Discovery Metadata System

Summary

Abstract:
This dataset is a compilation of copepod (a group of marine zooplankton) prevalence records derived from multiple sources, including records of presence/absence and the number of individual animals sampled per haul, per m2, and per m3. Within the 976,916 unique records, there are 839 unique taxa, of which 708 are resolved to the species level, with the remaining 131 resolved to higher taxonomic rank. Approximately 33% of the records are resolved to copepodite stage: 385 species have records corresponding to multiple distinct copepodite stages, and 233 species have records corresponding to only a single copepodite stage (usually the adult C6) or a range of stages. The data span 1888-2022, though the bulk of the records are from 1980 onwards. All data are from between 30 degrees South and 83 degrees South. Sample depth is specified for each record, and some sample events measured numerous depth layers with a single gear deployment. The samples were collected by a variety of methods - mostly net sampling - and the sampling equipment is specified in this compiled data set. Records from each source were cleaned, rearranged to have matching field names, harmonised to have consistent nomenclature within fields, compiled into a single dataset, followed by a final cleaning to remove duplicated rows. This dataset was originally created to model variability in spatial-temporal patterns of abundance of four copepod species found in the Southern Ocean. Given the long time-span, large spatial domain, and number of species, this dataset is a valuable resource for researchers interested in Southern Ocean copepods.

Natural Environment Research Council National Capability Multicentre Round 2 funding (BIOPOLE, grant no. NE/W004933/1) and the European Union's Horizon 2020 research and innovation programme (PolarRES, grant agreement number 101003590).

Keywords:
Antarctic, Southern Ocean, abundance, copepod, distribution, presence, zooplankton