Lake Borgne, Louisiana, Summer 2021, 2023, 2024, Spring 2022 benthic community data

Sediment cores for benthic community analysis were collected in Lake Borgne in Louisiana during the summer of 2021, spring 2022, summer 2023, and summer 2024. Samples for summer 2021 only contained sites for a Before-After Control-Impact (BACI) study for dredge sites in the area. Spring 2022 sampling added sample sites throughout the lake, and only sampled these additional sites. Summer 2023 and summer 2024 sampling covered the original BACI sites and the added spring 2022 sites. The sampling of summer 2024 also included YSI measured environmental variables. The identifications of benthic organisms across the sampling periods were used for temporal comparisons. Biomass data was collected from samples. Biomass was split between an ecologically relevant species, Rangia cuneata, and all other species found in the sample. These data files contain the benthic community identifications, calculated biomass of samples, any collected environmental data, and coordinates for sample site locations.