A macrozoobenthic data set of the Black Sea northwestern shelf

Benthic ecological data are crucial to study and manage ecosystems. On the one hand, abiotic and species data provide complementary information to identify habitats. On the other hand, trait data, describing taxon characteristics, are required to predict anthropogenic impacts on marine ecosystems.While trait data are in growing demand, compiling them is challenging, time-consuming and there are no properly established procedures for major marine ecosystems.
This data set shares macrozoobenthic occurrences for 215 taxa over the Black Sea northwestern shelf from 1995 to 2017 and 27 traits documented for 127 taxa that related to life cycle and ecosystem function. An abiotic data set of physical and chemical variables, generated by a model or compiled from in-situ data, is also provided. This data set aims to fill the functional knowledge gap in the Black Sea and offers research opportunities to future studies covering ecosystem functions, biodiversity conservation, and management.