Fatty Acids, carotenoids, protist community and environmental parameters collected during a phytoplankton blooms in the Hudson Bay Complex.

The Hudson Bay complex (HBC) is home to numerous indigenous communities that have traditionally relied heavily on its marine resources. The nutritional quality and stocks of the entire HBC food web depend in large part on the phytoplankton production of bioactive molecules (long chain polyunsaturated fatty acids and carotenoids) and their transfer through trophic levels. The purpose of this dataset was thus to determine which molecules were produced during spring phytoplankton blooms in the HBC, as well as the environmental factors driving these productions. This dataset highlights the role of environmental conditions (light, temperature, salinity, sea ice) in shaping phytoplankton communities and ultimately in the production of bioactive molecules.