A dataset on bacterio-, phyto- and zooplankton from an emerging periglacial lagoon in Svalbard, Arctic

Description

Data on zooplankton, phytoplankton, and bacterioplankton from Arctic coastal lagoons are provided. The lagoon is located in the region of intense glacier melting, near Eidembukta Bay, on the Western Part of Spitsbergen (Svalbard Archipelago). This newly formed water body represents the new ecosystem, which is made up of elements that are presumably coming into the lagoon from the sea, the nearby tundra ponds and rivers, and the melting glacier. In deeper areas of the lagoon, upper and lower layers of water coming from the melting glacier and from the sea, respectively, form an extremely strong halocline. Apart from vertical gradient, the lagoon is structured horizontally as its areas vary in respect to their proximity to the melting glacier, and hence by their age. The data presented in the repository provide actual snapshot for the diversity of aquatic organisms in novel post-glacial habitat. The data can be used for elucidating the processes of the emerging and evolution of newly formed aquatic ecosystems in the context of warming era. The dataset includes the results of the analysis of the samples collected during two summer seasons (August 2022 and August 2023). Sampling was performed at 26 sampling sites, from different depths (above and below strong halocline) and different lagoon parts. Following types of data are given in four Excel tables: 1. Table_1_Sampling sites.xlsx - map of the lagoon, brief characteristics of sampling sites: date of sampling, geographical coordinates, number and type of samples collected at each site. 2. Table_2_Zooplankton.xlsx - list of lowest identified taxa of zooplankton, abundances of the taxa in the samples. 3. Table_3_Phytoplankton.xlsx - list of lowest identified taxa of phytoplankton, abundances of the taxa in the samples, biomass and carbon biomass of the taxa with categorisation by cell size. 4. Table_4_Bacterioplankton.xlsx - bacteria cell concentration and bacteria carbon biomass in the samples The study was performed in framework of the EIDEMBUKTA project (“Formation of a novel coastal lagoon ecosystem following glacier retreat in Eidembukta, Svalbard Arctic“), funded by the Research Council of Lithuania (agreement number S-MIP-22-48) with logistical and technical support from the Institute of Oceanology of Polish Academy of Sciences.

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