BioChem: Zooplankton of St. Margarets Bay 1968 to 1971.

Study Extent

Zooplankton samples were collected at approximately monthly intervals from January 1968 to April 1971 at various stations inside the bay, outside the bay, and, whenever possible, along a transact running across the continental shelf. The sampling area was divided at 44°30.0’N latitude. All the stations inside the bay were grouped under GE4430. The Group LT4430 included all the stations that were outside the bay, including the stations occupied on the continental shelf. This group was further subdivided under LT4430, LT75M which separated all the stations that were outside the bay but were less than 75 metres deep.

Sampling

Vertical or oblique metered tows were made from maximum permissible depth to the surface, with a 3/4 metre diameter ring net of 233 micrometre mesh size. The samples were preserved in 10% formalin buffered with methenamine. Temperature and salinity measurements and bathythermograph casts were also made at the plankton stations and this information is accessible from the original data report (Paranjape and Conover 1973). In the laboratory, quantitative plankton counts were made according to the following procedures. All the large animals, such as jellyfish, were first removed. Each catch was split in half with Motoda plankton splitter and one part was used to measure the displacement volume. The other half was examined, for rare species and then subsampled to an appropriate size—fraction, and the organisms in that fraction counted under binocular dissecting microscope. The predominant forms were identified to species, other forms to taxa.

Quality Control

Scientific names listed in the BioChem database species list have been mapped to recognized standards - marine taxa have been mapped to the World Register of Marine Species (WoRMS) using their online taxon match tool. Names not contained in WoRMS have been mapped to the Integrated Taxonomic Information System (ITIS). The respective codes (WoRMS AphiaID and ITIS TSN) have been included as LSIDs in the occurrence record DwC field scientificNameID. All sampling locations were plotted on a map to perform a visual check confirming that the latitude and longitude coordinates were within the described sampling area.

Method steps

1. This resource was created by OBIS Canada. Data from the published report was first archived in the Fisheries and Oceans Canada national BioChem database (series identifier='ParanjapeConover_FRBreport401'). Darwin Core (DwC) records were extracted in the required IPT format.
2. Version 2 of this resource contains refreshed metadata information and many additional DwC terms have been added to the occurrence file.

Zooplankton captured with a 233u mesh net.

1. Annelida
   rank: phylum
2. Arthropoda
   rank: phylum
3. Bryozoa
   rank: phylum
4. Chaetognatha
   rank: phylum
5. Chordata
   rank: phylum
6. Cnidaria
   rank: phylum
7. Mollusca
   rank: phylum

St. Margarets Bay, Nova Scotia, Canada