Chironomid percentage-abundances for surface sediment samples obtained from 8 lakes in the Plymouth area (Massachusetts, US)

This dataset provides the percentage-abundances of chironomid taxa identified in a set of surface sediment samples taken in the Plymouth area (Massachusetts, United States) in 2009. For each sample, a short sediment core was retrieved from a rubber dinghy using a gravity corer (both the Glew and the mini-Glew models were used) during field work in June and September 2009. Volumetric samples taken from the 0-1cm sediment depth sample were subsequently processed in the laboratory (University of New Brunswick, Canada) using standard protocols. The procedure involved placing the sample aliquot in a glass beaker and submerging it in warm 10% KOH for ca. 20 mins. Subsequently the material was rinsed over a 100µm mesh and individual head capsules were hand-sorted from the residue and mounted on microscope slides. Chironomid head capsules were identified using Brooks et al. 2007 and encountered taxa that were not present in that handbook are illustrated and described in Engels & Cwynar (2011).