Dataset Information

Rescuing biogeographic legacy data: The "Thor" Expedition, a historical oceanographic expedition to the Mediterranean Sea.

ABSTRACT:

Background

This article describes the digitization of a series of historical datasets based ?n the reports of the 1908-1910 Danish Oceanographical Expeditions to the Mediterranean and adjacent seas. All station and sampling metadata as well as biodiversity data regarding calcareous rhodophytes, pelagic polychaetes, and fish (families Engraulidae and Clupeidae) obtained during these expeditions were digitized within the activities of the LifeWatchGreece Research ?nfrastructure project and presented in the present paper. The aim was to safeguard public data availability by using an open access infrastructure, and to prevent potential loss of valuable historical data on the Mediterranean marine biodiversity.

New information

The datasets digitized here cover 2,043 samples taken at 567 stations during a time period from 1904 to 1930 in the Mediterranean and adjacent seas. The samples resulted in 1,588 occurrence records of pelagic polychaetes, fish (Clupeiformes) and calcareous algae (Rhodophyta). In addition, basic environmental data (e.g. sea surface temperature, salinity) as well as meterological conditions are included for most sampling events. In addition to the description of the digitized datasets, a detailed description of the problems encountered during the digitization of this historical dataset and a discussion on the value of such data are provided.

SUBMITTER: Mavraki D

PROVIDER: S-EPMC5267529 | biostudies-literature | 2016

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature

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Publications

Rescuing biogeographic legacy data: The "Thor" Expedition, a historical oceanographic expedition to the Mediterranean Sea.

Mavraki Dimitra D Fanini Lucia L Tsompanou Marilena M Gerovasileiou Vasilis V Nikolopoulou Stamatina S Chatzinikolaou Eva E Plaitis Wanda W Faulwetter Sarah S

Biodiversity data journal 20161222 4

<h4>Background</h4>This article describes the digitization of a series of historical datasets based οn the reports of the 1908-1910 Danish Oceanographical Expeditions to the Mediterranean and adjacent seas. All station and sampling metadata as well as biodiversity data regarding calcareous rhodophytes, pelagic polychaetes, and fish (families Engraulidae and Clupeidae) obtained during these expeditions were digitized within the activities of the LifeWatchGreece Research Ιnfrastructure project and ...[more]

PMID: 28174510

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Project description:The Mediterranean and Black Seas are semi-enclosed basins characterized by high environmental variability and growing anthropogenic pressure. This has led to an increasing need for a bioregionalization of the oceanic environment at local and regional scales that can be used for managerial applications as a geographical reference. We aim to identify biogeochemical subprovinces within this domain, and develop synthetic indices of the key oceanographic dynamics of each subprovince to quantify baselines from which to assess variability and change. To do this, we compile a data set of 101 months (2002-2010) of a variety of both "classical" (i.e., sea surface temperature, surface chlorophyll-a, and bathymetry) and "mesoscale" (i.e., eddy kinetic energy, finite-size Lyapunov exponents, and surface frontal gradients) ocean features that we use to characterize the surface ocean variability. We employ a k-means clustering algorithm to objectively define biogeochemical subprovinces based on classical features, and, for the first time, on mesoscale features, and on a combination of both classical and mesoscale features. Principal components analysis is then performed on the oceanographic variables to define integrative indices to monitor the environmental changes within each resultant subprovince at monthly resolutions. Using both the classical and mesoscale features, we find five biogeochemical subprovinces for the Mediterranean and Black Seas. Interestingly, the use of mesoscale variables contributes highly in the delineation of the open ocean. The first axis of the principal component analysis is explained primarily by classical ocean features and the second axis is explained by mesoscale features. Biogeochemical subprovinces identified by the present study can be useful within the European management framework as an objective geographical framework of the Mediterranean and Black Seas, and the synthetic ocean indicators developed here can be used to monitor variability and long-term change.

Dataset Information

Rescuing biogeographic legacy data: The "Thor" Expedition, a historical oceanographic expedition to the Mediterranean Sea.

Background

New information

Publications

Rescuing biogeographic legacy data: The "Thor" Expedition, a historical oceanographic expedition to the Mediterranean Sea.

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