International Polar Year and Census of Antarctic Marine Life (IPY-CAML) biological dataset

The biological data from the IPY-CAML voyage (TAN0802) by the R/V Tangaroa is available as an Darwin Core archive through the Southwestern Pacific OBIS IPT node. The TAN0802 voyage departed from Wellington, New Zealand, on 26 Jan 2008 and returned to Wellington, New Zealand, on 21 Mar 2008. The survey was concentrated mainly in the Ross Sea and the waters around Scott Island and the Balleny Islands. Biological data were collected using a variety of gear, including: bottom trawls, beam trawls, epibenthic sleds, van Veen grabs, rosette water bottles and MOCNESS tows.

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. . https://dc.niwa.co.nz:/niwa_dc/srv/api/records/d6ae02c0-fc33-9994-5a25-0751d3990b17

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Purpose: 1. To measure and describe the relationships between patterns of species (or appropriate taxon level) of viruses, bacteria, archaea, phytoplankton, zooplankton, nekton, benthic fauna, cephalopods, fish, and top predators; their distribution, abundance (density or biomass) and biodiversity (endemism, richness, complexity, taxonomic distinctness, genetic diversity) and environmental variables (e.g., latitude, bottom depth, substrate type, bottom topography/rugosity, primary productivity and iceberg scour) in key habitats (water column, benthic shelf, slope, seamounts and abyssal plain) between longitudes ~170°E and ~175°W, and depths down to ~3500-4000m in the Ross Sea region. 2. To assess the trophic interrelationships and functional roles of the major groups (viruses, bacteria, archaea, phytoplankton, zooplankton, nekton, benthic fauna, cephalopods, fish, and top predators) in the Ross Sea and regional ecosystem, with particular reference to improving inputs to ecosystem modelling. 3. To obtain baseline measures of the marine environment and identify a suite of ecosystem or environmental indicators that could potentially be used to monitor change in response to environmental or anthropogenic forcing (e.g., climate change, fishery impacts) within the context of the extreme Antarctic environment.