EuropaBON WP3.1

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BiodiversityData - modify

Tab created: 2021-11-23

Name Name of the biodiversity monitoring initiative

Friendly name Short and comprehensive name to be used in visualizations. Not required. (i.e. PT - BMS)

Geographical coverage

Geographic coverage At what scale is data collected by the monitoring initiative? (e.g. EU, Biogeographic Region)

Covered countries Select the countries covered by this monitoring initiative

Is the data representative for the whole country? If the answer is yes, stop here. If the answer is NO, and the monitoring sites are concentrated in a particular region, please, select the corresponding NUTS level region

If the biodiversity data/initiative has a subnational coverage or is not representative in whole country for national coverage, select first the corresponding country ("Nuts country" field) and then the NUT levels 1-2-3 covered (multiple choice allowed). If you don´t find the relevant the NUTS region/s in the provided list, please use the field "Geographic coverage" to give further details of the coverage of the biodiversity data/initiative.

Nuts country

Covered nuts

Geographic coverage detail Further details of the geographic scope. For example, if data is collected at the Biogeographic region level, indicate here the specific regions (e.g. Mediterranean)

Data origin Select from the list: systematic monitoring, opportunistic observations, automatic recording, remote sensing, others

Data origin details

The Western Channel Observatory provides both unique long time-series and biodiversity reference sites. The data at its core stations integrate across pelagic, benthic and atmospheric processes, and the full catalogue describing all of measurements, providing links to data sources and data contact points can be downloaded here.

Plankton data is collected in two stations: L4 and E1.

The Station L4 (50°15.0'N; 4°13.0'W) phytoplankton time-series (Widdicombe et al 2010) contains taxa-specific and total functional group abundance (cells mL-1) and biomass (mgC m-3) data.

Samples have been collected weekly (weather permitting) from the 10m depth since October 1992, whereby paired 200 mL water samples are fixed in acid Lugol's iodine (Throndsen, 1978) for enumerating all phytoplankton cells > 2µm and neutral formaldehyde for enumerating coccolithophores. Samples are analysed at Plymouth Marine Laboratory according to the Utermohl counting technique (Utermohl, 1958) and since 2016, these methods follow the British and European standard document "Water quality - Guidance standard for routine microscopic surveys of phytoplankton using inverted microscopy (Utermohl technique)" (BS EN 15204:2006).

Individual taxa are grouped into Diatoms, Dinoflagellates, Coccolithophores, Flagellates, Phaeocytis and Ciliates and taxa-specific cell biovolumes (e.g. Olenina et al 2006) are converted to carbon (pgC cell-1) using the formulae of Menden-Deuer and Lessard (2000). Two analysts have generated the data since 1992 and in 2005 more ciliates were identified to species level hence the increase in the number of taxa. Further information on individual biovolume and carbon values, identification consistency and data quality issues are found in the taxa-specific metadata file.

Ongoing zooplankton research at the Plymouth Marine Laboratory has established a time series of zooplankton taxa since 1988 at L4, a coastal station off Plymouth. Plankton forms the basis of marine food webs so is an essential component within the marine ecosystem. Zooplankton is an intermediate in the flow of nutrients and energy from primary producers to higher consumers.

Paired samples are collected weekly by vertical net hauls (WP2 net, mesh 200 μm; UNESCO 1968 pp153-1571) from 50 m to the surface and stored in 4% formalin. Sea floor depth is 54 m and our recent work2 (Parry et al 2020) shows that most of the water column zooplankton are sampled by these 0-50m hauls. Zooplankton are identified and enumerated. Current analysts are Andrea McEvoy and Amanda Beesley. The two samples from each time point are analysed separately using sub-sampling. Numbers per whole sample are averaged and abundance is presented as numbers per m3. The level of expertise has generally been consistent, but the user should be aware that levels of taxonomic discrimination may vary during the course of the dataset, for example Cnidarians are discriminated from 2009 onwards. The dominant calanoid copepods are generally well discriminated to species throughout, whereas other groups are recorded as phyla, order, or genera. A further dataset with doi is available where abundance has been converted to biomass for selected taxa.

We view it as essential for all users of L4 plankton data to establish and maintain contact with the nominated current data originators as well as fully consulting the metadata. While not impinging on free data access, this ensures that this large, species-rich but slightly complex species database is being used in the correct way, and any potential issues with the data are clarified. Furthermore, a proper dialogue with these local experts on the time series will enable where appropriate the most recent sampling timepoints and relevant additional data sets to be used. We also kindly request that authorship is offered if cooperation is extensive, but in any case, please follow the data policy link on the WCO data page for guidance on how to acknowledge use of WCO data.

The entire set of zooplankton samples is stored at the Plymouth Marine Laboratory in 4% buffered formalin, and may be available for further taxonomic analysis on request.

The Station L4 also monitors other data, not included here, such as CTD, moorings, nutrients, etc.

The Western Channel Observatory also collects other data in a total of 9 stations including L4 and E1 stations.

https://www.westernchannelobservatory.org.uk/data.php#about

Brief description of the monitoring initiative: how the data is collected (e.g. sampling transects), what is the frequency of data collection, etc. Please, write here any details that might be relevant for the dataflow that builds on this biodiversity data, including relevant URLs and bibliographic references

Purpose What is driving the monitoring initiative?

Data type Select from the list

Data collection origin Citizen science data includes data collected by volunteers of different backgrounds for example, most of the data uploaded to EBP comes from non-professional birdwatchers and the EBBA2 (European Atlas of Breeding Birds) trained volunteers over different countries to collect the data following the Atlas methodology. Both are examples of citizen science data. Government data includes monitoring programs run by employees of state/governmental agencies and public institutes such as the Nature Conservation Institute. Professional monitoring will include data collected by consultancies or NGOs for example.

Data accessibility Is the data openly available?

Data url Please, indicate the URL to access or request the data

Taxonomy

Target realm Target realm

Target taxa Target taxa

Check this box if you have a list of taxa to upload for this biodiversity data (no need to check it when sending all species available or generalist monitoring programs)

Target species List of the target species/habitats covered in the monitoring initiative. If you don´t find a thesaurus for the taxa of your interest, you might need to upload a New Thesaurus first – see tab New Thesaurus – and then, use the option “Choose Thesaurus” to select all or a subset of the taxa concerning this particular DataStream (the species integrated in a particular indicator/EBV/ESS)

Spatial scale

Spatially explicit Does the monitoring initiative collect/generate spatially-explicit data?

Spatial resolution what is the spatial scale of the data collected?

Resolution Spatial scale resolution value (numeric)

Resolution units Spatial scale resolution units (km or m)

Number of sites Indicate the approximate number of monitoring sampling sites covered

Temporal scale

Temporal scale One-off (occasional records) or temporal series

Temporal resolution If time series is selected in the 'temporal scale' field, please, select the temporal resolution of the data

Start year Since when is this monitoring initiative running? (oldest data records available for this monitoring program, regardless of how these data gets used in the integration initiative under consideration).

Ongoing Indicate whether the monitoring initiative is currently ongoing

Last year Last date the database was updated (please, leave empty if unknown)