WEBSEC-72: Rescue of historical Beaufort Sea zooplankton communities

A major challenge in climate-related studies is lack of historical data against which to assess biological response
to changes in the physical environment. Here we report on the zooplankton collected in the Beaufort Sea during August 1972
on the US Coast Guard’s Western Beaufort Sea Ecological Cruises (WEBSEC) using a 570 µm mesh-net. Using data from 66 stations,
we determined an average abundance of 42.4 individuals m-3 and 13.7 mg DW m-3 holozooplankters, plus 29.1 individuals m-3 and
0.2 mg DW m-3 for merozooplankters. The most prominent holoplanktonic taxa were copepods (Calanus hyperboreus, Calanus glacialis,
and the Pseudocalanus species complex) and the larvacean Oikopleura vanhoeffeni, with notable contributions by the copepods Jashnovia
tolli and Metridia longa, the hydromedusae Aglantha digitale and the chaetognath Parasagitta elegans. Meroplankton was represented
largely by barnacle nauplii, barnacle cyprids, and polychaete larvae. Multivariate analysis revealed both along-shelf and cross
shelf patterns, related to water temperature and sea ice concentration. This data helps lay the foundation against which changes
in the zooplankton communities of the Beaufort Sea could soon be assessed. These datasets were archived as part of the North Pacific Research Board legacy project recovery effort undertaken by Axiom Data Science and NPRB in 2025. The goal of the recovery effort was to assess the NPRB-funded data projects from 2002 to 2014 and archive final data packages that were ready for publication to increase long-term accessibility and discoverability. Data packages were archived as is given limited funding and resources.