Checklist of organisms (“swimmers”) collected by Sediment Trap on Mooring B (Ross Sea shelf, Joides Basin, Antarctica) in years 1995-1996, 2004-2005 and 2014-2016

Data Records

The data in this occurrence resource has been published as a Darwin Core Archive (DwC-A), which is a standardized format for sharing biodiversity data as a set of one or more data tables. The core data table contains 905 records.

This IPT archives the data and thus serves as the data repository. The data and resource metadata are available for download in the downloads section. The versions table lists other versions of the resource that have been made publicly available and allows tracking changes made to the resource over time.

Versions

The table below shows only published versions of the resource that are publicly accessible.

How to cite

Researchers should cite this work as follows:

Grillo M, Linciano M, Balan M, Guzzi A, Noli N, Cometti V, Langone L, Giordano P, Schiaparelli S, Gan Y (2026). Checklist of organisms (“swimmers”) collected by Sediment Trap on Mooring B (Ross Sea shelf, Joides Basin, Antarctica) in years 1995-1996, 2004-2005 and 2014-2016. Version 1.2. Italian National Antarctic Museum (MNA, Section of Genoa). Occurrence dataset. https://ipt.biodiversity.aq/resource?r=mnait_sediment_trap_mooring_b&v=1.2

Rights

Researchers should respect the following rights statement:

The publisher and rights holder of this work is Italian National Antarctic Museum (MNA, Section of Genoa). This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution (CC-BY 4.0) License.

GBIF Registration

This resource has been registered with GBIF, and assigned the following GBIF UUID: bf7857e0-0f34-47b0-828f-2011adddcbd6.  Italian National Antarctic Museum (MNA, Section of Genoa) publishes this resource, and is itself registered in GBIF as a data publisher endorsed by Scientific Committee on Antarctic Research.

Keywords

Occurrence; Specimen; ANTARCTIC ZOOPLANKTON; TIME-SERIES ANALYSIS; ANTARCTIC BIODIVERSITY; PELAGIC COMMUNITY

Contacts

Geographic Coverage

The sediment traps, connected to the Mooring B (Joides Basin, Ross Sea), is located at a depth ranges of 470 - 530 m.

Taxonomic Coverage

No Description available

Temporal Coverage

Project Data

The Italian project “Biogenic Sedimentation” aims at investigating the biogeochemical processes that regulate the production, transfer, and sedimentation of organic matter in the Southern Ocean, with particular focus on the Ross Sea. “Biogenic Sedimentation” is devoted to understanding how surface biological productivity translates into particle fluxes toward the seafloor, and to what extent this process contributes to the natural sequestration of atmospheric carbon, the so-called “biological carbon pump.” The research approach combines the use of sediment traps, detailed analyses of biogenic material, and assessments of seasonal and interannual variability of export fluxes, integrating oceanographic observations with remote sensing data. This strategy enables the quantification of carbon and nutrient export rates and supports the evaluation of the role of the Southern Ocean in the global CO₂ budget.

The personnel involved in the project:

Sampling Methods

Samples were collected in the Joides Basin (Ross Sea, Antarctica) at Mooring B, which was equipped with an automated sediment trap deployed at different depths depending on the sampling year. The seafloor at the site lies at about 560 m depth. The trap was designed to collect sinking particulate matter during the entire deployment period. This enabled the recovery of biological material descending through the water column. Sampling activities were carried out during six Italian Antarctic Expeditions, corresponding to the periods 1994–1995, 2004–2005, and 2014–2016. Each series covered two consecutive expeditions: one for deployment and the following one for recovery. During 1994–1995 the trap was positioned at 530 m depth; during 2004–2005, at 515 m; and during 2014–2016, at 470 m. All deployments took place within the Ross Sea Marine Protected Area, specifically, within the General Protection Zone (RS-GPZi sector). In the 1995–1996 series, a McLane Parflux Mark 7G-21 cups trap was used. This model featured 21 collection cups and a 0.5 m² collection area. In the subsequent deployments (2004–2005 and 2014–2016), a McLane 78HW-13 sediment trap was used, also with a 0.5 m² collection area but fitted with 13 cups. All collection cups were pre-filled with a buffered 5% formaldehyde solution to ensure optimal preservation of the organic matter. The rotation interval of the cups ranged from 7 days to 3 months. Further technical details are available in Langone et al. (2000; 2003).

Method step description:

1. Swimmers were manually separated from passive sinking particles under a ZEISS Discovery V8 stereomicroscope at CNR-ISP (Bologna, Italy) following Chiarini et al. ( 2013). Samples were initially stored at +4 °C in 5% formaldehyde, then transferred to 96% ethanol and sent to MNA (Genoa, Italy), where unsorted swimmers were kept at -20 °C until analysis. Specimens were subsequently split, sorted, identified, and counted, then preserved in 96% ethanol or mounted on slides and permanently deposited in the MNA biological collection.
2. The collected swimmers were counted and the taxonomic investigation was performed to the lowest possible level and based upon historic and recent bibliography (Boxshall e Halsey 2004; Bonello et al. 2020). The online portal World Registry of Marine Species (WoRMS), Banyuls sur Mer marine Copepoda database (Razouls et al. 2022); https://copepodes.obs-banyuls.fr) was used to confirm acceptance of species names. When identification was inconclusive, only genus or family names were assigned.
3. The original unsorted swimmer matrix is stored in 96% ethanol, and also at -20°C. The swimmer specimens, splitted, sorted and identified, are in 96% ethanol or fixed on a slide and permanently deposited in the biological collection of the MNA.

Bibliographic Citations

1. Bonello, Guido, Marco Grillo, Matteo Cecchetto, et al. 2020. «Distributional records of Ross Sea (Antarctica) planktic Copepoda from bibliographic data and samples curated at the Italian National Antarctic Museum (MNA): checklist of species collected in the Ross Sea sector from 1987 to 1995». ZooKeys 969: 1–22. https://doi.org/10.3897/zookeys.969.52334
2. Boxshall, Geoffrey Allan, e Sheila H. Halsey. 2004. An introduction to copepod diversity. I. Ray Society.
3. Chiarini, Francesca, Lucilla Capotondi, Robert B. Dunbar, et al. 2013. «A revised sediment trap splitting procedure for samples collected in the Antarctic sea». Methods in Oceanography 8: 13–22.
4. Ivanenko, Viatcheslav N., Paulo HC Corgosinho, Frank Ferrari, Pierre-Marie Sarradin, e Jozee Sarrazin. 2012. «Microhabitat distribution of Smacigastes micheli (Copepoda: Harpacticoida: Tegastidae) from deep-sea hydrothermal vents at the Mid-Atlantic Ridge, 37° N (Lucky Strike), with a morphological description of its nauplius». Marine Ecology 33 (2): 246–56.
5. Langone, L., R. B. Dunbar, D. A. Mucciarone, M. Ravaioli, R. Meloni, e C. A. Nittrouer. 2003. «Rapid sinking of biogenic material during the late austral summer in the Ross Sea, Antarctica». Biogeochemistry of the Ross sea 78: 221–33. https://doi.org/10.1029/078ARS14.
6. Langone, Leonardo, Mauro Frignani, Mariangela Ravaioli, e Cristina Bianchi. 2000. Particle Fluxes and Biogeochemical Processes in an Area Influenced by Seasonal Retreat of the Ice Margin Žnorthwestern Ross Sea, Antarctica/.
7. Michels, Jan, e M. Büntzow. 2010. «Assessment of Congo red as a fluorescence marker for the exoskeleton of small crustaceans and the cuticle of polychaetes». Journal of Microscopy 238 (2): 95–101.
8. Razouls, S., N Desreumaux, J Kouwenberg, e F de Bovée. 2022. Diversity and geographic distribution of marine planktonic copepods. https://doi.org/10.13140/RG.2.1.2077.4241.

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