ZooProcess and Ecotaxa output from ZooSCANs of zooplankton collected along physical gradients during OAPS MOCNESS tows during R/V Oceanus northwest Atlantic 2011 cruise OC473 and R/V New Horizon northeast Pacific 2012 cruise NH1208 and imaged in 2021-2022

This dataset consists of the imaging portion of the study described below and includes ZooProcess and Ecotaxa outputs from ZooSCANs performed of zooplankton collected during Multiple Opening-Closing Net and Environmental Sensing System (MOCNESS) tows during R/V Oceanus cruise OC473 in the Northwestern Atlantic in 2011 and R/V New Horizon cruise NH1208 in the Northeastern Pacific in 2012. It includes data for this project from Ecotaxa (export v1.0), an online machine-learning platform that assists in identifying organisms and particles. The dataset also includes particle measurements generated by ZooProcess software. Day and night stations were sampled between 0 to 1000m depths from 35 to 50 N in the northwest Atlantic in 2011, and from 35 and 50N along CLIVAR line P17N in 2012. These representative subsamples of the formalin-preserved zooplankton community from each net were imaged in 2021 and 2022.

Project description: The objective of this study was to determine how environmental variables shape zooplankton community structure in the midwater. Our primary overarching hypothesis was that the abundance and size class distribution of the zooplankton community are decoupled and are influenced by different environmental variables. Furthermore, differences in zooplankton community composition and diversity in the observed distinct oceanic biogeographical provinces additionally influences both factors. Since zooplankton contributions to biogeochemistry are size dependent, standard descriptions of zooplankton community (biomass, which is a product of size and abundance) are insufficient to generate a predictive understanding of the role of zooplankton in biogeochemical cycles. The project uses particle imaging technology and metabarcoding of archived biological samples in conjunction with open access hydrographic data from two cruises conducted in the N. Atlantic and N. Pacific to test these hypotheses.