Data for: Disturbance, dispersal and marine assemblage structure: a case study from the nearshore Southern Ocean

Benthic assemblage structure data was collected form the IceBerg Impact Study grids located in South Cove, Ryder Bay, Adeliade Island, Western Antarctic Peninsula. Recovery Age includes only the sample grid itself and records the number of years since it was last hit. Local Disturbance includes all adjacent squares and the sample square with the proportion that had been hit in the past year recorded. Background Disturbance includes all the squares within the grid and the sample grid square and the rate at which hits have been recorded over the past 7 years. The high-dispersal assemblage diversity and abundance was collected across all samples at a single point in time. Whereas the low-dispersal assemblage is a dataset compiled from 7 years of observations with the presence and absence of each species. The Low-dispersal encrusting assemblages (bryozoans) was sampled from 2009 to 2014.Images of the high-dispersal assemblages within each grid square were captured in January 2016 with a GoPro 3+ (GoPro Inc.) in a deepwater housing. Camera lens distortion (fish-eye) was minimised using a calibration lens file and Hugins photo editing software. Grid squares were selected to ensure replication across depth, age and disturbance regimes.