The Global Plankton Database: an inventory and data from the Former Soviet Union expeditions

At present time, there is a lack of knowledge on the interannual climate-related variability of zooplankton communities of the tropical Atlantic, central Mediterranean Sea, Caspian Sea, and Aral Sea, due to the absence of appropriate databases. In the mid latitudes, the North Atlantic Oscillation (NAO) is the dominant mode of atmospheric fluctuations over eastern North America, the northern Atlantic Ocean and Europe. Therefore, one of the issues that need to be addressed through data synthesis is the evaluation of interannual patterns in species abundance and species diversity over these regions in regard to the NAO. The database has been used to investigate the ecological role of the NAO in interannual variations of mesozooplankton abundance and biomass along the zonal array of the NAO influence. Basic approach to the proposed research involved: (1) development of co-operation between experts and data holders in Ukraine, Russia, Kazakhstan, Azerbaijan, UK, and USA to rescue and compile the oceanographic data sets and release them on CD-ROM, (2) organization and compilation of a database based on FSU cruises to the above regions, (3) analysis of the basin-scale interannual variability of the zooplankton species abundance, biomass, and species diversity.

Abundance and of mesozooplanktopn in the Gulf of Lion during MOOGLI 1 and 3 in 1998 and 1999

The MOOGLI dataset contains mesozooplankton data collected in 1998-1999 in the Gulf of Lion (North Western Mediterranean Sea). Zooplankton taxonomy-related abundance per unit volume of the water column.

Abundance and biomass of macrobenthos in the Black Sea during Mare Nigrum cruise S-RO1

Dataset containing macrobenthos data for samples collected during April 2008 in the North-West Black Sea (between 44°46' - 43°45' N latitude and 30° 11' - 29°35' E longitude). Macrobenthos sampling was done in 4 stations using a 0.14 m**2 Van Veen grab. Washing of the sample through two sieves - 1 mm and 0.25 mm mesh size; the material retained by the two sieves was examined at the binocular microscope; all animals were extracted, using fine tweezers and the species or group of species were identified and counted (in order to determine the density of populations); the larger organisms were measured and weighed (structure and biomass); for smaller organisms, the average wet weights inscribed in standard tables were used to calculate the biomass. Taxonomic identification was done at the GeoEcoMar by A. Teaca and T. Begun using the relevant taxonomic literature (Key-book for the identification of the Black Sea and Sea of Azov Fauna, 1968 -1972, Kiev - in Russian, V 1-4; BACESCU, M.C., MÜLLER, G. I., GOMOIU, M.-T., 1971 and BACESCU, M.C., MÜLLER, G. I., GOMOIU, M.-T., 1971-Benthic ecological research to Black Sea. Comparative quantitative and qualitative analyse of pontic benthic fauna. Marine Ecology, 4, 1-357 (in Romanian).