ALBERT

Description: Eighteen species of Decalobanthus are recognized in this concise revision of the genus. Two new combinations are made and one new name is proposed to accommodate a change in rank. The genus is centered in SoutheastAsia and Malesia, with outlier species in the tropical Pacific and one species that reaches the Neotropics; a single wide-ranging species extends from eastern Tropical Africa and Madagascar in the west to the Hawaiian Islands in the east. Each species is provided with a diagnosis, summary of the species’ ecology, compiled vernacular names, and uses. Distributions are mapped based on herbarium voucher specimens. Where appropriate, typifications and nomenclatural problems are explained and comments on morphological variation and the need for further study are highlighted. Selected species are illustrated with colour photos of living plants. An index of numbered collections examined is provided to aid in specimen identification and herbarium curation.

Description: Organisms accumulate major and trace elements (including metals) directly from the external environment and/or indirectly through diet. As such, their elemental composition can help to infer dietary preferences, solve trophic links and/or inform quantitative dietary analysis primarily based on carbon and nitrogen stable isotopes or on fatty acids (Lahaye et al. 2005, Ramos and González-Solís 2012, Soto et al. 2016, Majdi et al. 2018). This dataset reports the total concentrations of 30 major and trace elements analysed in whole bodies or in the muscle tissue of 82 unique species or genera characteristic of meso- to bathypelagic waters (referred as “mesopelagic”) or living on the continental shelf (referred as “other”). The species encompass jellyfish, crustaceans, cephalopods, fish, and were collected in North Atlantic and Mediterranean areas between 1968 and 2018. When available, the sampling method/gear as well as the sampling depth are specified. For the element mercury (Hg), the concentration of organic forms (referred as methyl-Hg) is also given when available, as well the percentage of these organic forms (% methyl-Hg) relative to total Hg. A column specifies whether concentrations are expressed on a dry weight or wet weight basis (weight of the animal tissue after being dried or containing water, respectively). All element concentrations given on a wet weight basis can be converted on a dry weight basis (and vice-versa if necessary) according to the percentages of moisture given for each sample analysed (when available). Data were compiled from 27 published studies/papers for which DOI are indicated, for further details and information on the samples analysed and/or the analytical techniques used.

Description: Fractional trophic levels (i.e., trophic positions) describe the position of organisms within food webs and help define their functional roles in ecosystems (Odum & Heald, 1975). Trophic positions are thus critical for characterizing species' diets and energy pathways, investigating food web dynamics and ecosystem functioning, and assessing ecosystem health and resilience (Pauly et al., 1998; Pauly & Watson, 2005; Vander Zanden & Fetzer, 2007). We compiled estimates of trophic positions of marine organisms sampled across North Atlantic and Mediterranean waters between 1974 and 2015, gathered from 33 published and unpublished sources. The dataset comprises 208 unique species or genera, including zooplankton, decapods, cephalopods, pelagic and benthic fish, elasmobranchs, marine mammals, marine turtles, seabirds, as well as detritus. Estimates of trophic position were based on the analyses of stomach contents, bulk nitrogen stable isotopes (δ15N values), or amino acid compound-specific nitrogen isotopic analysis. For each data record, we also provided the sampling location, geographic coordinates, month and year of sample collection, method of sample collection, taxonomic ranks (phylum, class, order, family), number and size (or size range) of sampled organisms, type of analyses and estimation method, as well as the reference and DOI of the original data source, for further details on the samples analysed and/or the analytical techniques used.

Description: Information on the energy density of prey is critical for estimating food requirements and consumption by predators and modelling energy flux through food webs (Van de Putte et al., 2006). We compiled energy density values for 121 marine species or genera from 12 published sources. The dataset encompasses 71 benthic and pelagic fish, 29 crustaceans, 15 cephalopods, 2 elasmobranchs, 2 jelly fish and 1 salp, sampled in the central and Northeast Atlantic and in the Mediterranean Sea between 1992 and 2017. Data were collected from studies that measured energy density directly by bomb calorimetry, and those studies that measured the proximate composition (i.e. the percentage of proteins, lipids and carbohydrates) of sampled tissues and converted these percentages into energy using combustion equivalents reported in the literature. When available, we reported energy density (or mean density, for samples with more than one individual) as a function of dry and wet weight, and the moisture percentage of samples. For each data record, we also provided the sampling location, geographic coordinates, month and year of sample collection, method of sample collection, taxonomic ranks (phylum, class, order, family), number and size (or size range) of sampled organisms, as well as the reference and DOI of the original data source, for further details on the samples analysed and/or the analytical techniques used.

Description: Mesopelagic organisms play a critical role in marine ecosystems, channelling energy and organic matter across food webs and serving as the primary prey for many open-ocean predators. Nevertheless, trophic pathways involving mesopelagic organisms are poorly understood and their contribution to food web structure remains difficult to assess (St. John et al., 2016). Existing data to assess mesopelagic feeding interactions and energy transfer are scattered in the literature or remain unpublished, making it difficult to locate and use such datasets. As part of the EU funded project SUMMER - Sustainable Management of Mesopelagic Resources H2020-BG-2018-2, GA: 817806) (https://summerh2020.eu/), we created MesopTroph, a georeferenced database of diet, trophic biogeochemical markers, and energy content of mesopelagic organisms and other marine taxa from the Northeast Atlantic and Mediterranean Sea, compiled from 191 published and non-published sources. MesopTroph includes seven datasets: (i) diet compositions from stomach content analysis, (ii) stable isotopes of carbon and nitrogen (δ13C and δ15N), (iii) fatty acid trophic markers (FATM), (iv) major and trace elements, (v) energy density, (vi) estimates of diet proportions, and (vii) trophic positions. The database contains information from 4918 samples, representing 51119 specimens from 499 species or genera, covering a wide range of trophic guilds and taxonomic groups. Metadata provided for each record include the location, dates and method of sample collection, taxonomic ranks (phylum, class, order, family), number and size (or size range) of sampled organisms, method/model used in data analysis, reference and DOI of the original data source. Compiled data were checked for errors, missing information, and to avoid duplicate entries, and scientific names and taxonomy were standardized.

Description: Comparison of the equatorial upwelling system, the northern coastal upwelling system of the Gulf of Guinea and the tropical Angolan upwelling system.

Description: Understanding permafrost processes and changes requires long-term observational datasets of ground and climate variables. Despite the fact that the Arctic climate changes more rapidly than the rest of the globe, observational data density in the region is low and most time series are short. Long term observations are available from the Bayelva Site at Ny-Ålesund, Svalbard, where meteorology, energy balance components and subsurface observations have been made since 1998 and are still continued today. The climate observations include snow depth, snow dielectric number, snow temperature, liquid precipitation, air temperature, relative humidity, wind speed and direction, and radiation fluxes. The below-ground observations cover active layer and permafrost temperature, soil volumetric water content and soil bulk electrical conductivity. Since the data provide observations of temporally variable parameters that mitigate energy fluxes between permafrost and atmosphere, such as snow depth and soil moisture content, they are suitable for use in integrating, calibrating and testing permafrost as a component in Earth System Models. The resulting quality-controlled dataset is unique in the Arctic and serves as a baseline for future studies.

Description: Underway temperature and salinity data was collected along the cruise track with two autonomous measurement systems. Usually, the systems are changed after 12 hours. While temperature is taken at the water inlet in about 6.5 m depth, salinity is estimated within the interior measurement container from conductivity and interior temperature. The data has been compared with CTD data from 5 dbar . This data has not been checked for outliers or noisy data caused by blocked thermosalinograph pumps. Please use with caution.

Description: The dataset contains the concentrations of 11 essential elements (micro-nutrients) analysed in whole bodies of 78 forage species sampled on the continental shelf or in the canyons of the Bay of Biscay, North-East Atlantic. The species encompass jellyfish, crustaceans, cephalopods, cartilaginous and bony fish from coastal to oceanic and deep-sea waters. The elements include two macro-minerals (nitrogen and phosphorous) and nine trace elements (arsenic, cobalt, chromium, copper, iron, manganese, nickel, selenium, and zinc). Most of the specimens were collected during the annual EVHOE fishery campaigns (“Evaluation Halieutique de l'Ouest de l'Europe”; https://doi.org/10.18142/8) conducted each autumn by the “Institut Français de Recherche pour l'Exploitation de la Mer” (Ifremer) on R/V Thalassa, between 2002 and 2008, by benthic trawling with marge vertical opening or by pelagic trawling. Some species were additionally sampled during the same period from opportunistic fishing boats. As far as possible, the size range of these forage species was selected to match published prey sizes for cetacean predators in the Bay of Biscay. All the material was frozen immediately after collection and kept at –20°C until being processed. In the laboratory, whole organisms were briefly thawed. To reduce inter-individual variability, few to hundreds of individuals (depending on the size of species) were grouped for each species (i.e. constitution of pools) and homogenized using a stainless-steel knife mill, carefully rinsed with ultrapure water between each sample. These pools of whole specimens (corresponding to analytical samples) were frozen again –20°C, freeze-dried and reduced into fine powder until further analyses. A total of 115 samples was finally analysed. The process of organisms and samples (brief thawing, homogenization, freeze-dried and reduction into powder) was done within a maximum of two years after at-sea collection, and the samples (powders) were stored in a clean and dry place until analyses. Total element analyses on samples were then all conducted at the same date (in 2016). Total nitrogen (N) concentrations were determined following the Kjeldahl method (AOAC, 1990). Briefly, this method consists in digesting the samples with sulfuric acid to transform all N present into ammonium sulfate. The solution is then alkalized and the resulting ammonia is determined by distillation into a known volume of boric acid, the excess of which (corresponding to the amount of nitrogen in samples) is finally determined by titration. For all other elements, aliquots of samples (~200 mg dry weight of homogenised powder) were digested using a 6:2 (v/v) mixture with nitric acid (HNO3 69%, Trace Metal Grade®, FisherScientific) and hydrochloric acid (HCl, 34%, Trace Metal Grade®, FisherScientific). Acidic digestion of the samples was performed overnight at room temperature and then in a microwave oven (START-D, Milestone). Total concentrations of the micro-mineral phosphorus (P) and of the essential trace elements arsenic (As), cobalt (Co), chromium (Cr), copper (Cu), iron (Fe), manganese (Mn), nickel (Ni), selenium (Se) and zinc (Zn) were determined by inductively coupled plasma atomic emission spectrometry (ICP-OES, Vista-Pro Varian) and/or mass spectrometry (ICP-MS, X Series 2 Thermofisher Scientific). The quality assurance of these elemental analyses relied on blank and internal standard controls, and on the accuracy and reproducibility of data relative to the certified reference materials (CRMs) used in each analytical run. The CRMs used were TORT-3 (lobster hepatopancreas, National Research Council of Canada/NRCC) and DOLT-4 (dogfish liver, NRCC). Blank values were systematically below the detection limits and CRM values concurred with certified concentrations, with recovery rates ranging between 83% and 116% depending on the elements and on the CRM. Limits of quantification (LOQ) were calculated for each sample, depending on the mass of the aliquot analysed. The few concentrations below LOQ were replaced by half of the LOQ for each sample of concern. Specifically, this concerned 19 and 2 samples out of the 115 analysed for Cr and Ni respectively, corresponding to about 15% of values (for Cr) or much less than 15% (for Ni), in which cases this method of replacing non-detects by half the LOQ may be applied for data analysis (U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, 2000). All elemental concentrations given on a dry weight basis can be converted on a wet weight basis according to the average percentages of moisture given for each species.