Lake snow removal experiment zooplankton community data, under ice, 2019-2021

Although it is a historically understudied season, winter is now recognized as a time of biological activity and relevant to the annual cycle of north-temperate lakes. Emerging research points to a future of reduced ice cover duration and changing snow conditions that will impact aquatic ecosystems. The aim of the study was to explore how altered snow and ice conditions, and subsequent changes to under-ice light environment, might impact ecosystem dynamics in a north, temperate bog lake in northern Wisconsin, USA. This dataset resulted from a snow removal experiment that spanned the periods of ice cover on South Sparkling Bog during the winters of 2019, 2020, and 2021. During the winters 2020 and 2021, snow was removed from the surface of South Sparkling Bog using an ARGO ATV with a snow plow attached. The 2019 season served as a reference year, and snow was not removed from the lake. This dataset represents under ice zooplankton community samples (integrated tows at depths of 7 m) and some shoulder-season (open water) zooplankton community samples. Zooplankton samples were preserved in 90% ethanol and later processed to determine taxonomic classification at the species-level, density (individuals / L), and average length (mm).