Benthic biota of Chilean fjords and channels in 25 years of cruises of the National Oceanographic Committee

The data were recorded under the DarwinCore standard^55,56 in a matrix named “Benthic biota of CIMAR-Fiordos and Southern Ice Field Cruises”⁵⁸. The occurrence dataset contains direct basic information (description, scope [temporal, geographic and taxonomic], methodology, bibliography, contacts, data description, GBIF registration and citation), project details, metrics (taxonomy and occurrences classification), activity (citations and download events) and download options. The following data fields were occupied:

Column 1: “occurrenceID” (single indicator of the biological record indicating the cruise and correlative record).

Column 2: “basisOfRecord” (“PreservedSpecimen” for occurrence records with catalogue number of scientific collection, “MaterialCitation” for any literature record).

Column 3: “institutionCode” (The acronym in use by the institution having custody of the sample or information referred to in the record).

Column 4: “collectionCode” (The name of the cruise).

Column 5: “catalogNumber” (The repository number in museums or correlative number).

Column 6: “type” (All records entered as “text”).

Column 7: “language” (Spanish, English or both).

Column 8: “institutionID” (The identifier for the institution having custody of the sample or information referred to in the record).

Column 9: “collectionID” (The identifier for the collection or dataset from which the record was derived).

Column 10: “datasetID” (The code “CONA-benthic-biota-database” for entire database).

Column 11: “recordedBy” (Author/s who recorded the original occurrence [publication source]).

Column 12: “individualCount” (Number of individuals recorded).

Column 13: “associatedReferences” (Publication source [report and/or paper/s] for each record).

Column 14: “samplingProtocol” (The sampling gear for each record).

Column 15: “eventDate” (The date-time or interval during which the record occurred).

Column 16: “eventRemarks” (Comments or notes about the event).

Column 17: “continent” (Location).

Column 18: “country” (Location).

Column 19: “countryCode” (The standard code for the country in which the location occurs).

Column 20: “stateProvince” (Location, refers to the Administrative Region of Chile).

Column 21: “county” (Location, refers to the Administrative Province of Chile).

Column 22: “municipality” (Location, refers to the Administrative Commune of Chile).

Column 23: “locality” (The specific name of the place).

Column 24: “verbatimLocality” (The original textual description of the place).

Column 25: “verbatimDepth” (The original description of the depth).

Column 26: “minimumDepthInMeters” (The shallowest depth of a range of depths).

Column 27: “maximumDepthInMeters” (The deepest depth of a range of depths).

Column 28: “locationRemarks” (The name of the sample station of the cruise).

Column 29: “verbatimLatitude” (The verbatim original latitude of the location).

Column 30: “verbatimLongitude” (The verbatim original longitude of the location).

Column 31: “verbatimCoordinateSystem” (The coordinate format for the “verbatimLatitude” and “verbatimLongitude” or the “verbatimCoordinates” of the location).

Column 32: “verbatimSRS” (The spatial reference system [SRS] upon which coordinates given in “verbatimLatitude” and “verbatimLongitude” are based)

Column 33: “decimalLatitude” (The geographic latitude in decimal degrees).

Column 34: “decimalLongitude” (The geographic longitude in decimal degrees).

Column 35: “geodeticDatum” (The spatial reference system [SRS] upon which the geographic coordinates given in “decimalLatitude” and “decimalLongitude” was based).

Column 36: “coordinateUncertaintyInMeters” (The horizontal distance from the given “decimalLatitude” and “decimalLongitude” describing the smallest circle containing the whole of the location).

Column 37: “georeferenceRemarks” (Notes about the spatial description determination).

Column 38: “identifiedBy” (Responsible for recording the original occurrence [publication source]).

Column 39: “dateIdentified” (The date-time or interval during which the identification occurred.)

Column 40: “identificationQualifier” (A taxonomic determination [e.g., “sp.”, “cf.”]).

Column 41: “scientificNameID” (An identifier for the nomenclatural details of a scientific name).

Column 42: “scientificName” (The name of species or taxon of the occurrence record).

Column 43: “kingdom” (The scientific name of the kingdom in which the taxon is classified).

Column 44: “phylum” (The scientific name of the phylum or division in which the taxon is classified).

Column 45: “class” (The scientific name of the class in which the taxon is classified).

Column 46: “order” (The scientific name of the order in which the taxon is classified).

Column 47: “family” (The scientific name of the family in which the taxon is classified).

Column 48: “genus” (The scientific name of the genus in which the taxon is classified).

Column 49: “subgenus” (The scientific name of the subgenus in which the taxon is classified).

Column 50: “specificEpithet” (The name of the first or species epithet of the “scientificName”).

Column 51: “infraspecificEpithet” (The name of the lowest or terminal infraspecific epithet of the “scientificName”).

Column 52: “taxonRank” (The taxonomic rank of the most specific name in the “scientificName”).

Column 53: “scientificNameAuthorship” (The authorship information for the “scientificName” formatted according to the conventions of the applicable nomenclatural Code).

Column 54: “verbatimIdentification” (A string representing the taxonomic identification as it appeared in the original record).

The information sources (see Fig. 2b) provided a total of 107 publications (22 cruise reports and 85 scientific papers; see Fig. 2c). Nineteen of the 22 cruise reports reviewed provided species occurrence records^{8,28,29,30,32,33,34,35,36,37,38,39,40,41,42,43,44,45,46}, one provided qualitative or descriptive data, with no recorded occurrences³¹, and two did not provide information on benthic biota (CIMAR-9 and −23 cruises). Of all the scientific papers reviewed, 74 provided records of species occurrences (Table 2), while 11 did not provide any record, as they were data without occurrences of geographically referenced species or with descriptive or qualitative information: Foraminifera^59,60,61,62, Annelida^63,64,65,66, Fishes⁶⁷, Mollusca⁶⁸ and Echinodermata⁶⁹. The phyla with the highest number of publications were the following: Annelida (present in 18 reports and 21 papers), Mollusca (in 14 and 20), Arthropoda (in 10 and 18), Echinodermata (in 10 and 9), Chordata (in 10 and 9) and Foraminifera (in 4 and 10).

The information registry includes data on occurrences and number of individuals for 8,854 records (files in the database), representing 1,225 species (Fig. 3). The main taxa in terms of occurrence and number of species were Annelida (mainly Polychaeta), Foraminifera, Mollusca and Arthopoda (mainly Crustacea), together accumulating ~70% of total occurrences and ~73% of the total species (Fig. 3). The large number of recorded occurrences of Myzozoa (10%) should be highlighted, which, however, only represent about 32 species. Echinodermata represented ~8% of occurrences and 7% of species.

The cruises with the highest number of occurrences were CIMAR-2 (with 1,424), followed by CIMAR-8 (1,040) and CIMAR-16 (813) (Fig. 4). Three dominant taxonomic groups were recorded in most cruises, except for cruises CIMAR-1, CIMAR-4, CIMAR-17, CIMAR-18 and CIMAR-24 (Fig. 4). The cruises with the highest number of species recorded were CIMAR-2 (with 335), CIMAR-3 (328) and CIMAR-8 (323) (Fig. 5). Three or fewer dominant taxonomic groups were recorded only in the CIMAR-1, CIMAR-4, CIMAR-17, CIMAR-18 and CIMAR-24 cruises (Fig. 5).

The latitudinal bands 42°S and 45°S are those with the highest number of occurrences (Fig. 6), while the 56°S and 46°S bands had the fewest. The highest number of species was recorded in the 52°S and 50°S latitudinal bands, while, as with the occurrences, the lowest values corresponded to the 56°S and 46°S latitudinal bands (Fig. 6).

Source: Ecology - nature.com