Data from: Oxygen limitations on marine animal distributions and the collapse of epibenthic community structure during shoaling hypoxia ...

• Main Authors: Chu, Jackson W. F., Tunnicliffe, Verena
• Format: Dataset
• Language: English
• Published: Dryad 2015
• Subjects: epibenthos; in situ oxygen limits; Metacarcinus magister; Metridium facinem; Theragra chalcogramma; Pandalus hypsinotus; video analysis; Munida quadrispina; Ocean Networks Canada; Pandalus jordani; Spirontocaris sica; Pisaster brevispinus; Porichthys notatus; Beggiatoa; Lycodopsis pacifica; ocean hypoxia; Pandalus platyceros; Halipteris willemoesi; oxygen loss; Saanich Inlet; Ptilosarcus gurneyi; Lyopsetta exilis; 2006-2013; Chionoectes bairdi; Plectobranchus evides; ROV transect; habitat shrinkage; Cancer productus; British Columbia; Canada; Pacific
• Online Access: https://dx.doi.org/10.5061/dryad.1p55v; https://datadryad.org/stash/dataset/doi:10.5061/dryad.1p55v

Deoxygenation in the global ocean is predicted to induce ecosystem-wide changes. Analysis of multidecadal oxygen time-series projects the northeast Pacific to be a current and future hot spot of oxygen loss. However, the response of marine communities to deoxygenation is unresolved due to the lack of applicable data on component species. We repeated the same benthic transect (n = 10, between 45 and 190 m depths) over 8 years in a seasonally hypoxic fjord using remotely operated vehicles equipped with oxygen sensors to establish the lower oxygen levels at which 26 common epibenthic species can occur in the wild. By timing our surveys to shoaling hypoxia events, we show that fish and crustacean populations persist even in severe hypoxia (<0.5 mL L−1) with no mortality effects but that migration of mobile species occurs. Consequently, the immediate response to hypoxia expansion is the collapse of community structure; normally partitioned distributions of resident species coalesced and localized densities ... : Animal abundances and environment data in Saanich InletData are animal counts and environment data collected during remotely operated vehicle imagery surveys in Saanich Inlet, Vancouver Island, British Columbia, Canada from 2006-2013. Each row entry equals a second of annotated ROV video with associated metadata (e.g. video file properties), water column data (e.g. depth, temperature, oxygen), or species data (presence/absence or counts). Extended details can be found with the associated README file. Data was collected as part of a PhD thesis (Chu) and is A Canadian Healthy Oceans Network Ecosystem Function project, EF-13.CHONe_EF-13_ChuJ_Data_GCB2015.xlsx ...