARMS unit. All 17 accessible plate surfaces were photographed, and each colony or individual present was identified from the photographs to the highest possible taxonomic resolution. Colony and individual areas were measured in cm2 from photographs using TagLab (Pavoni et al., 2022), an open-source image annotation software. A reference library of taxa, built from specimens previously identified through morphological and molecular analyses, was used to ensure consistent annotation. | |
Extent
| Temporal Coverage: | |
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| Start Date | 2019-08-29 |
| End Date | 2022-02-21 |
| Spatial Coverage: | |
| Latitude | |
| Southernmost | -67.57383 |
| Northernmost | -67.57087 |
| Longitude | |
| Westernmost | -68.13273 |
| Easternmost | -68.12523 |
| Altitude | |
| Min Altitude | N/A |
| Max Altitude | N/A |
| Depth | |
| Min Depth | 20m |
| Max Depth | 21m |
| Location: | |
| Location | Antarctica |
| Detailed Location | South Cove |
| Location | Antarctica |
| Detailed Location | Cheshire Island |
Instrumentation
| Data Collection: | Autonomous Reef Monitoring Structures (ARMS) TagLab v2026.4.1 |
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Storage
| Data Storage: | 2x csv files, 36x jpg files. ARMS_EncrustingSpecies_Area.csv: This dataset contains all information associated with each individual/colony present on each ARMS' plate and the taxonomy, as identified from photographs of each plate surface. Area_raw contains the raw data for the measured area of the individual/colony, while Area_corrected shows the corrected areas (i.e. excluding X's, circles and labels left in the photo). centroidX and centroidY represent the pixel co-ordinates of the centre of each annotated individual or colony within each image. ARMS_MotileSpecies_Abundance.csv: This dataset contains all information associated with motile species associated with each ARMS. Motile species have been identified to the greatest possible taxonomic resolution, and the total abundance per ARMS recorded. ARMS units consist of nine plates, each with a bottom and top face. The lowest plate in the stack is plate number 1, they are then numbered consecutively such that the topmost plate is plate number 9. NAs have been used only where identification to that taxonomic resolution was not certain. |
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