Data from: Disassembly of an epibenthic assemblage in a sustained severely hypoxic event in a northeast Pacific basin ...

• Main Authors: Gasbarro, Ryan, Chu, Jackson W.F., Tunnicliffe, Verena
• Format: Dataset
• Language: English
• Published: Dryad 2019
• Subjects: Theragra chalcogramma; May - October 2016; Disassembly; Ecological time-series; Chorilia longipes; Pandalus jordani; Cribinopsis fernaldi; Scorpaenichthys marmoratus; Phoca vitulina; Microstomus pacificus; Squalus acanthias; Ptilosarcus gurneyi; Lepidopsetta bilieneata; Chionoectes bairdi; Tritonia sp.; Luidia foliolata; Hypoxia; Metridium farcinem; Evasterias troschelli; Thalassinidea; Metacarcinus magister; Solaster sp.; Merluccius productus; Sebastes sp.; Pandalus hypsinotus; Octopus rubescens; Spirontocaris sp.sica; Sebastes elongates; Lumpenus sagitta; Pisaster brevispinus; Pentamera pseudocalcigera; Xeneretmus latifrons; Porichthys notatus; Orthasterias koehleri; Loligo opalescens; Lycodopsis pacifica; Oxygen; Citharichthys sp.; Halipteris willemoesi; Armina californica; Species associations; Pycnopodia helianthoides; Saanich Inlet; ROV transect; Raja rhina; Zaniolepis latipinnis; Plectobranchus evides; Cymatogaster; Parophrys vetulus; Philadelphia; British Columbia; Canada; Pacific
• Online Access: https://dx.doi.org/10.5061/dryad.88dd3vk; https://datadryad.org/stash/dataset/doi:10.5061/dryad.88dd3vk

As global ocean deoxygenation proceeds and the frequency of extreme low-oxygen (hypoxic) events increases, seafloor ecosystems will inevitably be affected. Our study examines how benthic community responses scale with the severity and spatial extent of hypoxia. Saanich Inlet is a natural model system for testing the effects of hypoxic conditions that determine the benthic megafaunal community structure during annual deoxygenation and reoxygenation. In 2016, an anomalously severe and widespread hypoxic event occurred in the fjord after a decade of oxygen decline at a rate of 0.07 mL L−1 y−1 as measured by a cabled seafloor observatory. We use a living ecological time-series generated from remotely operated vehicle surveys to assess how the benthic megafaunal community disassembled in response to this extreme hypoxic event. Three benthic surveys at similar times in 2013 and 2016 reveal large increases in the area of seafloor bathed in anoxic and hypoxic waters in the latter year. Both bottom oxygen and species ... : Gasbarro_etal(2019_JMS)_DataData are animal counts and environment data collected during three remotely operated vehicle imagery surveys in Saanich Inlet, Vancouver Island, British Columbia, Canada in 2016. 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. ...