A 20-Year Hydro-Ecological Monitoring Dataset (2005–2024) for Three Stations in the Cross River Estuary, Nigeria: Hydrology, Water Quality, Plankton, Benthos, Fish, and Stable Isotopes

Description This dataset presents 20 years (2005–2024) of integrated hydrological, meteorological, water-quality, and biological monitoring data from three stations along the Cross River Estuary, Nigeria: Itu Beach (upstream), Oron Beach (midstream), and Estuarine Mouth (downstream). It includes observations across dry and wet seasons and high, ebb, low, and flood tidal regimes. The dataset contains water and air temperature, relative humidity, wind speed and direction, solar radiation, cloud cover, rainfall, river discharge, water level, salinity, and current speed and direction. It also records abundance and biomass of phytoplankton, zooplankton, benthos, crustaceans, and fish, together with diet/prey information and carbon and nitrogen stable isotope values (δ¹³C and δ¹⁵N). The data support research on estuarine hydrodynamics, seasonal and tidal variability, salinity gradients, food-web structure, trophic ecology, and long-term ecological change in a tropical West African estuary.