Benthic Habitat Database

The NOAA Northeast Fisheries Science Center has, through the years, accumulated an extensive data base of qualitative and quantitative (wet weight and number per square meter) data on the composition, distribution and abundance (including a variety of environmental measurements) of the macrobenthic invertebrate fauna of the U.S.east coast continental shelf, slope and upper rise ranging from the mouth of the Bay of Fundy to Key West, Florida.

Benthic fauna data has been collected from 1881 to the present by the National Marine Fisheries Service Laboratories at Woods Hole, MA (early years Bureau of Fisheries) and Sandy Hook, NJ (formerly with the Bureau of Sport Fisheries). Little data exists from 1881 to around 1955. After intensive sampling, data became sparse again after 1986. The data includes the work by Wigley and Theroux on the macrofauna of the Northeastern United States. Other major studies include Ocean Pulse, the Northeast Monitoring Program, New York Bight, 12 Mile Dumpsite, Long Island Sound and Raritan Bay surveys. Parameters included in these surveys include depth, sediment type, gear type, number, weight, family, class, genus, species name, and abundance. A total of 21,000 sample sites are included in this data set with 4,000 meters being the maximum depth sampled. Bottom temperature from MBTs and XBTs were measured from the 1960s to the present.

The benthic data base and the invertebrate collection continue to be used by ecologists, systematists, and taxonomists in preparing environmental impact statements, characterizing the benthic fauna of selected sites for a host of specific purposes (e.g. mining, dumping, drilling, marine sanctuaries, etc.).

NEFSC Data Access Procedure:

1. Formal request in writing usually to the data owner/contact or Center Director;

2. Requester is contacted by data owner to review and verify the request content and details for data delivery options.

3. If data is confidential then owner will determine if the data may be released to the requester;

4. If data can be released, the data is downloaded and packaged for delivery electronically; or the requester may be directed to where the data is available online.

none

Prior to use of these records in any analysis or report, the provenance of the original data must be acknowledged. Acknowledge the use of specific records from contributing NOAA databases and acknowledge the use of the OBIS-USA facility. Recognize the limitations of data in OBIS-USA.

Oracle 10g nova database

not applicable

Woods Hole Data was audited as part of a NODC Data Rescue project migrating the dataset to an Oracle database. Sandy Hook Data was merged into Oracle database as part of NODC Data Rescue.

not applicable

Scheduled backups and remote storage backups at NEFSC, archival of data set at OBIS

Interest in and studies relating to the benthic invertebrate fauna of the marine environment off the coasts of the United States formally began in a systematically organized manner with the establishment, by Spencer F. Baird, of the U.S. Fish Commission in 1871. Woods Hole, MA was chosen as the site of the first permanent laboratory in the U.S. solely devoted to the scientific study of all aspects of the marine environment. Collections and data gathered on the benthic fauna from those early days, for the most part, were distributed to many other institutions and museums through the intervening years. However, some material (specimens and data) were preserved at the Woods Hole laboratory and have been incorporated into the data base and Specimen Reference Collection. The vast majority of the Woods Hole data and specimens, however, are the result of activities conducted at the Woods Hole Laboratory, beginning in the mid 1950's, as part of studies relating to the feeding habits of commercially important demersal fishes. The perceived lack of ecologically oriented data on the composition, distribution, abundance, and ecological and environmental relationships of the benthic fauna making up the diet of these fishes led to the establishment of studies designed to provide the necessary information on those topics. When the USGS Continental Margin Program was initiated in the early 1960's in cooperation with the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution, the Woods Hole Fisheries Lab's Benthic Dynamics Investigation, then conducting similar studies, was invited to join the effort to provide biological expertise.

The Woods Hole samples were obtained by a wide variety of means including hand collecting in the intertidal zone to the use of research vessels (17 different ones) on 208 separate cruises using 49 different types of sampling gear (ranging from dipnets to trawls, dredges, grab type devices etc.) at sea out to 4,000 meters depth.