Data from: Meroplankton diversity, seasonality and life-history traits across the Barents Sea Polar Front revealed by high-throughput DNA barcoding ...

• Main Authors: Descoteaux, Raphaelle, Ershova, Elizaveta, Wangensteen, Owen, Præbel, Kim, Renaud, Paul, Cottier, Finlo, Bluhm, Bodil
• Format: Dataset
• Language: English
• Published: Dryad 2021
• Subjects: meroplankton; Larvae; DNA barcoding; Barents Sea; Ershova; Renaud
• Online Access: https://dx.doi.org/10.5061/dryad.n8pk0p2vf; https://datadryad.org/stash/dataset/doi:10.5061/dryad.n8pk0p2vf

In many species of marine benthic invertebrates, a planktonic larval phase plays a critical role in dispersal. Very little is known about the larval biology of most species, however, in part because species identification has historically been hindered by the microscopic size and morphological similarity among related taxa. This study aimed to determine the taxonomic composition and seasonal distribution of meroplankton in the Barents Sea, across the Polar Front. We collected meroplankton during five time points seasonally and used high-throughput DNA barcoding of individual larvae to obtain species-level information on larval seasonality. We found that meroplankton was highly diverse (72 taxa from eight phyla) and present in the Barents Sea year-round with a peak in abundance in August and November, defying the conventional wisdom that peak abundance would coincide with the spring phytoplankton bloom. Ophiuroids, bivalves and polychaetes dominated larval abundance while gastropods and polychaetes accounted ... : See: Descôteaux R, Ershova E, Wangensteen OS, Præbel K, Renaud PE, Cottier F and Bluhm BA (2021) Meroplankton Diversity, Seasonality and Life-History Traits Across the Barents Sea Polar Front Revealed by High-Throughput DNA Barcoding. Front. Mar. Sci. 8:677732. doi: 10.3389/fmars.2021.677732 ...